Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
The Failure of the “Youth Group” Strategy

The Failure of the “Youth Group” Strategy

Last updated on: November 4, 2021 at 6:00 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

The Failure of the “Youth Group” Strategy 2021-11-02T15:48:46-04:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Half of young people aged 13-25 feel disconnected with their churches over issues such as gender, race, income equality, immigration, gun control, and–especially–LGBTQ rights. As a result, only 23% of this cohort say that they attend services regularly, compared to 31% of older adults, and 32% identify as “nones,” having no religion, as compared to 24% of of older adults.

So reports the Wall Street Journal in a story on a recent survey. That teenagers and young adults are less interested in church is nothing new. And one might question whether the research demonstrates a causal relationship between disenchantment with political and cultural conservatism and not attending church. Might there not be other reasons for that?

And how many churches have actual teachings on income equality, gun control, and these other political issues? Conservative churches will question the common view among young people that gender is unconnected to biology, that same-sex people can marry each other, and that homosexuality and other kinds of sex outside of traditional marriage are immoral. That would probably be enough to alienate many teenagers. But do any actual churches teach racism? Catholic churches tend to be impeccably liberal on most of these causes, except for the sexual ones, and Mainline Protestant churches tend to click all of these boxes in the progressive-approved way, including sex, gay marriage, and transgenderism. But teenagers aren’t going to those churches either.

My fellow Patheos blogger Jack Lee at The Chorus in the Chaos writes about this, but takes a different angle than usual. He looks at the blithe and shallow way the young people interviewed in the article explain themselves and approach religion. It isn’t so much what they believe, but their flippant, self-righteous, and self-absorbed attitude that he marvels at.

“There is much that can be said about this commentary,” Lee says, but what stands out “is that there is no fear of God before their eyes.”

That is to say, they have no reverence. They recognize no authority beyond their own opinions. They fear no divine judgment. It isn’t that they do not believe in God, but that they assume God has nothing to say. And if their church says otherwise, then they have no problem disagreeing with their church, or, indeed, with God.

Lee then draws a conclusion that all pastors and congregations should consider:

It is now clear that broad evangelicalism has largely miscalculated how to engage our youth with our evolving, sexualized culture. Thirty years of emphasizing purity over faith and repentance, entertainment over meditation, and games over catechisms have left their scars. The Exvangelical movement, for all of its faults, has highlighted this truth. Those who grew up in these theologically derelict conditions are leaving the church in droves.

He describes how churches adopted a strategy for youth ministry based on trying to make church fun. Youth groups featured pizza parties, games, and fun trips. The assumption was that if we entertain them enough, this will keep them coming to church, and, eventually, they will grow into a mature faith. “This entirely man-centered approach to evangelism drove churches to become less about worship, faith, and repentance, and more about Christian-themed activities and programs.”

I would go further. Many of these “Christian-themed activities” actually decrease reverence. Their approach to Christianity teaches young people to despise “traditional” church. And they often teach their participants to lose their natural inhibitions and to conform to peer pressure. These are exactly the opposite lessons they need to learn in order to keep their faith in a spiritually hostile world. This is what I show in my notorious column for World Magazine back in 2002, Stupid Church Tricks.

Certainly, youth ministry is hard. And whatever churches do may be of limited effect in dealing with adolescents at this particular time of life, when they are developmentally pulling away from their parents and their life at home. Many young rebels against the church come back when they are older, especially when–or, rather, if–they start families of their own.

But surely the purpose of youth ministry should be to incorporate them into the church, introducing them to its wisdom and its mysteries, and training them–in a way that would have been impossible when they were mere children–in Christian spirituality.

We Lutherans have a well-regarded youth ministry called Higher Things that does these things. Browse around on its website to get a sense for its approach.

Another model for youth ministry might be campus ministries. These tend to do a lot with Bible study, apologetics, addressing problems, dealing with conflicts between faith and academia, and cultivating an intense fellowship among the participants, to the point that many students feel a letdown when they graduate and must leave their college group for a regular church.

We Missouri Synod Lutherans have an approach to college ministry that is built around a local church, often one just off campus that students not only attend but operate and take leadership positions in. As a result, they are not only incorporated into the church, they are strengthened in their identity as Christians, with everything that means. A good example that I’m familiar with, through one of my daughter’s experience, is University Lutheran Chapel at the University of Minnesota.

Perhaps some of this could be adapted for middle- and high-school aged youth in local congregations. The key would be the church treating them as young adults, not condescending to them, not dumbing everything down for them, avoiding embarrassing and tacky gimmicks, and relating to them on a personal level. Rather, teach them the rich resources that the church has to draw on and show them the grace they have in Christ and how that Gospel relates to every dimension of their lives. (See, for example, this little meditation from Higher Things, “For You.”)

Do you have any other ideas for successful youth ministry? What are your experiences with it, when you were a “youth”? What pulled you into the church, and what drove you away?

Illustration: Youth Picnic by j4p4n via Open Clip Art, public domain

church retention of youth

HIgher Things

youth ministry

Previous Post

November 3, 2021

The Lessons of Anglicanism for Lutherans

Next Post

November 5, 2021 Public Schools as the Means of Indoctrinating Children

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Its crony capitalism - its not free market capitalism. Unfortunately, when you create a regulatory ..."

Joe

Monday Miscellany, 10/26/26

"With all due respect, I very much doubt any self-proclaimed environmentalist would risk an ecological ..."

reg

Monday Miscellany, 10/26/26

"The attacking of oilers in the Strait sounds just like what environmental terrorists would do. ..."

DakotaLutheran

Monday Miscellany, 10/26/26

"Or both."

Tom Hering

Monday Miscellany, 10/26/26

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In what parable does a father run to greet his lost son?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The Rich Man and Lazarus The Lost Sheep The Prodigal Son The Two Sons

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »