LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Topic and Thesis Statement
Why Are Our Children Leaving the Faith?
Submitted to Dr. Dan Burrell
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 610 – B01
Family Discipleship
by
Brian Mclaughlin
June 1st, 2019
Table of Contents
No outline at this time…………………………………………………………………………
Thesis Statement
In today’s culture, people have been slowly ebbing away from the faith in the homes
where Christianity is present. This paper will show the study and examination of the main causes
of the decline of the youth in church today, and the importance of having solid discipleship
within the framework of the family and church locations. Christianity has changed deeply over
the years. People have become more “spiritual” in the sense that it seems like anyone can be
open to anything. With so many options, the youth of today can choose to go down many paths.
What is considered normal now is related as ‘tolerable’ beliefs that someone can have. In the
issue of the decline with youth, there has been a growing concern taking place with overall
attendance slipping in multiple churches. To add insult to injury, there are very few churches that
are doing anything to stop the decline from happening.
Churches are reactive instead of proactive to this epidemic. Unfortunately, the church is
not ready to provide to its current members sound biblical doctrine to help growth in the body.
Therefore, what churches do is look for ways to ‘appeal’ to the younger generation. Churches
look like rock concerts instead of bringing the true meaning. Another way that the church
remains ‘trendy’ is by overdoing church services to make it special to be at church. But the all-
encompassing truth is diminished and is made to have the church look more like the world than
Jesus Christ.
The problem with the decline of the church attendance is the Great Commission as found
in (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV)1 is compromised. Young people are searching for answers.
Unfortunately, the answers are not being found in the homes that they are raised in. With the
cultural shift, the youth are shown how to live a lifestyle counter-productive to the ways of Jesus
1 Unless otherwise noted all scripture is taken from the English Standard Version
Christ. There are multiple ways for them to remain distracted and inundated to the technology
that is constantly all up in their face. As a result, the significances, and the way young people see
themselves, is damaging to their spiritual well-being. Many youths are losing touch with who
God really is.
There has never been a better time to reach the youth today with compassionate pastors,
leaders, and church members to rise and take back the youth from their disillusioned lifestyle that
calls out to them to live that way. Everyday people are face with choices that are needed to be
made. It is no different for the youth as well. The way that they see life in general is a staple to
how church is viewed or the importance of discipleship. Growing up as a young person is tough
enough as it is, so having to transition from child to adult without Christ as the center, or the
value of discipleship makes it harder to convince them for the need to have Christ in their lives.
According to Parrett and Ellyn, “…we often do not take the time to listen to critical
issues because we simply do not see them as our issues…”2 So, when the child comes to the
mom and dad of the house to vent off their problems that he or she might be dealing with at
school, the child can feel like the parents do not care and look elsewhere for the help he or she so
desperately needs. Furthermore, parents today simply have lost touch with what it is like to be a
kid again. The pressures that teenagers face is very complex and intense compared to what their
parents had to go through.
Young people are experiencing new ideas, and new ways to make life easier for them in
the name of convenience and everything seems to be right at their fingertips. There are multiple
social media channels that they easily get involved in sometimes as early as five to eight years
old. Parents are tolerable to their kids getting into these sites due to them being too busy to take
2 Garry A. Parrett, "Ministering in the Real World: A Multicultural Perspective on Youth Ministry." Christian
Education Journal 3, no. 2 (Fall, 1999): 31
the time and monitor what the child is looking at. Children at an early age are being targeted by
online by companies who want nothing more than to make a profit off the family or the child that
they are homing in on. The difficulty with the media seeking out the child is that the effort to
stop the propaganda from taking place is next to impossible. With the online explosion of jobs,
how to guidance, games, etc. taking place, parents need to be on top of their planning on how to
properly control the use of online media if any at all. Swick and Jellinek say in an article,
“It can be difficult to find actual adults to supervise or manage these situations, and
the risks for depression, anxiety, school avoidance, and suicidality among bullied
adolescents (and among the bulliers) are well established. Among other risks associated
with extensive amounts of time spent virtually connected is the difficulty some
adolescents have in shutting off or even silencing their phone; what precious little sleep
they are getting is further squeezed by texts throughout the night.”3
This paper will show that through proper analysis and documentation, youth that are
slowly ebbing away from the faith can still be brought back to faith in Jesus Christ. It will also
pinpoint the dire need for discipleship needed in the family, and in the church. It will highlight
the key importance of they way the youth go through many changes of life as they grow up. It
will examine the way church has gone through declining stages as a result of youth not showing
up to services. Finally, the paper will show how the youth has variable stages in choices that he
or she can make and how having the impact of Jesus Christ in their lives will greatly enhance
their well being and overall satisfaction in living for the Lord instead of the world.
References:
3 Susan D. Swick, and Michael S. Jellinek. "Commentary: social media are risky for kids, challenging for docs."
Family Practice News, March 15, 2014, 10. Health Reference Center Academic (accessed June 3, 2019).
http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/apps/doc/A364693284/HRCA?
u=vic_liberty&sid=HRCA&xid=7c4f733b.
Parrett, Garry A. "Ministering in the Real World: A Multicultural Perspective on Youth
Ministry." Christian Education Journal 3, no. 2 (Fall, 1999): 31,
http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/205451131?accountid=12085 .
Swick, Susan D., and Michael S. Jellinek. "Commentary: social media are risky for kids,
challenging for docs." Family Practice News, March 15, 2014, 10. Health
Reference Center Academic (accessed June 3, 2019).
http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/apps/doc/A364693284/HRCA?u=vic_libert
y&sid=HRCA&xid=7c4f733b .
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