LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
WHY YOUNG ADULTS ARE LEAVING THE FAITH:
AN EXAMINATION OF RECENT TRENDS IN SPIRITUALITY
Submitted to Dr. Brad Reynolds
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
Fall 2018 DSMN 610-D02
Family Discipleship
by
Krystle S. Talley-McDonald
December 10, 2018
Thesis Statement
This paper will focus on identifying and examining the reasons for drastic decline of
young people in the faith and will argue that the introduction of proper discipleship within family
and church settings can shift the negative trend of young people abandoning their Christian
worldview.
Contents
ii
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1
The Changing Life of Young Adults ……….............................................................................. 2
Moral Individualism …….................................................................................................. 3
Decline in Church Participation ................................................................................................. 4
Profile of People Who Do Attend ...................................................................................... 4
Reasons for Decline of Young Adults ................................................................................ 5
Trends in Belief Systems ………................................................................................................. 6
Rejection of Traditional Beliefs ………….......................................................................... 7
Modern Spiritual Practices of Young Adults ……............................................................... 9
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 10
Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 12
iii
Introduction
The landscape of religion has changed substantially over the past decade. There has been
an emerging trend in “spirituality” while church attendance has drastically declined. The new
normal is mostly seen in young people who have abandoned their Christian worldviews for an
alternative way of thinking. The parallel decline of Christian young adults and progression of
secular spirituality has become a prevalent topic of discussion, with very few churches
addressing the issue head on. Unfortunately, many churches are unequipped to formulate a
biblically sound response to this opposition of the Christian faith; as a result, the decline of
Christian young adults is either overcorrected by church leaders’ attempts to use an overarching
appeal to draw young people into their congregation or the problem is ignored altogether. Both
responses are problematic; they result in the Church’s disregard of the adolescent’s need for
spiritual formation while also neglecting the Great Commission to baptize and teach all as
commanded by Christ in Matthew 28:19-20.1
Every young person is essentially religious but the issue is found in how they choose to
filter their life experiences through a spiritual grid. Many young adults are not just falling away
from the Church, they are disengaging from Christianity altogether as their perceptions and
priorities change. There is a need for spiritual leaders and Christian parents to recognize this
rising trend and then know how to properly engage young adults without condemnation. This
paper will focus on identifying and examining the reasons for drastic decline of young adults in
the faith and will argue that the introduction of proper discipleship within family and church
settings can shift the negative trend of young people who are abandoning their Christian
worldview.
1 Unless otherwise noted, all scripture passages referenced derive from the English Standard Version Study
Bible, (Crossway, 2008).
1
The Changing Life of Young Adults
The impact of a young person’s experiences can greatly affect their life choices. There is
much to be said about the correlation between a person’s values, worldviews, and spiritual
practices and their life experiences. The emerging generation of young people struggle with
trying to live between the lines of right and wrong as they attempt to merge their spirituality with
so many cultural influences.
The transition from teenager to young adult is often difficult for the Christian believer
especially, as they are challenged by the biblical directive to “not love the world or the things in
the world” because if one does, “the love of God is not in him” (1 John 2:15). Emerging
adulthood is an exciting and interesting journey; however, it is unrealistic to focus on that facet
of life without placing emphasis on the confusions and mistakes that this journey can bring to a
misguided young person.2 “Emerging adult life in the United States today is beset with real
problems, in some cases troubling and even heartbreaking problems.”3
The modern concept of adolescence is really vague to parents and spiritual leaders who
assume they understand this stage of life. James E. CItJ positions that young adulthood is now
“a hazardous and difficult journey for many people.”4 Young people are responding to their life
experiences in a variety of ways unlike than that of generations past. Author and researcher
David Kinnaman writes in his book UnChristian: What A New Generation Really Thinks About
Christianity and Why It Matters that “people who are born over a certain period of time are
2 Christian Smith, Kari Marie Christofferson, Hilary Davidson, and Patricia Snell Herzog, Lost in
Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood, (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 2.
3 Ibid.
4 James E. CItJ, Adulthood: The Changing Nature of Maturity and Identity, (New York: New York
University Press, 2000), 1.
influenced by a unique set of circumstances and global events, moral and social values,
technologies, and cultural and behavioral norms.”5
Moral Individualism
Some unsettling facets of emerging young adults are centered around the subject of
morality. Moral issues that young people face when transitioning from teenage status to
adolescence are extremely individualistic. Christian Smith, author of Lost in Transition,
conducted a survey about a young adult’s approach to morality and six out of ten emerging adults
expressed the belief that “moral rights and wrongs are essentially matters of individual opinion”
and one “should not be judged by anyone else.”6 A variety of young people choose their own
personal code of morality depending on their life circumstances at the time, which could be
slightly impacted by parents, teachers, friends, social media, or religion.
The idea of guessing what is morally right or not seems too difficult a task for young
people, positions Smith. “A strong theme among these moral individualists, is a belief that it is
wrong for people to morally judge other people.” The group of young adults that were
interviewed for Smith’s study believe that there is so much change occurring in a young person’s
life, one cannot possibly know how to navigate the transition flawlessly; moreover, they argue
that the desire to be authentic with peers often clashes with the need to point out another’s moral
success or failure.7 The overall expression is that moral judgement from others about their
changing lifestyle is synonymous with domination and control, which they believe “violates
other people’s dignity and rights” leading them to abandon moral institutions like church.
Decline in Church Participation
The transition from teenager to young adult includes anxiety about many things. They are
apprehensive about whether their knowledge bank is full enough to guide them through
situations and experiences that they are eager to experience. Therefore, it is critical to understand
5 David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about
Christianity... and Why It Matters, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007), 12.
6 Christian Smith, Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood, 4.
7 Ibid., 6.
the world of emerging young adults within the wider context of the bigger world they reside in.8
Reservations about the future impact the religious beliefs and moral behavior of young people,
which is now evident in the recent decline of church participation over the past decade.
Western religion has always been a participatory faith.9 It has never been enough to just
simply confess belief. Upholding a Christian worldview often meant actually taking part in
weekly church services and activities. The belief is that “those who do attend regularly are
dramatically more likely than those who attend less regularly to express interest and involvement
in their faith.”10 The controversy emerging around young people stems from their amount of
participation, or lack thereof, in church or religious activities attached to the church which could
impact their Christian worldview.
Profile of People Who Do Attend
According to social scientist Robert Wuthnow, some observers of religious participation
believe that in recent years the involvement of young adults has declined while others do not
agree.11 Many theologians and researchers question whether religious participation can actually
be measured accurately, considering that not all people surveyed are completely honest about
their involvement in public worship services or religious events. However, Wuthnow affirms that
“overall, polls and surveys suggest that attendance at religious services among the full adult
population of the United States has remained fairly constant for at least thirty years; constant but
with perhaps some erosion in recent years.”12
The debate about participation carries over into the culpability of young adults with the
assumption that they are the cause of recent loss, but these assumptions have not been examined
8 Christian Smith and Patricia Snell, Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging
Adults, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 33.
9 Robert Wuthnow, After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future
of American Religion, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), 51.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Robert Wuthnow, After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future
of American Religion, 51.
carefully enough to state drastic decline as matter of fact.13 The assumption about decline of
young people involved in the church stems from higher participation results in the 1950s and 60s
than it was closer to the 80s and 90s – the age of the millennials. Still, recent trends show that
“young adults at the start of the twenty-first century are like those adults from the early 70s when
the decline first started in church participation.” Wuthnow positions that the majority of young
people either attend church services rarely nowadays or are hardly present in number
consistently enough to make a significant impact on the core of any congregation.14
Reasons for Decline of Young Adults
Many church leaders and youth pastors suggest that church participation among young
people has deteriorated because the church has done something wrong. While this assumption
may be accurate, there is a larger scale of problems that affect the decision for emerging young
adults to become uninvolved with the church or even worse, Christianity.
Significant disengagement from the church is a startling reality for many parents and
youth/young adult pastors in Western churches. Many young people are describing their disdain
for religious institutions the same way they scorn moral pluralism. There is a common theme of
disconnect due to discomfort and miscommunication of biblical teachings that have been passed
on through generational traditions. David Kinnaman positions that “a generation of young
Christians believes that the churches in which they were raised are not safe and hospitable places
to express doubts.”15 The concern is that the Christian community does not seek to understand
the concerns, struggles, and mindsets of young people who are constantly experiencing lifestyle
changes amid cultural influences. The struggle with trying to be accepted results in an eventual
shift away from the church and possibly the faith.
Trends in Belief Systems
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 David Kinnaman and Aly Hawkins, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church... and
Rethinking Faith, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2011), 8.
The number of young people who leave the church make attempts to define their own
personal spirituality. Some young adults choose to live at the margin of their church community,
barely present, while others choose to leave the faith altogether, instead embarking upon a new
journey to redefine their spirituality.16 The faithful teens of years past in Western churches are not
growing up anymore to be dedicated young adult disciples of Christ, writes David Kinnaman.17
“The ages eighteen to twenty-nine are the black hole of church attendance; this age segment is
‘missing in action’ from most congregations.”18
Entry into the twenties for young people often highlights a weakened Christian
worldview. They discover that their faith has been molded by formative experiences as a child or
teenager that is no longer the same as a young adult. Their connection to Christ is described as
shallow and feeble, “having more to do with cultural identification than it does with deep
faith.”19 The problems instigating recent trends in spirituality involve young adults harboring
substantial doubts about the person and work of Christ and/or skepticism about what authority
the Bible actually holds. Kinnaman writes that young people in their twenties “are the least likely
to say they are confident that Jesus Christ speaks to them in a way that is personal and relevant to
their circumstances.”20
Rejection of Traditional Beliefs
There is a budding relationship between education and orthodox belief among young
people. The conventional religious views that have been taught through generations is now being
questioned by young adults who seek to understand through reason. There is a possibility that
higher education drives the desire for young people to have a logical purpose for their
convictions. Religious polling organizations such as the Gallup Poll have determined that ninety-
16 Ibid., 14.
17 Ibid., 15.
18 Ibid., 16.
19 David Kinnaman and Aly Hawkins, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church... and
Rethinking Faith, 17.
20 Ibid., 18.
six percent of young adults believed in God or a universal spirit but are less inclined to believe in
the central figure of Christianity – Christ.21
The religious beliefs of young adults are not easily divided into black and white
categories anymore. A lot of young people are now categorized as “implicitly religious” by
modern researchers.22 Some young people profess to believe that the Bible is divinely inspired
but should not be taken literally, while others suggest that it is only a man-made book full of
mystical stories and parables to be used as inspiration instead of authoritative; this is a tragic step
away from doctrinal commitment to Christianity. Scripture declares that the contents of the Bible
are “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training
in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:15). Many young people are moving away from the historic and
traditional position of the Bible as the foundation for their way of life.
Kenneth Keathley positions that the basic problem the world faces with young adults
today has to do with knowledge and truth.23 Keathley argues that the rejection of traditional
orthodox belief is tied to the issue of truth and where the source of truth actually originates from.
He affirms that “this is the burning issue challenging every serious Bible student and Christian
today,” and refers to this area of study as epistemology.24
The word epistemology comes from the Greek verb epistomai, which means “to know”
or “to understand.”25 Young adults who hold to human reason believe that their knowledge
supersedes the authority of the Bible. Keathley writes:
“The rationalist believes he or she can determine what is true by reason alone, because of
innate or natural abilities within the human mind. The empiricist places confidence in
experimentation and in observation of sense phenomena, affirming as true only that
which can be physically demonstrated. Finally, there is the mystic who rejects rationalism
21 Robert Wuthnow, After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future
of American Religion, 91.
22 Ibid.
23 Kenneth Keathley and James T. Draper, Biblical Authority: The Critical Issue for the Body of Christ,
(B&H Publishing Group, 2001), 10.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid.
and empiricism because he recognizes that the individual is not capable of arriving at
ultimate truth either by reason or observation.”26
Rejection of the Christian worldview ultimately stems from a person’s attempts to rationalize
truth through the filter of their own mind or intelligence, when Scripture clearly states that God’s
thoughts are higher than man’s thoughts and His ways are higher than man’s ways (Isaiah
55:9).27 Therefore, writes Keathley, “any time a person says, ‘I do not believe the Bible is correct
at this point,’ he or she is operating from the base of rationalism or human reason.”28
The proportion of young adults who viewed the Bible as the ultimate authority of faith
has slowly declined over an eighteen-year period.29 Robert Wuthnow argues that there is a
possibility that religious beliefs of young adults are affected by their increasing exposure to
multicultural influences and religious diversity in the world.30 “For instance, thirty-two percent
of people in their twenties say they have had at least a fair amount of contact with Muslims,
compared to about a quarter of those in their thirties through early sixties; similarly twenty
percent of people in their twenties claim to have had contact with Buddhists.”31 The effects of
exposure to other religious worldviews discourages young people from holding onto their
orthodox Christian beliefs.
Modern Spiritual Practices of Young Adults
Spirituality for young people is much more than about attending church services or
following biblical doctrine; it is more so about their individual identity and how they feel about
themselves in contrast to how the world views them.32 Sometimes they may feel close to God
while at other times distant and far removed from spiritual mores. Young people interpret their
26 Ibid., 11.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid., 12.
29 Robert Wuthnow, After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future
of American Religion, 100.
30 Ibid., 101.
31 Ibid.
32 Taylor, Richard. Biblical Authority and Christian Faith. Kansas City: The Foundry Publishing, 2008), 84-
85.
life experiences through a spiritual grid and make decisions that reflect those experiences. They
now have the freedom and resources available to find long sought-after answers to “the mysteries
of life in art, music, philosophy, and science as well as through religion.”33
The spiritual practices of young adults are now prefaced with the phrase “I’m spiritual
but not religious” followed by the act of “moving beyond the received wisdom of one’s religious
upbringing and developing a deeper and more personal understanding of one’s own [wisdom].”34
However, this bodes risky on the borderline of apostasy when one trades in the divine wisdom of
the Godhead for the supposed power of horoscopes and crystals while attributing divinity to the
universe. The cultivation of these spiritual practices is not done in the spirit of bringing God
glory but instead with the motive of glorifying self. God declares in Scripture that “no wisdom,
no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord” (Prov. 21:30). “There is a way that
seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Prov. 14:12).
Conclusion
Research from Robert Wuthnow’s book, After the Baby Boomers, shows there is a
possibility that young people, who have a Christian upbringing, will return to their original
orthodox beliefs as they get older, confirming a biblical principle that says when children are
trained up in Christian doctrine, when they are older they will not depart from it (Prov. 22:6).35
Young adulthood is a time of difficult transition and choices. Spiritual inspiration or
rejection originates from the realities of their human life experiences; therefore the Church can
no longer afford to be complacent in the changing lifestyles of young people. “Churches need a
better understanding of the emerging adult population and further insight into how to invite and
incorporate them into the body of Christ.”36 There is also a need for an improved biblical
33 Robert Wuthnow, After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future
of American Religion, 127.
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid., 127-128.
36 Anderson, Deann Halligan. "Emerging Adults: Inviting and Incorporating them into the Body of Christ."
Asbury Theological Seminary, 2013. ProQuest Central; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global,
http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/1468695842?
vocabulary among church goers and those who profess to have a Christian worldview so that the
questions and concerns from young people are not disregarded or rejected as disrespect.
Overall, biblical authority carries deep-seated implications for the Christian and the
Church. The Christian church is called to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that [Christ] has commanded” (Matt. 28:19-20). Spiritual leaders cannot be content
waiting idly for prodigals to return to their congregation; there must be an active plan to go out
and shepherd the saved and unsaved back into the fold with grace. “Grace isn’t ignoring or
overlooking every sin” but instead choosing to see young people like God sees them.37 The
underlying goal should always be to help those who are lost see Jesus. The introduction of proper
discipleship into family and church settings can indeed shift the negative trend of young people
who are abandoning their faith.
accountid=12085.
37 Steve Wright and Chris Graves, ApParent Privilege, (Nashville: InQuest Ministries, Inc. 2008), 158.
Bibliography
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Christ." Asbury Theological Seminary, 2013. ProQuest Central; ProQuest Dissertations &
Theses Global, http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/1468695842?accountid=12085.
CItJ, James E. Adulthood: The Changing Nature of Maturity and Identity. New York: New York
University Press, 2000.
Keathley, Kenneth and James T. Draper. Biblical Authority: The Critical Issue for the Body of
Christ. B&H Publishing Group, 2001.
Kinnaman, David and Lyons, Gabe. UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about
Christianity... and Why It Matters. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007.
Kinnaman, David and Hawkins, Aly. You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church...
and Rethinking Faith. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2011.
Kurth, James. "A Tale of Two Collapses: The Twin Declines of the Christian Faith and the
Traditional Family." Harvard Theological Review 106, no. 4 (10, 2013): 479-89,
http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/1444440592?accountid=12085.
Smith, Christian, Kari Marie Christofferson, Hilary Davidson, and Patricia Snell Herzog. Lost in
Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood. New York, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2011.
Smith, Christian, and Patricia Snell. Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of
Emerging Adults. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Taylor, Richard. Biblical Authority and Christian Faith. Kansas City: The Foundry Publishing,
2008.
Wright, Steve, and Chris Graves. ApParent Privilege. Nashville: InQuest Ministries, Inc. 2008.
Wuthnow, Robert. After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping
the Future of American Religion. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007.
