YOUT350-D01-LUO
Campus Ministries
By
Melissa Sirmons
LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Reading Report: You Lost Me
The book
by David Kinnaman is a two hundred- and fifty-four-page book that is well written and easy to
read. This book takes a plunge into why young adults that grew up in church are leaving the
church. It really opens the readers eyes on why so many youth end up leaving the
church. Kinnman states that “Most of their stories include significant disengagement from
church—and sometimes from Christianity altogether.”1
Kinnman’s book is one that takes a research-based plunge into why young adults are
leaving the church and sometimes faith all together. He breaks the book down into three parts the
dropouts, disconnections, and reconnections. First, we will dive into the dropouts. The dropouts
consist of 4 chapters that give a big insight into why young adults are dropping out when it
comes to church and their faith. He also compares the generations of today to previous
generations. In all their research and comparisons, they were able to identify six ways that youth
of today feel disconnected which are overprotective, shallow, anti-science, repressive, exclusive,
and doubtless. We see through all the research is that the lack of discipleship has really impacted
the young adults causing them to not be engaged because they are only seen as the future of the
church and not the present church.
In part two which consists of six chapters, Kinnman breaks down each of the six reasons
that teens and young adults feel disconnected . After all the research Kinnman and his team
thought that there would be one singular reason with a possibility of two or three reasons but to
Summary
Introduction
You Lost me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith
1
David Kinnaman and Aly Hawkins,
Faith(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011), 9.
You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church … and Rethinking
Personally, as a Children’s Ministry Director this kind of book is important for me. Soon
I will be transitioning to the family ministry Director within my church which will involve youth
as well and I believe it is important that we understand to meet children, teens and young adults
where they are. It highlights the need to help process and apply the things they learn along with
the things that the world throws at them without them feeling left behind. I cannot wait to see
their surprise there were many. He says, “Instead of one or two “biggies,” we discovered a wide
range of perspectives, frustrations, and disillusionments that compel twentysomethings to
disconnect. No single reason pushes a majority of young adults to drop out.”2 While this research
is great it is based on the perception of the person answering the questions and therefore not
everything will work universally when trying to fix the problems but having a baseline idea
always helps.
Once the problems are identified Kinnman moves into part three which is reconnections.
In the two chapters there are many scenarios that can be used to try and reconnect the
disconnected within the church. He says, “Finally, I have learned that the Christian community
needs to reprioritize wisdom in order to live faithfully in a discontinuously different culture.”3
Kinnman along with some collaborators give fifty different ways that could potentially fit to
different situations. Overall he concludes that the churches should consider how we are
disciplining, reevaluate callings and vocations, and prioritize wisdom instead of information in
the pursuit of God.
Personal Response
2
David Kinnaman and Aly Hawkins, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church … and Rethinking
Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011), 91.
3
David Kinnaman and Aly Hawkins, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church … and Rethinking
Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011), 210.
how this affects my ministry in the future. Looks like this or a great way to be proactive instead
of reactive when presented with situations.
In America, Christianity is constantly dealing with the issue of young adults leaving the
church and reconsidering their faith. Kinnman does a good job with his research giving some
insight into why this is happening and ways we can correct it. As leaders in the church is
important to understand these reasons in order to develop lasting solutions to the issues. We may
not always get it right but if we have a better understanding we can alter the way we disciple the
next generation. Proverbs 22:6 says that if we train up a child in the way he should go; even
when he is old he will not depart from it.4
Conclusion
4
Ibid
. Wheaton, Illinois 60187: Crossway, 2017.
David Kinnaman and Aly Hawkins,
and Rethinking Faith(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011).
Bibliography
ESV Study Bible
You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church …
