3 Reasons Why Your Kids Are Abandoning Their Faith

Young people today see Christianity as an outdated tradition of the past, and they are walking away from it. For many of you, this is deeply personal. We’re not just talking about statistics, but your sons and daughters.

Below is a list of four common reasons why young people are leaving their faith.

I hope these insights will help you respond in a relevant and loving way.

1. The Cost Is Too High

‍Go back fifty years in America and most people identified as Christians. With very few exceptions, your neighbors, colleagues, and friends viewed Jesus, the Bible, and the Church as moral authorities and positive forces in society.

Christianity was mainstream.

Today, being a Christian means you are immoral, with outdated and bigoted views on sex, gender, race, and family.

Many young people are choosing to go with the stream of culture and abandon their faith, rather than face being ostracized for their beliefs.

The cost of following Jesus is too high.

2. The Cost Is Too Low

On the other hand, the cost is too low. Sensing the growing exodus of young people from the Church, many Christian leaders have reacted by trying to make it more attractive. Cool buildings, great music, and good coffee - this will slow the bleed, right? But that isn’t the answer.

What young people need is the real Gospel, which will cost them everything.

A cultural Christianity is not worth sacrificing for, but the real Jesus is worth dying for. The world is desperate for purpose and meaning, and Christian young people are no different. We were made for a battle with spiritual significance, not video games, pornography, and social media.

3. All Talk, No Power

‍A powerless Gospel will not compete with the allure of the world, and yet sadly this is all many young people have experienced. They grew up in church and went to the youth group and the camps. They can sing the songs and say all the right words.

But God has never been real for them - He’s just a subject they study. Paul knew this, and it changed his approach. He wrote, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” - 1 Corinthians 2:3-5

Paul himself had a radical encounter with the living God and it changed everything.

Many young people walk away from their relationship with God because they never really had one in the first place. It was a subject to study or a tradition to follow, but it never became personal.

Sadly, an inherited faith will never survive in the real world - the resistance is too great and the cost too high.

So what do we do?

For many of us, this is a very painful conversation. At times our prodigal sons and daughters seem beyond reach, but there is hope!

While there are no easy answers or quick fixes, I am convinced that no one is beyond the love of God. In my blog, “What Do I Do When My Kid Walks Away From God,” I offer three practical steps that anyone can take right now.