Barna states “That young adults between 17 and 35 make up approximately 35% of our population nationally, but within our churches, most are lucky if they average 10%. This is not a foundation upon which to build the future of our ministries! Echo-Boomers are abandoning the institutional churches they were raised in.
The Numbers
Some stats say more than 70% of children and youth leave the Church by the age of 18.
Of those who stay approximately 90% of those leave by the age of 25.
If these numbers are true we have lost 97% of all the children, youth, and young adults who have either grown up or attended a Church.
The Numbers
One evangelical denomination study showed only 10% of all the youth who attended it’s youth conventions, camps, and events in the last decade were now attending any Church.
If you do a quick search on the internet you are going to find numbers and statistics that are mind boggling. Some studies show we lose the vast majority of the youth in churches by the age of eighteen. Of those more committed who stay past the age of eighteen most of them leave by the age of twenty five. In recent years several youth specialists claim that only three to five percent of all the children and youth who either grew up in the church or attended church have become active adults in it.
It must be understood that this is not effecting just any one denomination. In the Western World thousands of churches are closing every year, while only a fraction of those numbers are being planted. This is an issue for the Evangelicals, Catholics, Protestant, Pentecostal, Baptists, Charismatic, and every other Church group.
However, we do not believe that the these numbers show how many people have left their faith behind. While many in this age group have turned their backs on traditional churches but not on God. A great number are turning to other forms of meeting together, worship, and service.
Goodbye Generation is not about the study of numbers but rather an attempt to understand people. The truth is we are losing people we have poured our lives into, kids are walking away from the faith of their parents, people have left hurt and disillusioned. We are asking you to be part of turning the tide.
In fact we believe that God is using this group to call the church back to what is really important. We are seeing young people who will not settle for empty religion and form. They are looking for genuine encounters with God, real community, and are looking to live out their faith in practical ways. They want to see and live out what they have heard about growing up in the church. We have so much to look forward to.
Quotes from emails we received
