Millions of “twentysomething” Americans have not made a commitment
to church a priority in their lives as they move beyond the college years and
into the workforce, a recently-released study indicates.
Millions of “twentysomething” Americans have not made a commitment
to church a priority in their lives as they move beyond the college years and
into the workforce, a recently-released study indicates.
That includes those who were active in the church during their teenage years,
The Barna Research Group study also indicated twentysomethings are far less
likely than older adults to donate to churches, to serve as volunteers or to
read the Bible.
However, the young adults do admit that they often pray to God.
Still, in an American culture focused on individualism, some of the most crucial
decisions made by people from age 20 to 29 are being influenced by peoples
desire to determine their own personal fulfillment and purpose in life –
and apart from the traditional sources of Christian input, researchers reported.
This includes such life-altering decisions by young adults as whether to finish
college, what career to pursue, where to live and whether to get married.
Only three out of 10 twentysomethings attend church in a typical week, the
Barna study found. This compares to four out of 10 of persons in their 30s and
nearly half of all adults 40 and older.
And just 22 percent of those ages 25 to 29 – those most likely to have
transitioned from education to the workforce – attended church in the past
week, the study indicated.
For those who were active in church as teenagers, there is a 42 percent decrease
in weekly church attendance and a 58 percent drop from age 18 to 29. The study
said that represents about 8 million twentysomethings alive today who were active
churchgoers as teenagers but who no longer will be active by their 30th birthday.
“Christianity is not going to whither away among twentysomethings –
more than 10 million are active church-goers and very committed to the Christian
faith,” said David Kinnaman, vice president of theBarna Research Group
and director of the recent twentysomething study.
“But the real issue is how churches will respond to the faithquakes that
are reverberating through our nations young adults,” he emphasized.
“The notion that these people will return to the church when they get older
or once they become parents is only true in a minority of cases.
“More importantly, that reasoning ignores the real issue: Millions of
twentysomethings are crystallizing their views of life without the input of
church leaders, the Bible or other mature Christians,” Kinnaman said.
“If we simply wait for them to come back to church later in adulthood,
not only will most of those people never return, but also, we would miss the
chance to alter their life trajectory during a critical phase.
“And besides, what church couldnt use the infusion of energy, ideas
and leadership that young adults can bring to the table?”
When it comes to financial matters, only about 30 percent of twentysomethings
donated to a church in the past year, the Barna study found. This compares to
61 percent of older adults who did so.
In addition, Bible reading levels are about 33 percent less among twentysomethings
than among older adults.
“Since the postmodern viewpoint emphasizes that an individuals experience
and personal insight are the prime sources of determining whats important
in life, the decline in Bible usage is another sign that many twentysomethings
are trying to make sense of life without traditional sources of Christian input,”
Kinnaman said.
Indeed, just one-third of twentysome-things claims to be absolutely committed
to Christianity, compared to more than half of all older adults, the research
showed.
Twentysomethings also tend to feel overlooked as potential leaders in their
churches, the study said. Indeed, just 4 percent of young adults currently serve
as a lay leader at their church.
Even so, people in their 20s and 30s are more likely than older adults to see
themselves as leaders and are more open to training that would make them better
leaders.
However, the research found that young adults are busy, skeptical of churches
and unwilling to commit to classroom-style training without hands-on leadership
opportunities.
Thus, mentoring is the most appealing method of leadership development for
their age group, researchers said.
Despite the statistical decline in commitment to Christianity among twentysomething
Americans, the Barna study found that more than 80 percent of them said their
religious faith is very important in their life, and nearly 57 percent claimed
to have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in
their life.
In addition, the fact that 75 percent of twentysomethings surveyed said they
had prayed to God in the past week indicates they have a desire for personal
spiritual experience, the study said (BP)
(The data in the study was collected from 14,091 telephone interviews with
several nationwide random samples of adults, including 2,660 adults ages 20
to 29. The study has a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percent to 2 percent.)