We're Losing a Generation

According to Barna Research, 64% of young adults who grew up in church stop attending by their late twenties. Lifeway found similar numbers: 66% of those who attended regularly as teens stop attending for at least a year.

But here's what's underneath those numbers: Pew Research found that while about 73% of those raised Christian still identify as Christian, roughly one in four have left the faith entirely. And for every person who converts to Christianity, six others walk away.

The church has spent decades asking why they leave. But maybe the better question is: why would they stay?

Recent research points to a clear answer: 84% of adults who had positive childhood experiences with faith remain in that faith. But among those who had negative experiences? Nearly 70% now have no religion at all. They didn't lose something they treasured. Many never experienced faith as something worth keeping.

We drop kids into Sunday School and teach them Bible stories as if belief is inherited. As if being in the room makes them Christians. We answer questions they haven't asked yet, and we skip the questions they will ask.

But kids become teenagers. Teenagers become adults. And somewhere along the way, they're going to sit in a dorm room or a break room or a quiet moment and think: Do I actually believe this? Why?

The data is clear: when the childhood experience of faith is shallow, scripted, or negative, the faith doesn't stick. But when it's real—when questions are welcomed, when formation runs deep—people stay.