On Evangelical Youth Leaving the Church

I would like to add some general conversation starters to the observations that many are making in our day, most notably, Russell Moore, concerning the loss of the evangelical youth.

Moore’s argument is that young evangelicals are “leaving the church because they believe that the church itself does not believe what it teaches.” The argument used by Moore is a bit of a switch from the previous assertions that evangelical support of dogmatic theological positions and the brashness of a Trump presidency have driven the youth away from the tradition of Billy Graham. So, which is it: is it our dogma concerning creational ordinances like “no sex before marriage,” or “prohibition of same/sex union,” or “deep commitment to Nicene Religion”? Or, is it that we don’t believe any of it, after all?

Set aside the ongoing contradiction of prevailing voices in our culture, there are deeper questions to consider beyond the statistical evidence-whatever the ultimate cause may be.

For instance, under what theological framework did these children grow up throughout their lives? Was it a theology of fear or one that pressed the claims of King Jesus? Are we merely seeing the results of faulty theological paradigms coming home to roost like dispensationalism, public education, civic-calendar-driven church life, female-led congregations, invitationism/revivalism/Finneyism?

What I am seeing on the ground is that the youth are leaving because they have been catechized in particular trendy hashtags. They are not leaving because their pastor supported Republican figures explicitly, but because they supported Biden’s policies implicitly.

I would be curious to analyze these youths straying from conservative churches to find out whether they affirm basic Christian doctrines on sexuality and classic economic policies. My suspicion is that when orthodox Christendom is practiced it serves as a marker to determine inclinations, and what we have discovered is that many were headed towards Leftism all along and that the Trump presidency–for instance– was ultimately an easy rationale used to protect what was clearly in their hearts and also the obvious trajectories of their minds.

On the other hand, we do need to analyze carefully from whence these youth are coming. My small denomination has grown these past 18 months, and there are always cases of apostasy, but it is nowhere close to what evangelicalism is experiencing broadly. I suspect other biblically saturated denominations are experiencing similar trends.

The response–as I have argued for a long time–must be grounded in allegiance and rituals. Allegiances to the good and formational rituals keep first things first with the youth. Conservative politics is the result, in my estimation. But it is a consequence of a beautiful life lived and a joyful liturgy practiced. When the youth ground themselves in the Creeds and Classical Theology, there is no reason to pursue leftists ideologies afterward; at least not naturally.

There are always exceptions, but I suspect the real reason for the youth leaving was not Trump, or that churches do not believe their own dogma, but ultimately, history provides big episodes that mark eras, and our era is marked by a trivialization of the holy. We have allowed our causes and hobbies to keep us from growing up into maturity and Christ-likeness. We have given our children a pass from liturgical education and we formulated liturgies of our own divorced from the holy city and added to that, our sense of selectivity when it comes to friends and spouses has derailed us from the covenant vision. We have allowed convenience to challenge our convictions.

I don’t find any joy in the loss of the evangelical youth, but I do find renewed opportunities for the liturgical education: a ritualized worship that draws the child and then the youth, and then the married man and woman into the gates of Jerusalem for generations to come.