Failure: Introduction
Bookposting
(Note: my new Cultural Breakdown video is up! I discussed immigration and what God expects of Christian voters on the matter. You can also catch the audio version on the Church Reset feed via your podcast app.)
As a thank you to paying subscribers, I’m going to be sharing chapters of my books fairly regularly. Most of the posts will be from previously published books (all available at Focus Press, most available at Amazon), but as I complete chapters of upcoming books I will be sending those out, too.
Since it’s summer and a new school year is rapidly approaching, I decided to start with my first book, Failure: What Christian Parents Need to Know About American Education, published 10 years ago this month.
Introduction
I am no prophet of doom, but it is not an exaggeration to say the church is in trouble. As many small churches die, elderships disappear, and the pulpit becomes harder and harder to fill, we’re in a steep uphill battle. Perhaps most concerning is the fact that we can’t seem to effectively keep those who grow up in the church.
You’ve undoubtedly heard the claims that our youth are leaving the church in droves. Dr. Flavil Yeakley, a statistician among the churches of Christ, reported in 2008 that 55-60% remain faithful as members. According to this study, we are losing 40-45% of our young people in their post-high school years and nearly half of the young people raised in the church will not remain faithful.
Dr. Yeakley also cited a study from around twenty years ago that lists the dropout rate around 55%. One campus minister estimated the dropout rate to be 80%[1]. As we know, merely being listed in a church directory as a member does not make one faithful, nor does attending regularly. So, the amount of souls lost inwardly is likely even higher than the numbers these studies have revealed.
Of course, this issue is not unique to the churches of Christ. The Southern Baptist Convention estimated in 2002 that 88% of children reared in evangelical homes leave the church[2]. The Barna Group stated in 2006 that 61% of those in their twenties who had spent their teen years in church are now spiritually disengaged and only 20% of that same group maintain a level of spiritual activity consistent with what they did in high school[3].
So, while the churches of Christ might be doing somewhat better than the denominational world, we’re still failing miserably. Even at that, the denominational statistics don’t have to count those who jump from one group to the next. When you believe in the existence of one church, though, your statistics have to factor in all of those instances where a young person deserted for another faith ideology. That means it’s entirely possible and even likely that the dropout rate within the church of Christ is even higher than those the protestant churches report.