Mass Exodus: How the Church Is Losing the Youth

Overprotective. Shallow. Repressive. These are all words some Christian youth have used to describe their faith experience. That perception undoubtedly explains why recent studies show more than half of all Christian teens and 20-somethings are distancing themselves from today’s Church.

The Barna group, a nonpartisan research company, has found that almost 60 percent of young people ages 15-29 have left active involvement. This phenomenon has been examined by researcher David Kinnaman in his new book, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith.

Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, explains the reasoning behind the mass exodus and how the Christian community has failed to equip young adults to live “in but not of” the world. His study debunks popular myths about these dropouts and imagines the future of Christianity if the Church as a whole ignores the exodus of its youth.

Kinnaman talked more about why young people are disengaging from the church in droves and how he sees the future of Christianity as a result. Click play for the full interview, as aired on “The 700 Club.”