{"id":819218,"date":"2024-01-10T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T11:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=819218"},"modified":"2024-05-27T09:27:03","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T14:27:03","slug":"8-reasons-some-young-people-are-walking-away-from-their-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/8-reasons-some-young-people-are-walking-away-from-their-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Reasons Some Young People Are Walking away from Their Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s alarming to me, actually. As a pastor and as a professor, I\u2019ve had to deal with young people who were raised in seemingly strong Christian homes, yet who\u2019ve now turned away from their Christian upbringing. Frankly, I\u2019m grateful that some of these young people still trust me enough to talk to me\u2014and in those conversations, I\u2019ve learned some of the reasons they\u2019ve walked in a new direction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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    1. Their faith was never really theirs in the first place.<\/b> They did what they knew others wanted them to do. They followed in the steps of their parents and grandparents. What they never really did, though, was make that faith their own.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. They\u2019ve seen too much hypocrisy among believers. <\/b>Sometimes, to be honest, they\u2019ve seen the hypocrisy in their own homes; their parents weren\u2019t the same people at home that they were at church. In other cases, these young people have seen the moral failure of far too many church leaders.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. They have never really been discipled themselves.<\/b> Even though they grew up in a Christian home, no one walked arm-in-arm with these believers to help them get grounded in their faith, to stand against the devil, and to walk in victory. They\u2019ve had to \u201cfigure it all out\u201d largely on their own\u2014and that\u2019s made them vulnerable.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. They live in an ever-changing culture that gives them permission to live differently than their Christian upbringing demands.<\/b> When I was younger, you may have wrestled with lifestyle issues, but you did it quietly and alone. That\u2019s not the case anymore. Culture now invites and welcomes deconstruction of faith.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. They have never had anyone legitimately hear their questions, much less try to answer them.<\/b> Too many older believers have simply criticized their doubt and called them to \u201cjust believe.\u201d It\u2019s accurate that we must believe, but belief that cannot answer opposing questions is surely lacking.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    6. They have had no real grounding in the Word.<\/b> This issue, of course, is connected to #3 above. Others have told them, \u201cThis is the Word of God,\u201d but no one\u2019s helped them know <\/span>why <\/span><\/i>we believe that about the Word. These young people now approach the Bible with skepticism\u2014<\/span>if <\/span><\/i>they approach it at all.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    7. They\u2019re dealing with sin in their lives.<\/b> I don\u2019t remember who made this statement, but I\u2019ve never forgotten the statement about believers who turn from their faith: \u201cImmorality often precedes unbelief.\u201d Sometimes, young people walk in another direction in their beliefs because they\u2019ve already walked that way in their actions.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    8. They\u2019ve found a stronger community outside the church than within. <\/b>They\u2019ve found friends, fun, and fellowship with others\u2014things they for some reason did not get in the church. We know their community with others might be fleeting, but their eyes are on the immediate rather than the long-term. They like what they\u2019re getting now.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      What reasons would you add to this list? What\u2019s been your experience? <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s alarming to me, actually. As a pastor and as a professor, I\u2019ve had to deal with young people who were raised in seemingly strong Christian homes, yet who\u2019ve now turned away from their Christian upbringing. Frankly, I\u2019m grateful that some of these young people still trust me enough to talk to me\u2014and in those…","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":819219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,184,175,14796,180,18470,185],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-819218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-discipleship","category-grow","category-monday-wednesday-featured","category-outreach-and-evangelism","category-prayer-grow","category-worship"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n8 Reasons Some Young People Are Walking away from Their Faith | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s alarming to me, actually. 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