Apologists gathered on an AFA broadcast “Church Dropout: Overcoming the Youth Exodus” to discuss the pervasive problem of youths leaving the church. Those in attendance included Frank Turek, William Lane Craig, Bill Dembski, Mike Adams and Josh McDowell.
Citing surveys by The Barna Group and LifeWay Research, (Frank) Turek says that about three in four youths who are brought up in the church walk away from the church after high school. And the problem exists across denominations “from Roman Catholic to Pentecostal and everything in between,” he said … One in five surveyed young adults said they wanted to take a break from church once they finished high school. Responding to the excuse, Turek said students are likely to think college is “a good time to put God on the back burner” because they are on their own for the first time and “don’t really want to live like a Christian” during their college years.
Their conclusions? Youths need to be challenged about and taught the truth, intellectually why Christianity is true, and why and what they believe. A good book related to this topic written by McDowell is Beyond Belief to Conviction.
