Keeping Young People in the Faith: A Surprising Discovery

I was wrong. Embarrassingly so. I had been working with young leaders at a Christian camp for twenty years, and I thought I knew what made Christian young people tick. And I gave the wrong answer to the most basic question of all.

Over the years that followed my time at camp, I ran into people who had been young leaders at the camp. Some were doing well in their life of faith, others not so much. Some had given up the faith altogether, and that was distressing.

During a sabbatical from Wycliffe College, I decided to try and track down as many of those young leaders as I could and find out how they were doing in their faith.

We had worked with some 1,200 young people over the years. With the help of our friend the internet, I tracked down 600 of those and sent them a questionnaire. Over 300 responded. The results produced a book, Growing Up Christian: Why Young People Stay in Church, Leave Church, and (Sometimes) Come Back to Church.

How I embarrassed myself

But I am putting off telling you my embarrassing mistake, and it is time to confess. If they still considered themselves Christians (and not all did), I asked them what had kept them in the faith. I gave them seventeen options from which they could choose as many as they liked. They were also asked to prioritize their choices.

All researchers have their hunches as to what they will find, but at the same time, they have to be open to having their assumptions overturned. What would be your hunch as to why young people stay in the faith for the long haul? I bet you would choose the same answers that I did: good Christian friends and older Christian mentors. And did I mention I was wrong? Ah yes, I did. And if you guessed those things, you were wrong too. Misery loves company.

So, what was the main factor inspiring people to stay with the faith? Drumroll, please. Number one reason? “My personal relationship with God.” Well, duh. I felt pretty stupid that I didn’t foresee that. If it makes you feel better, friends and mentors came a close second (83%) and third (82%) choice. But God came first (89%).

What might that mean for youth ministry?

One friend who read the book was a teacher of the Bible in a Christian school. She took the lesson to heart and introduced into her curriculum such items as “looking for God in everyday life” and “listening for the voice of Jesus.” Would you believe that some Christian parents complained, and asked for more Bible instead? One parent actually accused the teacher of teaching New Age practices and withdrew his child from the school.

So, if I were leading a youth program now, what are some ways I might open doors for them to experience God? Here are just a few:

• In Bible studies, I would spend more time teaching an Ignatian approach (where you imagine yourself as a character in a Bible story) or in Lectio Divina (where you simply look for a word or phrase that speaks to you).
• I would explain to them “the divine game of Pinzatski,” as author Murray Pura calls it. He describes how, on a camping trip, people would challenge one another as to what something they saw said about God: a golden eagle? God’s freedom. A sunset? The peace of God. Ants? That God uses the weak and foolish things. A field of flowers? The extravagance of God. You get the idea.
• I would want them to try the examen, the Ignatian idea that at the end of the day (and perhaps at other times), you pause and review the “consolations” (times when God seemed near) and “desolations” (times when God seemed absent) and ask God what he is trying to say through those things.
• Personally, I love to consider how God is present to me in my interactions with other people. Since God is at work in them, what am I seeing and feeling of God as I talk with them?

There are so many other things. I know, for myself, that I have been helped by journalling, the Eucharist, corporate worship, seeing answers to prayer, silence, and spiritual direction. And you can probably think of more.

How do young people continue as Christians? Yes, mentors are indispensable. Yes, friends are crucial. But let’s not forget the most important thing of all: learning skills for dwelling in a living relationship with God. Isn’t that why Jesus came?