Church kids leaving the church

I have often quoted the George Barna research showing around 70% of kids from the church who go to public school (and over 80% of kids from church homes go to public schools) say they are going to leave the church when they finish school.

Recently, an Agape Press report detailed a great concern in the Southern Baptist church over church kids who leave the church. The report stated:

The new president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) says he is disturbed that many students in both public and private schools -- even Christian private schools -- are leaving the church once they graduate [...] Dr. Frank Page, the denomination's new president, says SBC churches need to counter that statistic by finding ways to make themselves more relatable, more pertinent and significant to students before they graduate.

The report further states:

Some blame the church "drop-out rate" among young people after they graduate on the secularist influence of America's public schools. However, the SBC's president observes, "The sad thing is that we're seeing that number of dropouts from church [among] those who went to public school and private school, and that's an unfortunate trend." [...] The Southern Baptist leader says churches must find ways to connect with this young adult demographic -- Generation X, the bridger generation, or "whatever you want to call it" -- and must do a better job of discipling members of this group. A big part of the problem, he contends, "is that our churches simply are not relating to or seeming relevant to these students."

AiG has been telling the church for years that the teaching of millions of years / evolution, etc., in both public schools and many Christian schools, and the failure of the church to teach people how to defend their faith in today’s world has greatly contributed to Generation X leaving the church and believing the church is irrelevant. Sadly, most churches teach what we call just "Bible stories" and do not teach the astronomical, anthropological, geological and biological history of the universe according to Genesis, connecting this to fossils, death and suffering, etc., and they are not teaching answers to what the world is teaching today to undermine the credibility of the Bible in people’s eyes. Generation X overwhelmingly does not believe the Bible is the absolute authority—by and large because the church has not stood on the authority of God’s Word beginning in Genesis.

AiG GOING TO MEXICO

Mally and I leave Thursday (our team members leave Wednesday) for the Home School Conference in Mexico. I will also be speaking at a country church in Mexico. My translator for the Home School Conference will do simultaneous translation. AiG is videotaping the conference so we can have the equivalent of a Creation Seminar in Spanish. This will be a great outreach to the massive numbers of Spanish-speaking people around the world.

GOAL FEEDBACK FROM AUSTRALIA

I've almost finished reading yours and Kens book (Genesis Of A Legacy). It was good to read a little about your family upbringing, and how your Father gave your family the solid foundation of a good Christian upbringing. I never had that Christian based foundation for my upbringing---I wish I had had that foundation in my earlier life (I would have been changed for the better). The book is an encouragement and inspiration to leave just such a legacy should [my wife] and I be blessed.

BEACON OF LIGHT

We do receive emails from all around the world thanking us for the answersingenesis.org website—like this one received this week:

I'm a [...] student at Adelaide University [in Australia] at the moment---I really commend you on this site and its related efforts. I have seen much heart-rending mind-bending evidence wars for and against all these different philosophies, including many of the numerous sites which attack this site, but I keep coming back to this one, and I believe whole-heartedly that it is the most sound. Sound theologically and logically, and of a warm spiritedness that I can find few other places. I really support your work and I hope it continues fruitfully. I will pray for you all, And I hope this site will be a beacon of light [...] Thank you for being here.

We have received many positive comments about the website, and also recently on AiG’s gracious approach ("warm spiritedness") on its website. Bodie Hodge has received many such comments on his Friday feedbacks.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAY

AiG staff member Dave Jolly, who is a researcher for the Creation Museum, sent me some photographs he took on the weekend. The Creation Museum needed some photographs of hummingbirds for one particular exhibit. I thought I would show you what Dave was able to accomplish—see the attached photographs.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying—please pray for the Mexico outreach. Also pray for Dr. David Crandall—he has one more main meeting in Australia this coming Sunday before returning home.

Ken