I see a lot of Christian friends on facebook (particularly the older ones) who show genuine concern that they are losing newer generations from the church. Kids will be raised going to church, and then mysteriously stop when they get older. I have seen some good articles and some bad ones, so I thought I would make my own explanation from my own experience. Here are the 2 biggest reasons I see why my generation is dropping their religious devotion:
The Outside World is Demonized
Growing up, many Christian families get caught up in the hype about the modern world being evil. While undoubtedly there is a lot of evil out there, Christians tend to get all "gung ho" to throw a witch hunt against issues that often times are ridiculous in nature. I was not allowed to read the Harry Potter books as a child because there were witches and wizards and witchcraft in it. However, I was encouraged to read the Chronicles of Narnia, which also contained witches, wizards, and witchcraft. Parents weren't looking into the content of those books, they were just looking at how it got accepted by the general Christian community. Now, of course, I love Harry Potter, and ironically so do my parents now. Christians are also generally told to avoid abbreviations like "X-mas", that our children are being brainwashed because they took prayer out of schools, and that the world is only a few thousand years old, science is wrong because it is straying from God. When children question these things, they generally find that these are all misinformed. "X-mas" has historically been an abbreviation used by Christians, X being the Greek letter "chi" (Χ or χ), which is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ, which is Χριστός. Children can still pray in schools, it just can't be led by teachers so that students don't feel religion being pushed on them by authority. And there is a lot of literature to suggest the world is billions of years old, not thousands, which is vastly supported by the academic community. Children who were raised in the church start to see that the secular world isn't all that bad, and actually seems to make sense.
Church Kids Are Not Knowledgeable
When kids leave the bubble of their families, they find all sorts of questions being thrown their way. Youth groups tend to focus more on feeling God than thinking about him. I stopped by a proxe station to participate in with my bible study last year. For those of you who don't know, a proxe station is a booth set up by Christians to talk to strangers about God. I love talking to strangers about their religious views, so I was excited. When I got there, a Christian girl who I didn't know was talking to a non-Christian who had really good questions. He asked her about the Trinity. How did she respond? She simply restated that she believed that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ would grant eternal salvation. He asked about the authorship of the New Testament. She responds with her relationship with God. Now I understand that the Trinity is a hard concept, but she actually had someone asking questions about her faith and she ignored them! I actually jumped in the conversation and engaged his questions and cut the girl off when she was ungracefully trying to avoid his questions. The guy left and shook my hand and thanked me for talking to him, asking what my views were. I said I was a Christian and he was surprised. As was the girl. This is a very common problem: Christians are willing to die defending their belief in "God's Word" but are generally uninterested in reading it or studying its background. They don't know how to deal with hard questions because, generally speaking, they are less interested in understanding their worldview than sharing it. For a Christian looking for answers once they leave home, this is a major turn off. It seems like Christians are more interested in feeling good than understanding reality.
So how could either of these things be avoided? As parents, look into what you are deeming "sinful" or "evil". Don't be so quick to jump on the bandwagon if churches are eagerly boycotting something. If your child asks you a difficult question, answer honestly. If you don't know the answer, research it on your own. Group mentality is a scary thing, and when it's under a religious label, your children might be wary to put that label on themselves if they think it is ridiculous to the real world. And if you are currently a youngster or a Christian or anyone for that matter, ask questions! Look for answers! Understand your faith and be able to tell people why it is you are living differently than others. In the modern age it is one of the biggest insults to be labeled "ignorant". If you are wanting to share your faith, do so in a intelligent way. Or if you really feel uneasy about your lack of knowledge, do less evangelizing with your mouth and focus on sharing your faith with your actions, which I would argue is the most persuasive form of sharing the gospel.
Now of course there is a lot that cannot be avoided. Attitudes towards premarital sex, gay marriage, and general place of religion in everyday life have changed a lot throughout the years and the conservative church is naturally under attack. There's a good chance that kids will change their views. But what better way to defend your child against heterodoxy than through understanding and genuineness? While Christians tend to not want to "lean on their own understanding", a religion cannot continue to grow unless it is supported by rationalization. That doesn't mean than your own rationales should replace your faith, but it should instead support it to make it stronger.
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