Why are young people leaving the church?

I’ve been uploading the first youth group series to this blog over the past couple of months, and I’m glad we started by Exploring Ephesians. But there are more aspects to running a youth group then just having a good Bible study series…

Claire Williams at Get Real has identified 4 reasons why Millenials and Gen Z are leaving the church, and even more crucially directs us to some ways to combat these. I would 100% recommend watching her Youtube series and having a conversation with your Youth group leaders and young people about

  • Disillusionment,

  • Deconstruction,

  • Disengement, and

  • Decollonisation.

These do also mesh quite nicely with the themes of mission, unity and christian living which we find in Ephesians, so do have those conversations!

Here are some easy questions to follow up the videos:

  • Is this an issue which young people, in your experience, do care about?

  • Is this something you personally feel strongly about?

  • Where do you as a youth group or Church fail to connect well with this issue?

  • What is a first step you can take to engage with this?/What would an ideal way of connecting with this look like?

  • Ask God to help youbuild relationship with young people in and outside of your church.