I often hear worries about the future of the church geared towards the younger generation. People will voice their concerns over the “graying of the church” and the lack of commitment in younger generations. The perception is the church is getting older and keeping less of its young people. But what do the statistics bear out?
In recent data from the pewforum.org* tells us in general the younger generation is less religious than previous generations. However, in the churches of Christ this is not the case. In fact, the average age among the members of churches of Christ is less than the general population. The Church of Christ has about 22% of its membership between the ages of 18-29, as compared to denominational world where that percentage is between 12% to 8%. Approximately 54% of the members of the church are under the age of 50. The church will retain 70% of its children while most denominations keep only 62%of theirs.
So what do these numbers tell us? Many today have radical ideas about what should be done to fix the perceived problem in the church. Another statistic gives us an interesting view point. Churches of Christ that by their own definition define themselves as extreme right or extreme left lose 60% of their younger people, either the world or denominations respectively. This shows us the answer is not in the extremes but rather in keeping with the core values the church has been teaching since the 1st century. If we follow God’s plan for his church, there is no need to worry about the future.
* I got these statics from Phil Sanders lesson Why Young Adults Leave the Faith, And What WeCan Do and he credited them.
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