Why Is the Church Losing Her Kids? And What Can Be Done About It? - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Why Is the Church Losing Her Kids? And What Can Be Done About It? Truth Conference Peoria, IL Rich Knopp, MA, MDiv, PhD Room For Doubt Coordinator Professor of Philosophy & Apologetics Lincoln Christian University Session Webpage:
Why Is the Church Losing Her Kids? And What Can Be Done About It?
Session Webpage: www.worldvieweyes.org/truth2016.html
Rich Knopp, MA, MDiv, PhD Room For Doubt Coordinator Professor of Philosophy & Apologetics Lincoln Christian University
Truth Conference Peoria, IL
Rich Knopp, MA, MDiv, PhD Room For Doubt Coordinator Professor of Philosophy & Apologetics Lincoln Christian University
Why Is the Church Losing Her Kids? And What Can Be Done About It?
Introduction
Truth (e.g. Eph 6; 1 Tim 2) Reasonable Faith (1 Pet 3; Acts 17, 18, 19) Confidence, Certainty, Boldness (Acts 1:3; Acts 2:36).
We’ve Got Trouble
THE DEMISE OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW IN OUR CULTURE AND THE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE CHURCH’S KIDS
10 20 30 40 50 1990 2007 2012 2014
22.8% 19.3% 15.3% 8.1%
The “Nones”
(The Religiously Unaffiliated)
Pew Research Center, 2012 and 2014
All Americans
(56 Million) 19 Million INCREASE
10 20 30 40 50 1990 2007 2012 2014 (25-33) 2014 (18-24)
36% 34% 32% 22% 11%
Millennials
The “Nones”
(The Religiously Unaffiliated)
Pew Research Center, 2012 and 2014
20 40 60 80 100
From Religious Homes “De-Converted”
66% 73%
The “Nones”
Drew Dyke, “The Leavers,” Christianity T
“... sharing their burgeoning doubts with a Christian friend or family member only to receive trite, unhelpful answers.”
Most Frequently Mentioned Factor by “De-Converts”
Drew Dyck, “The Leavers: Young Doubters Exit the Church,” Christianity Today, posted 11/18/2010.
Lack of a Biblical Worldview
10 20 30 40 50
American Adults
45%
“Born Again”
10 20 30 40 50
All Adults All Teens 18-23 Yrs.
0.5% 2.0% 9.0%
Barna Research
“Biblical Worldview”
25 50 75 100 Bible Stories Bible Persons Fun / Positive Biblical Worldview
9% 89% 92% 95%
“Churched Teens”: Experience vs. A Biblical Worldview
Barna Research
Felt Like Rejecting Their Parents’ Faith
10 20 30 40 50
Significantly Doubted Their Faith
38% 32%
Y
36%
Can’t Ask Most Pressing Questions in Church
David Kinnaman, You Lost Me
Churched Y
“Disengaged” in Their Twenties?
59%
David Kinnaman, You Lost Me
70%
FACTORS FOR THE DEMISE
AND THE DEVELOPING DOUBT
Prominence of Skeptics
Richard Dawkins, Oxford University,
The God Delusion (2006)
“When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called
suffer from a delusion it is called Religion.”
Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007)
How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee (2014) Jesus Before the Gospels: How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior (2016) Forged: … Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are (2011)
Bart Ehrman
Early Christian History
Apostolic Fathers
Bart Ehrman
Increasing Intellectual Skepticism & Doubt
“Why did they fall away from the faith in which they were raised?” 32% said they left faith behind because
“It didn’t make any sense anymore.” “Some stuff is too far-fetched for me to believe.” “I think scientificalmy and there is no real proof.” “T
Internet Accessibility
Larry Taunton, “Listening to Y
Lessons for a Stronger Christianity” “When our participants were asked to cite key influences in their conversion to atheism—people, books, seminars, etc.—we expected to hear frequent references to the names of the ‘New Atheists.’ W e did not. Not once. Instead, we heard vague references to videos they had watched on Y
forums” (The Atlantic online [June 6, 2013]).
Internet Accessibility
More “High-Information” Seekers
Over 70% of Millennials go to college. Only 1/2 of their parents. Only 1/3 of their grandparents.
Larry Barnett’s “Next Generation Project”
“W e found that the presence of doubt much more strongly predicted leaving Christianity for high information seekers …. [H]igh information seekers with doubts are about two to four times more likely to disconnect from Christianity than other doubters who are not high information seekers….
More High-Information Seekers
See www.projectnextgen.org
Shallow belief system No room for doubt Exclusive faith No answers for opposition (science & philosophy) Church is intolerant Church is against science Church is not relevant (personally & professionally)
“Why are Teens Leaving the Faith?”
(Brian Housman — Lifeway)
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
Belief that … (Matt 16; Hebrews 11:6a) Trust in … (James 2:19; Hebrews 11:6b) Love of … (Mark 12:30)
Compare the Key Questions
Matthew 16 John 21
“WHO Am I?” “Do you LOVE Me?”
Be APPRECIATIVE of Doubts and Tough Questions
Over 33% of young adults: “Christians are too confident they know all the answers.”
Mt 11: “Are you the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” John 1: “Behold, the Lamb of God ...”
Greater DISBELIEF Deeper BELIEF
Moral Doubt Self Doubt Spiritual Doubt Intellectual Doubt V
Different Kinds of Doubt
“The prognosis for faith is greatly dependent
“I believe that unexpressed doubt is one of the most powerful destroyers of faith” (You Lost Me)
David Kinnaman
Be INQUISITIVE
Jesus asked 173 questions. Mark 11:27-33 And Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.”
1 Pet 3:15 “with gentleness and reverence” 2 Tim 2:24-25 “not quarrelsome but kind ... with gentleness” Jude 1:22 “Have mercy on some who are doubting”
Be SENSITIVE
Dallas Willard
1 Peter 5:5 “… all of you clothe yourselves with humility”
18% Church “anti-intellectual” 25% Church “anti-science” 24% Church “not relevant” to career
Be COMPREHENSIVE
“The B-I-B-L-E, yes that’s the book for me.”
Personal Involvement
Reading Media Music Money Education Work Leisure Sexuality Language
Attitude Will Speech Actions Mind
Children Spouse Co-Workers Parents Brother(s) Sister(s) Church Leaders Grandparents Employees Boss
Relational Investment
Friends Boy/Girl Friend
Socio-Academic Influence
Politics Psychology History Economics Philosophy Sociology Theology Biology Law Anthropology Art Education
Cultural Impact
Missions Poor Hungry Homeless Social Justice Orphan Prisons Disasters Elderly Crisis Care Unwanted Pregnancy Child Care Medical Care
Apologetic Interaction
Postmodernism Islam Pantheism Cults Deism Atheism Animism Nihilism New Age Paganism Existentialism
Integrity
Personal Involvement
Reading Media Music Money Education Work Leisure Sexuality Language
Attitude Will Speech Actions Mind
Children Spouse Co-Workers Parents Brother(s) Sister(s) Church Leaders Grandparents Employees Boss
Relational Investment
Friends Boy/Girl Friend
Socio-Academic Influence
Politics Psychology History Economics Philosophy Sociology Theology Biology Law Anthropology Art Education
Cultural Impact
Missions Poor Hungry Homeless Social Justice Orphan Prisons Disasters Elderly Crisis Care Unwanted Pregnancy Child Care Medical Care
Apologetic Interaction
Postmodernism Islam Pantheism Cults Deism Atheism Animism Nihilism New Age Paganism Existentialism
Integrity
Personal Involvement
Reading Media Music Money Education Work Leisure Sexuality Language
Attitude Will Speech Actions Mind
Children Spouse Co-Workers Parents Brother(s) Sister(s) Church Leaders Grandparents Employees Boss
Relational Investment
Friends Boy/Girl Friend
Socio-Academic Influence
Politics Psychology History Economics Philosophy Sociology Theology Biology Law Anthropology Art Education
Cultural Impact
Missions Poor Hungry Homeless Social Justice Orphan Prisons Disasters Elderly Crisis Care Unwanted Pregnancy Child Care Medical Care
Apologetic Interaction
Postmodernism Islam Pantheism Cults Deism Atheism Animism Nihilism New Age Paganism Existentialism
Integrity
Be COMPARATIVE
Christian Standard June 2014
“You do not want to go away also, do you?” “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life?” (Jn 6:67-68)
Colossians 2:8
Do not be taken captive ...
New Age Eastern Pantheism Animism Neo-Paganism Postmodernism Islam Atheistic Existentialism Secular Humanism Deism Nihilism Cults
IV . A PRACTICAL PROPOSAL: DO THE ROOM FOR DOUBT SIX-WEEK SERIES
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An environment to encourage questions, address doubts, and strengthen faith.
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(Resources)
Why Is the Church Losing Her Kids? And What Can Be Done About It?
Session Webpage: www.worldvieweyes.org/truth2016.html
Rich Knopp, MA, MDiv, PhD Room For Doubt Coordinator Professor of Philosophy & Apologetics Lincoln Christian University
Truth Conference Peoria, IL