Why are the Youth Falling Away from the Faith?

It doesn’t take much to notice that the great falling away Scripture talks about in 2 Thessalonians 2 is happening right now. The Bible speaks about an apostasy that will occur in the end times as we get closer to the Second Coming. This great falling away from the faith affects people of all ages but lately, there has been an increase among the youth. For the last decade or so, we have seen a large number of young adults (ages 18-30) leaving their Christian faith. I have seen it happen on a personal level – it is a very sad situation to witness.

With this post, I hope to raise up a call for the prayer warriors of God to keep the youth in your prayers. Times are getting tougher and the youth are very vulnerable.

Characteristics of the Fallen Away Youth

We saw a great surge of Millennials leaving the faith within the last decade and even though numbers have dropped with Generation Z, there are other reasons to worry about this generation.

Going to church does not make someone a Christian. And although Gen Zers tend to stay in the church longer than the previous generation, many are adopting strange, unbiblical doctrines, worldly habits, and are what I’d call nominal Christians.

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. “

2 Timothy 3:1-5

We can see this in the youth today. Youth are more disrespectful toward their parents than they were decades ago. Drinking, drugs, and premarital sex are at their highest. The access to drugs has never been easier as today with the legalization of marijuana.

It has been my observation that the youth are adopting an attitude of rebellion which is leading them to follow worldly trends without guilt nor conviction.

But what poses the greatest danger to the youth falling away from the faith, is the subtle New Age theology which has infiltrated many American churches. It is “trendy” to follow the ministries of super popular mega-churches. And listen to hip modern Christian music. Adults fall into these as well, but the youth comprise the larger portion.

Unfortunately, most mega-churches and televangelists do not teach sound Biblical doctrine. The Word of Faith and the New Age Movement are present in these “ministries.” So it’s not surprising that the New Age among the youth is very popular and is on the rise.

Also, very popular among the youth is reckless, “live your life now,” you only live once-mentality. The motto is “do what makes you happy” and “follow your heart.” It’s worldly wisdom and the youth are easy targets because they lack Biblical knowledge.

Why are the Youth Falling Away from the Faith?

According to a 2017 Lifeway Research survey, 66% of Christian youth (ages 23-30) leave the church after High School.

The top 5 reasons are:

34%– moved away to college

32%– church members were judgmental/ hypocritical

29%– didn’t feel connected to the people at the church

25%– disagreed with the church’s stance on political/social issues

24%– work responsibilities

Other reasons given were a disconnection from the church in general and lack of student ministry opportunities. And only 13% left because the worship style did not appeal to them. While 1 in 10 left because the sermons were not relevant to their lives.

These numbers are not shocking since it has been known that many youth leave the church after they move to college. College offers many temptations at partying, promiscuity, and atheism.

Many people, in general, become atheists in college and that is not shocking either. Most professors are atheists themselves and teach it in the classroom. If the youth are not firmly grounded on the Rock and aren’t disciplined in Biblical knowledge and prayer, he/she stands no chance against the influence of atheist professors.

I was a science major in college so I had my share of atheist professors. One, in particular, made jokes about God and Christianity all the time. I remember boiling inside while everyone around me laughed. I never lost my faith in college and continued to attend church even though I moved 3 hours away from home to attend a university known for being a party school.

There are many reasons why the youth fall away from the faith.

The biggest reason is because of a weak foundation at home.

I know this is cliched but parents do have a lot of fault in this. Kids look up to the adults and notice if the parents are not modeling good Christian character. If the parents are not producing fruit, it does not fall on blind eyes. They will see your hypocrisy and you will answer to God for it.

The youth falling away can be traced to the adult falling away which has been increasing as well.

Parents also need to train up their children in the ways of the Lord, read the Word to them, and pray with them. If this is not done, what kind of foundation will they grow up with? It will crumble at the slightest wind.

“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

Deuteronomy 6:5-7

Practice holiness, be a witness to your own children. Parents who are lax in their Christian life will be a bad influence on their children. So, the disintegration of a young person’s faith may start at the home.

I’m not a mother but if the Lord ever blesses me with children, I can’t wait to teach them about Christ. I was blessed immensely to have a godly mother who spent time with my brothers and I to read and teach the Scriptures to us. Who made time every single day to pray with us and modeled godly character. Directed us to prayer for every situation, to seek guidance from the Lord and to depend on Him for everything. And lived what she preached. To this day, my mom remains the greatest spiritual influence on my life. I never doubted my faith because I had a great Christian role model at home who demonstrated the power of God at work in her life.

So yes, parents have a huge responsibility; they can either strengthen their children’s faith or debilitate it.

Youth leave the faith because they are not Heavenly- minded.

I do not want you to think that I’m laying all the blame on the parents, after all, young adults are responsible for their own spiritual life. And everyone has free will. I have also met wonderful young adults who are faithful Christians who grew up in broken homes without the love of God. I’ve also met young Christians who are the only Christians at home, and I greatly respect them.

But everyone is different with different tendencies and personalities. Among these are the young adults who have the tendency to look upon others too much. If a youth is not grounded on his/her faith, his/her mind will be on the things of the world. These kids are easily influenced by others, and no, not all young adults are easily influenced, I was one of them but I realized that most are.

These youth are greatly influenced by friends, celebrities, TV, fallen ministers, and others. If this can happen to older adults, so much easier for the youth. And it can happen to anyone whose seed did not fall on good soil.

Recently, we’ve seen many well known Christians fall away; the Gungors, Joshua Harris, Marty Sampson, among others. What is going on with the church? We may ask. As I stated earlier in this post, Scripture prophesied this would happen in the end times. But I believe the youth are being hit the hardest because they set their eyes on people, not God.

Youth are falling away from the faith because they don’t take God seriously.

I’ve seen this one way too much and it’s sad. It might seem like some of my points overlap. But as I stated above, every person is different, and I’ve met youth to whom the previous points did not apply to but this one does. There are young people who come from godly families who never took church nor God seriously.

And I believe churches have some fault in this. Because instead of teaching the youth solid Biblical food and emphasizing the importance of Bible study and prayer, they entertain them. We are living in great apostasy where the people don’t want Spiritual food, they just want to have fun. In an attempt to gather a crowd (not converts) they design church to be relevant, cool, and fun.

So the youth receive awesome concerts, skits, movie nights, food and games. This produces false converts and weak faith. In short, churches are teaching kids not to take God seriously. So they take church as a game and God is though He didn’t exist.

Youth need Biblical answers to their doubts

Youth are falling away from the faith because older adults don’t have a ready Biblical answer to their doubts and questions. Everyone has questions about their faith. It’s okay to have them but it’s not okay to do nothing about them. Sure, sometimes there are questions no one has answers to but even those have some answer.

I’ve personally seen youth leave the faith because they had too many doubts and no one gave them Biblical answers. “Because God said so” or “Because it’s of the devil,” are not answers. I personally received these type of answers growing up when I had questions about the Bible.

Something I believe that would benefit the youth greatly, and every Christian for that matter, is learning Apologetics. Not only to defend the faith when asked questions but to answer their own questions.

I recently read “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus” by the late Dr. Nabeel Quereshi. I was surprised to learn that Muslim children grow up learning apologetics from their parents, teachers, and books. And I wondered why Christians don’t too. A thorough study of Christian apologetics would supplement a deep study of Scripture greatly. And I believe less youth would leave the church due to doubts.

A Call to Prayer for This Generation

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:  whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. “

1 Peter 5:7-9

The devil knows his time is almost up so he’s roaming about like a lion, seeking to devour sleeping Christians. The times are difficult and sin had never been more enticing. Ultimately, the reason for the great falling away is that temptations have gotten harder to overcome and they have become more insistent. This calls for prayer 24/7. We literally must walk in prayer all day, every day. Jesus admonished the apostles for falling asleep and we’d do good to heed His words.

Though Christians have fallen away from the faith all the time, it is happening at alarming rates. This has somehow started with the youth spread to the older adults and everyone else. The devil knows where to hit by using the weak first. I’m not saying that all the youth are weak Christians but many are because of the vanity of youth.

This remains me of something…

I had a disturbing dream in February.

I don’t always have dreams like these but God has used dreams to speak to me all my life since I was a little girl. So when I have a dream I know has a meaning I share it.

In this dream, I was at a local barbershop that doesn’t exist in my area. I had taken my brother for a haircut. But the strange thing is that the barbershop was full of young people, mostly teens and a few in their early twenties. The only adults were the barber and myself. When all of a sudden, someone started coughing uncontrollably and then the rest followed. Then they all started spewing out blood from their mouths, their faces became contorted and diabolical. I got very scared and ran out because those infected with this strange abnormality started biting the uninfected ones and infecting them in the process.

(I know this sounds like the Walking Dead, but bear with me- just for the record, I don’t watch the Walking Dead.)

So I got in my car and headed home. But as I drove I saw these walking- zombie-like humans. It hit me then, that this disease was widespread because it had started with the youth and it was now spreading to the adults.

There was an evil presence in the environment so as I drove I rebuked the demons in Jesus’ Name. The more I rebuked the less fear I felt.

When I woke up, the Lord gave me understanding of the dream. The dream meant that there was a great falling away from the faith and apostasy which started with the youth and was now spreading to the adults and everyone else.

The devil is behind it, he’d spread this spiritual disease and it was contagious among the people. The transmission of it through the biting is the diabolical influence the youth have on each other. Because the devil will use anyone and anything to spread evil and godlessness.

If this revelation does not cause you to pray like never before for the souls of humanity then I don’t know what will. Start with your family, start with your children who are the most vulnerable. And never allow your feet to slip! (Psalm 17:5).

Remain vigilant!

Extra Bible Verses to Study and Share

Deuteronomy 31:6, 1 Timothy 4:12, Psalm 119:9, Proverbs 1:8-9, Ecclesiastes 12:1, Proverbs 3:5-6, Ecclesiastes 11:8-9, Ephesians 6:1-3, Psalms 71:5-17