Is the church out of touch with today's world, and especially with today's Christian youth? Sunday, mostly a welcome day on any young person's calendar, in religious families though, usually starts with an early morning rousing with the exhortations that every young person needs to get scrubbed down and ready for Sunday church attendance. In a survey done by the pew research Center, two out of three young adults in America say they cannot stand the thought of congregating as their family traditions and religion would require. What could the reason be that these otherwise observant young people should rebel openly against tradition and the requirements of their faith?
About the most frequent admonition any young person hears about church from his or her parents should be the one where they are asked to stop dreaming and to pay attention to the sermon. The problem is, society outside of the church is remarkably encouraging of critical thinking. And young people these days do not have the good nature to remember to check their critical thinking at the door when they enter Sunday church. The more they are made to listen, the more they seem to hear damning evidence against the Christian faith. In a Catholic church, you're likely to hear the pastor mention in a sermon that birth control is sinful, and that studies sanctioned by the church "prove" that the rubber used in condoms are no barrier to AIDS viruses. They are likely to see that in a world where women run important branches of the government and major corporations, nine out of ten churches still do do not promote women pastors up the ranks. With Christian youth these days, it might be a good idea for parents to dutifully hope that they don't pay attention in church. If churches don't change their party line soon, it is very likely that they could end up alienating their base of the future.
Just think about it - it occurs to even many unquestioningly faithful Christians upon entering a church how the very atmosphere seems to be stuck in a much older time. We live in an age where young people openly question the very presence of God in school and college. Something about the very air in church tells you that questions are no longer welcome. That "air" could be contributed by the way women seem everywhere in the hierarchy of the church to be near the bottom; it could be contributed by the lack of openness you see with even young pastors.
The church actually risks losing the patronization of its members when it doesn't keep up with the times. Young people today are so surrounded by freethinking healthy questioning that the lack of freedom in church is likely to immediately turn them off. Still, the church can take comfort in the fact that there are many ways in which young people continue to follow in the footsteps of their parents. They may pray less often than their parents, but they do pray as often as young people ever have at any time. And as people turn towards atheism more and more, Christian youth claim that they believe in God just as much as young people did in earlier times. And what is more, they have a better degree of appreciation for what tradition achieves.
This is good news for churches that are hoping to bring Christian youth back into the fold. One of the first changes that pastors can make to help retain their interest would be to take away any talk of fire and brimstone. Young people just aren't about to find this as fearful as people used to. Sermons need to stop focusing on having social and political opinions, and need to be about religion and God. That way, young people are likely to feel sympathy for the church that it so badly needs at this time.