Losing Teens Survey Reveals Many Churches Having A Hard Time Keeping Youths Involved In Congregation

Congregations that run away from issues of sex, violence and drugs are contributing to an exodus of high school youth from the nation’s churches.

In a new study, more than nine in 10 congregations report trouble keeping high school students involved, while only 9 percent say they are doing a good job of reaching out to youths most at risk.

What kids are being offered on a regular basis are the traditional programs of formal religious instruction and youth groups, according to the study of 527 religious youth workers by the Minneapolis-based Search Institute.

And what kids want are caring relationships with adults in the congregation, opportunities for community service and discussions of sex, drugs, violence, racial prejudice - “all of these big issues that many adults in kids’ lives are afraid to deal with,” said Peter C. Scales, a senior fellow at the institute.

Paul Henderson, associate director of the Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women and Youth of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the study findings ring true.

“We just haven’t convinced enough pastors and enough church leadership that we have to take youth work seriously,” he said.

In the study, funded by the DeWitt Wallace-Readers Digest Fund, more than 2,000 religious youth workers in Minnesota, North Carolina and Missouri were surveyed by mail last March. There were 527 respondents by the May cutoff date - about a 26 percent response rate.

The survey found that just at the age when young people are facing difficult decisions about sex, alcohol, drugs and other perils of adolescence, they are breaking ties with the religious communities that can offer spiritual guidance and nurturing.

Only 8 percent of respondents said their congregations have a lot of trouble keeping children in grades 5 and 6 involved, although 52 percent reported some trouble keeping that age group involved.

By the time the kids reach high school, the problem is dramatically greater. Fifty-five percent said their congregations have a lot of trouble keeping high schoolers involved, with an additional 38 percent reporting some trouble holding on to youths from grades 10 to 12.

Part of the problem, according to the study of people working in youth ministry, is a lack of support.

Forty-six percent of respondents said their congregations provide only fair or poor budgetary support for youth programs, while 54 percent said there is only fair or poor congregational support for youth work as a priority. Only 43 percent said they have a clear mission statement for the program.

One finding that was particularly striking was the gap between the goals youth workers say are important and whether the congregation is achieving those goals.

For example, while more than four in five respondents said it is very important to help youth apply faith to daily decisions, nurture a lifelong faith commitment and develop values and skills, only a quarter or less of the respondents said their programs are achieving those goals very well.

In the most dramatic difference between hopes and achievements, 68 percent of youth workers said it is very important for their congregations to reach youth in high-risk situations, but only 9 percent said their congregation is doing a very good job with those youth.

What does make for a successful youth ministry program?

Scales said the survey showed that congregations achieving their goals made it a priority to build caring relationships between adults and youths so kids felt welcome in church. Successful programs also gave kids opportunities for service in the church and community, and “they did not duck the issue of values,” Scales said.

Congregations that offer programs enabling kids to explore issues such as sexuality and drugs “really made the congregation a relevant and exciting place for young people to keep coming back to,” Scales said.

The survey found, however, that few congregations are offering these programs.

Ten percent of congregations offer regular opportunities for community service, and 4 percent or less have regular programs for discussing sexuality or prevention programs addressing issues such as drugs and alcohol.

Still, both Henderson and Scales report a sense of hopefulness among people in youth ministry.

“I didn’t detect any of that kind of inevitable defeat or cynicism,” Scales said. “I certainly think they’re frustrated.”

Henderson said that if church workers say they are going to lose the kids anyway, “We’re basically saying the message of Jesus Christ has no meaning for them.”

And there is nothing wrong with the message, he said.

“It’s wrong the way the message is being conveyed,” he said. “If we have good programs and we do our jobs right, young people are going to be present in the church.”