Reasons for Youth Exodus In Mainline Churches

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 REASONS FOR YOUTH EXODUS IN MAINLINE CHURCHES, Article written by Group one Ekwa Theological seminary Igbaja kwara State.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
DEFINITION OF TERM
NATURE OF MAINLINE CHURCHES
NATURE OF PENTECOSTALISM
EMERGENCE OF MODERN PENTECOSTALISM
REASONS YOUNG CHRISTIANS LEAVE THE CHURCH
EFFECTS OF YOUTH EXODUS ON MAINLINE CHURCHES
CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION
            One of the most pressing questions posed by mainline churches and parents in this time is, “How can we motivate our young people to embrace and carry it into their adult lives?”[1] one of the most challenges facing the church today is “what can be done to stop or slow down Exodus of young from church attendance?” the influences of Pentecostalism on the mainline churches had causes a variety of reasons, broke away from these churches and established flourishing churches of their own, referred to collectively as independent churches. There are several reasons which contribute to
young people living mainline churches which are, ‘churches seems overprotective, consumption of popular culture or doctrines, church is boring or shallow, tension feelings between Christianity and science, churches are out of step with the scientific word and how they are struggling with how to live meaningful lives in term of sex and sexuality.
            They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity, in the sense that, with the esteems of open mindedness, tolerance and acceptance, they want to find area of common ground with each other, glossing over real differences. Therefore, the group will look into the nature of the mainline church, nature of the Pentecostalism, characteristics of the youths, the factor affecting the behavior of the youths in the church, the reasons young Christians are leaving church.



[1] C. David, The challenges of Orthodox youth ministry. Protopresbyter.



DEFINITION OF THE TERM

YOUTH
Youth can be seen as one who is young, but often means the time between childhood and adulthood maturity. It is also defined as a specific age range varies, as youth is not defined chronologically as a stage that can be tied to specific age ranges, nor can it end point be linked to specific activities, such as taken unpaid word or having sexual relations.[1] Youth is an experience that may shape an individual level of dependency, which can be marked in various ways according to different cultural perspectives. Personal experience is marked by an individual’s cultural norms or traditions, which a youth’s level of dependency means the extent to which they rely on their family emotionally and economically.
Scholars argue that age-based definition have not been consistent across cultures or times and that thus it more accurate to focus on social processes in the transition to adult independence for defining youth.[2] There different terminology on defining the youth, the United Nations defines youth as persons between the ages of 15 and 24 with all United Nation statistics based on this range, the United States education as a source for these statistics. The United also recognizes that this varies without prejudice to other age groups listed by member states such as 18-30. A useful distinction within the United Nation itself can be made between teenagers (i.e. those between the ages of 13 and19) and young adults (those between the ages of 18 and 32). Base on sub-Saharan Africa, the term ‘youth’ is associated with young men from 15 to 30 or even 35 years of age. Youth in Nigeria includes all members of the federal Republic of Nigeria aged 18-35[3]
Therefore, we can say ‘youth’ is a period when they seek for independent. During this period, youths form group relationship and seek self-identity.

NATURE OF MAINLINE CHURCHES
The term “mainline protestant” is used along with mainstream protestant and old-line protestant to categorize denominations that are affiliated with the National council of churches and have deep historic roots in and long. Mainline churches include the United Methodist church (UMC), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) the Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA), the Episcopal Church, the American Baptist Churches, the united church of Christ among others.[4]
The mainline churches share a common approach to social issues that often leads to collaboration in organizations such as the National council of Churches. Because of their involvement with the ecumenical movement, mainline churches are sometimes (especially outside the United States) given the alternative label of ecumenical Protestantism.[5] Mainline churches according to Omotoye “Are European Christian churches that were introduced to Nigeria in the 19th century namely: Methodist Church, Church Missionary Society (CMS) later known as Anglican church, Baptist church and Catholic Church”[6] In the Context of this paper, according to the words of Otonko, by mainline churches, we mean the Catholic Church and those Churches that directly broke away from her, beginning from the 16th century protestant reformation. They are so called mainline churches because they stem from one source and share certain religious traditions in common. They include the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, the Lutheran church, the Methodist and Presbyterian Church etc.[7]




[1] A. Furlong, Youth studies: A Introduction, (Routted, 2013), 2-3

[2] V. Tyyska, “Conceptualizing and Theorizing Youth: Global perspectives” (London: Ashgate Book), 3

[3] Nigeria, National Youth, 2009
[5]R.G. Hutcheson, Mainline Churches and the Evangelicals: A challenging crisis? Atlanta Georgia, (John Knox press, 1981), 36-37

[6] R.W. Omotoye, Religious Experience in the post:colonial Era in Nigeria. An Examinating the challenges of

Pentecostal churches in Ilorin, Kwara state, Nigeria. From http://www.cesnur.org/2010/omotoye1.hmt. Retrieved on

13.02.2016.
[7] Otonko, J. Pentecostalism and us: A Dynamic Reality. (Enugu:Snaap Press Ltd, 2005 ), 34


NATURE OF PENTECOSTALISM
Etymologically, the term Pentecostalism is derived from the word “Pentecost” which is an anglicized version of the New Testament Greek word, “Pentecoste”, meaning fiftieth (50th) day, and which corresponds to the Hebrew “feast of weeks”, popularly referred to as the “Shabuoth” in the Old Testament.[1] Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a renewal within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience Of God through the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek name for the Jewish feast of weeks. For Christians, this event commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Jesus Christ, as described in the second chapter of the Book of Acts.
The term Pentecostalism refers to certain elements of Christian life often associated with the experience of the power of the Holy Spirit which manifested strongly at the feast of Pentecost in the Bible and the consequent gifts of the spirit by Christ. It also refers to the emphasis on the third person of the Trinity and his manifestations in the individual and corporate lives of Christians. Pentecostalism can, therefore be understood as a modern religious movement, now represented not only Pentecostal churches but also within the mainline churches as a charismatic movement.[2]
Pentecostalism has many distinctive characteristics, these features include: Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Charisma, especially that of speaking in tongues. Pentecostals tend to be fundamentalist in the interpretation of the scripture and have a sharpened awareness of the condemn things like alcohol, smoking, watching movies etc. and emphasize on the second coming of Christ.[3]


EMERGENCE OF MODERN PENTECOSTALISM
One may not trace the origin of Pentecostalism with much degree of success without making reference to the pietistic movement of the 17th century in Europe. Pietism arose as a reaction and a revolt against strange tendencies in Lutheranism. The man that became central to this Movement was Philip Jacob Spencer. This movement constitutes a great background to Pentecostalism because it lays much emphasis on a conscious new birth, what Pentecostals refer to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the experience of being born again. Also, its idea of Bible sharing groups influenced Pentecostals practice of prayer meeting.[4]
Pentecostalism is also an offshoot of the “Holiness” type of religion. This religion had its origin in the America’s variety of Methodism in the last half of the 19th century. Its leaders were revivalist preachers[5]. Two important names stand out in the history of Pentecostalism, Charles Fox Parham and William J. Seymour. Parham was white and preached in the Holiness religion while Seymour was a Negro. The origin of the Pentecostal movement straddled the close of the 19th century and the Beginning of The 20th century. The Pentecostal movement as a twentieth century development is traced to a revival, which began on 1 January 1901 at Charles Parham’s Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas, USA. In 1900, Charles Parham started a school Near Topeka, Kansas, which he named Bethel Bible School. There he taught that speaking in tongues was the scriptural evidence for the reception of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. On January 1st 1901, after a watch night service, the students prayed for and received the baptism with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Parham received this same experience later and began to preach it in all his services. At about the same time that Parham was spreading his doctrine of initial evidence in the Midwestern United States, news of the Welsh Revival of 1904 to 1905 ignited intense speculation among the radical evangelicals around the world and particularly in the United States of a coming move of the Spirit which would renew the entire Christian church. This revival saw thousands of conversions and also exhibited speaking in tongues.[6]
In 1905, Parham moved to Houston, Texas, Where he started a bible training school. One of his students was William J. Seymour, a one eyed black preacher. Seymour travelled to Los Angeles where his preaching sparked the three year on Azusa Street Revival in 1906. Worship at the racially integrated Azusa Mission featured an absence of any order of service. People preached and testified as moved by the spirit, spoke and sung in tongues, and fell in the spirit. The Revival attracted both religious and secular media attention, and thousands of visitors flocked to the mission, carrying the “fire” back to their home churches. Despite the work of various Wesleyan groups such as Parham’s and D.L. Moody’s revivals, the beginning of the widespread.


REASONS YOUNG CHRISTIANS LEAVE THE CHURCH

CHURCHES SEEM OVERPROTECTIVE.
A few of the defining characteristics of today's teens and young adults are their unprecedented access to ideas and worldviews as well as their prodigious consumption of popular culture. As Christians, they express the desire for their faith in Christ to connect to the world they live in. However, much of their experience of Christianity feels stifling, fear-based and risk-averse. One-quarter of 18 to 29-year-olds said “Christians demonize everything outside of the church” (23% indicated this “completely” or “mostly” describes their experience). Other perceptions in this category include “church ignoring the problems of the real world” (22%) and “my church is too concerned that movies, music, and video games are harmful” (18%).

YOUNG CHRISTIANS EXPERIENCE OF CHRISTIANITY IS SHALLOW.
A second reason that young people depart church as young adults is that something is lacking in their experience of church. One-third said “church is boring” (31%). One-quarter of these young adults said that “faith is not relevant to my career or interests” (24%) or that “the Bible is not taught clearly or often enough” (23%). Sadly, one-fifth of these young adults who attended a church as a teenager said that “God seems missing from my experience of church” (20%).
CHURCHES COME ACROSS AS ANTAGONISTIC TO SCIENCE.
One of the reasons young adults feel disconnected from church or from faith is the tension they feel between Christianity and science. The most common of the perceptions in this arena is “Christians are too confident they know all the answers” (35%). Three out of ten young adults with a Christian background feel that “churches are out of step with the scientific world we live in” (29%). Another one-quarter embrace the perception that “Christianity is anti-science” (25%). And nearly the same proportion (23%) said they have “been turned off by the creation-versus-evolution debate.”




[1]  Ibid

[2]H.C. Achunike, The influence of Pentecostalism on catholic priests and seminarians in Nigeria. (Onitsha: African Publishers Limited, 2004), 56
[3] G. Ngbea, The impact of Pentecostal Churches on the Catholic Church in Nigeria. An unpublished thesis
Presented to the department of Religious Studies, University of Jos, Nigeria, 1998

[4]  B. Everaitus, Pentecostalism and the Catholic Church in Nigeria. (Calabar: Mariana Publishing, 1993), 23-27

[5]  F.A. Sullivan, The Pentecostal movement. (Gregorian University Press, 1972), 12
[6]  V. Synan, The Holiness:Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the twentieth century. Grand Rapids, Michigan. (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997)

Furthermore, the research shows that many science-minded young Christians are struggling to find ways of staying faithful to their beliefs and to their professional calling in science-related industries.
YOUNG CHRISTIANS’ CHURCH EXPERIENCE RELATED TO SEXUALITY ARE OFTEN SIMPLISTIC AND JUDGMENETAL
With unfettered access to digital pornography and immersed in a culture that values hyper-sexuality over wholeness, teen and twenty sometime Christians are struggling with how to live meaningful lives in terms of sex and sexuality. One of the significant tensions for many young believers is how to live up to the church's expectations of chastity and sexual purity in this culture, especially as the age of first marriage is now commonly delayed to the late twenties. Research indicates that most young Christians are as sexually active as their non-Christian peers, even though they are more conservative in their attitudes about sexuality. One-sixth of young Christians (17%) said they “have made mistakes and feel judged in church because of them.” The issue of sexuality is particularly salient among 18- to 29-year-old Catholics, among whom two out of five (40%) said the church’s “teachings on sexuality and birth control are out of date.”
THEY WRESTLE WITH THE EXCLUSIVE NATURE OF CHRISTIANITY.
Younger Americans have been shaped by a culture that esteems open-mindedness, tolerance and acceptance. Today’s youth and young adults also are the most eclectic generation in American history in terms of race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, technological tools and sources of authority. Most young adults want to find areas of common ground with each other, sometimes even if that means glossing over real differences. Three out of ten young Christians (29%) said “churches are afraid of the beliefs of other faiths” and an identical proportion felt they are “forced to choose between my faith and my friends.” One-fifth of young adults with a Christian background said “church is like a country club, only for insiders” (22%).


THE CHURCH FEELS UNFRIENDLY TO THOSE WHO DOUBT.
Young adults with Christian experience say the church is not a place that allows them to express doubts. They do not feel safe admitting that sometimes Christianity does not make sense. In addition, many feel that the church’s response to doubt is trivial. Some of the perceptions in this regard include not being able “to ask my most pressing life questions in church” (36%) and having “significant intellectual doubts about my faith” (23%). In a related theme of how churches struggle to help young adults who feel marginalized, about one out of every six young adults with a Christian background said their faith “does not help with depression or other emotional problems” they experience (18%).
TURNING TOWARD CONNECTION
David Kinnaman, who is the coauthor of the book un Christian, explained that “the problem of young adults dropping out of church life is particularly urgent because most churches work best for ‘traditional’ young adults – those whose life journeys and life questions are normal and conventional. But most young adults no longer follow the typical path of leaving home, getting an education, finding a job, getting married and having kids—all before the age of 30. These life events are being delayed, reordered, and sometimes pushed completely off the radar among today’s young adults. “Consequently, churches are not prepared to handle the ‘new normal.’ Instead, church leaders are most comfortable working with young, married adults, especially those with children. However, the world for young adults is changing in significant ways, such as their remarkable access to the world and worldviews via technology, their alienation from various institutions, and their skepticism toward external sources of authority, including Christianity and the Bible.”
The research points to two opposite, but equally dangerous responses by faith leaders and parents: either catering to or minimizing the concerns of the next generation. The study suggests some leaders ignore the concerns and issues of young Christian because they feel that the disconnection will end when young adults are older and have their own children. Yet, this response misses the dramatic technological, social and spiritual changes that have occurred over the last 25 years and ignores the significant present-day challenges these young adults are facing.
Other churches seem to be taking the opposite corrective action by using all means possible to make their congregation appeal to teens and young adults. However, putting the focus squarely on youth and young adults’ causes the church to exclude older believers and “builds the church on the preferences of young people and not on the pursuit of God,” Kinnaman said. Between these extremes, the just-released book You Lost Me points to ways in which the various concerns being raised by young Christians (including church dropouts) could lead to revitalized ministry and deeper connections in families. Kinnaman observed that many churches approach generations in a hierarchical, top-down manner, rather than deploying a true team of believers of all ages. “Cultivating intergenerational relationships is one of the most important ways in which effective faith communities are developing flourishing faith in both young and old. In many churches, this means changing the metaphor from simply passing the baton to the next generation to a more functional, biblical picture of a body – that is, the entire community of faith, across the entire lifespan, working together to fulfill God’s purposes.”

EFFECTS OF YOUTH EXODUS ON MAINLINE CHURCHES

 IT LEADS TO LACK OF FUND IN THE MAINLINE CHURCHES: Due to the migration of youths from the oldine churches to the Pentecostal churches, there will be little or shortage of fund to help the weak and poor ones in the church of God. Out of the little being contributed will be used in taken care of the pastor and in purchasing some necessary materials needed in the mainline churches.
MISSIONARY WORK WILL BE REDUCED IN MAINLINE CHURCHES: The work of the missionary in such churches will be reduced since the numbers of youths leaving the church day by day are increasing. The moral or willingness of the missionary in such a church will be discouraged from going out there and preaching the word of God. It takes only God’s help to revive such thing in the church.
IT HINDERS GENUINE WORSHIP TO GOD: One of the dangerous thing that could happen to mainline churches due to youth exodus is that genuine service  and worship to God will be affected  and if not hindered. Can you imagine half of the whole choir gone, Sunday school teacher is away and no other group of people to help the pastor in charge, how then do you want a genuine worship. We should endeavor to raise youth who can work for God in the mainline churches instead of running after theology of prosperity. Note, youth is very important in our environment, society, schools and churches because they are our successor. They must be nurtured and cared for with the powerful word of God.
IT LEADS TO LACK OF RESPECT FOR MAINLINE PASTOR: This is not a thing of just saying but the reality of what has started happening in our current generation. Our society tends to give respect to men of God who are influential and powerful. They believe that they are the true man of God due to their riches, authority, number of churches and miracle being performed by them while on the other hand; they show little or no respect to the mainline pastors.

CONCLUSION
            Looking carefully at the society as a whole today, we can deduce that the Pentecostal churches have taken mantle or power from our mainline churches due to one or two reasons being mentioned above.
            The reason why there is such a thing as youth exodus from mainline churches is due to the carelessness of the church and the kind of rival education we are being exposed to. Their eyes have been opened to many which seems to them to be secret before now.
            The researcher (group 1) thinks that, it will be better and advisable to turn a new leaf and face the issue with seriousness before things goes the other way round. Let there be cordial relationship as it was in the early Christians days. Doing this will enhance the mainline churches peace and unity they wish and hope for.
            Mainline churches should be preserved and protected from diminishing because they still hold the secret to the true gospel of Christ. Let us try and do our best in bringing the youth back.















1 comment:

  1. Unknown28 May 2016 at 14:23

    Maybe it more than that. it maybe as a result of poor leadership and the problem of organised religion

    ReplyDelete

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