Hello friends!

As you probably know by now, in this newsletter we have been responding to a question posed to us regarding why some younger adults are leaving Churches of Christ.

We asked some who have left and some who stayed to reflect on this question. What we heard was that connection, a safe place to ask questions and express doubts, a stronger commitment to serving others, and a stronger children’s ministry are four of the top things some young adults felt were not being adequately met in their former church. So they left.

➡️ Here are four more things they said they were searching for that the church did not provide:

More engaging worship. Some younger adults expressed a desire for worship that felt more authentic and meaningful and helped them grow closer to God.

Deeper teaching. Some said they wanted preaching and teaching that went beyond the surface. They said they felt spiritually undernourished where they were and were hungry for a church that went deeper in the scriptures.

Openness to fresh study and change. Related to the desire for deeper biblical teaching, some said they left because their church seemed locked into tradition and was unwilling to revisit what scripture teaches. The “we’ve always believed this” or “we’ve always done it this way” posture felt like a closed door.

Feeling valued and heard. Some younger adults said they didn’t feel valued. They felt there was little room for their voices and input.

We respond to these ideas in this week’s podcast, The Church Didn’t Provide What We Were Looking For (Part 2).

*Update from last week, you can listen on Spotify, too!

For now, our prayer is that these ideas will not only provide some insight into why some people leave the church, but will also spur some discussion among church leaders regarding what they might be able to do to close the back door.

In the next issue in this series, we plan to discuss another reason some adults leave the church: negative or hurtful experiences.

Words from the Good Book:

“Come, let us sing to the Lord!
    Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
 Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
    Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
 For the Lord is a great God,
    a great King above all gods.
 He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
    and the mightiest mountains.
The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
    His hands formed the dry land, too.

Come, let us worship and bow down.
    Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
     for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
    the flock under his care.”

—Psalm 95:1-7 (NLT)

“These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so.”

—Acts 17:11 (NRSV)

A prayer:

Father,

We bring before you the ones who have walked away from you and from our church families. We care about them, as we know you do. We want to see them grow spiritually and be close to you.

Give us insight into what we can do to care for them. Stir up honest conversation among us about what we can do to close the back door in our churches, so that fewer go through it.

Do what you can to make our churches places people don’t want to leave. We ask this for the sake of those who have left, and those who might yet go.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

God bless you all!

Kerry and Becky

🤔 What’s on your mind?

Just a reminder: if you would like a sounding board for some “church thing”—a situation, question, problem, or concern—we’d be happy to reflect on it with you. Let us know what it is, and we’ll be honored to respond!