Updated Friday, March 07, 2008

Students too often lost in transition

By Bob Burchette

Special to the Recorder

GREENSBORO - One thing is clear to ministers like John Ridley and Rick Trexler who focus on helping teens and college students. "This generation of students ... is unclear about life," Ridley said.

"Some are finding answers in our churches but many are looking elsewhere and have dropped out of church life," added Ridley, campus pastor at East Carolina University in Greenville. Ridley and Trexler, campus ministry team leader for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, presented during a special interest session on student ministry during the 61st annual Evangelism & Church Growth Conference Feb. 25 at Lawndale Baptist Church in Greensboro.

"Why are college age children dropping out of church?" Ridley asked, and then divided participants into small groups to discuss potential answers about that question and others.

A video featuring young people called "Clear" illustrated that youth aren't clear about their own values - and also aren't clear about the values of the culture around them. "The media is one of the greatest factors in shaping culture," Ridley said.

"The 17-19 age group has the biggest number of dropouts from church," Ridley said. "So many never come back; that's the sad part."

The video and results of a poll of young adults ages 18-30 done by Lifeway Christian Resources showed what most of the church workers generally knew. Specifically, Trexler said the poll revealed:

Among those who attended a Protestant church twice a month or more for at least a year in high school, 70 percent of 23-30 year olds stopped attending church regularly between ages 18-20 - the college years.

Only 20 percent of those had planned to drop out of church. "So 80 percent just drifted away, and could have been held onto if we had been more attentive to them," Ridley said.

Students surveyed gave several reasons why their church attendance declined or they quit attending: wanted a break from church (27 percent); claimed church members seemed judgmental and hypocritical (26 percent); moved off to college (25 percent); some had to work on Sunday (23 percent); moved too far away from their own church (22 percent); too busy (22 percent); didn't feel connected to the people in their church (20 percent); some didn't agree with church's stance on issues; wanted to spend more time with friends outside of church; and they were only going to please others (17 percent).

"Typically when we think of reaching students we think of reaching the 'lost' students who have never darkened the doors of our churches," Ridley said. "But have we even reached the students inside the church? To prevent students from dropping out, we need to rethink the way we relate to them as they are teens as well as young adults," he said.

Ridley said practical steps to reach and keep students in church include teaching "sound doctrine from God's word in a relevant way" and creating a family-based ministry to students.

"We've got to give them some ownership," Trexler said. "This is the point where a student's statement of faith becomes their own - not their parents faith. We need to allow the students' to be part of what's going on; and we need to teach them stewardship - not just the tithe but what they need to do with their lives."

There are Baptist resources on 38 college campuses in North Carolina, and many other non-Baptist religious groups available to help students across the state, Trexler said. "For transitions to take place (in students lives), we must remember this is a mission field," he added.

(EDITOR'S NOTE - Burchette is a retired writer/editor for the Greensboro News & Record.)