Millennials and Faith

Focus on the Family recently conducted a research study of young adults and their commitment to faith and religion. In their study, Millennial Faith and Retention, they found that only 18% of young adults raised in homes with any measure of religious influence are now unaffiliated with a specific faith.  It also found that 60% of millennials describe themselves as "keeping faith."  Of those young adults who call themselves as not religious, only 11% had a strong faith as a child and lived in a home where a vibrant faith was practiced and taught by their parents.  To put this study in the context of the Christian faith, it means that the vast majority of young adults leaving Christianity never had a strong faith to begin with. To quote the researchers, "This is not a crisis of faith, per se, but of parenting.  Parents who provide a home where faith is vibrantly practiced are remarkably likely to create young adults who remain serious Christians."

Looks like this study has an important message for parents who think it is ok to drop your kids off at church or youth group but don't attend yourself, STOP KIDDING YOURSELF!  If faith isn't important to you, it won't be important to your kids.  This is especially true when your kids become teenagers and they move into that phase of life where they put together their world view.  They walk through the supermarket of ideas and decide which ones to leave on the shelf and which ones to put into their shopping cart. Did you ever wonder why your teens are so sensitive to hypocrisy?  Its because they are trying to figure out which values matter and which ones don't.  And guess who has the biggest influence on them?  Mom and Dad.  In my opinion, the most important goal for parenting teenagers is to help them make the transition from following Christ because my parents do, to following Christ because I want to.  Once that it is established, many other things eventually fall into place.

The bottom line is this, if you want your kids to be men and women of faith, you need to live out your faith in a meaningful way.

Blessings,
Dr. Paul