The impact of this trend on today’s youth is even more distressing. According to Lifeway Research’s recent survey of both evangelical and mainline Protestants, ages 18-30, 70% who attended church regularly in high school admit they quit attending by the age of 23.
The urgency and the opportunity for new churches have never been greater. On the current trajectory, America will shift from a post-Christian culture to a post-church culture, much like Europe. The country known by our children will be nothing like the country we experienced growing up. This reality should motivate us to action. The question we should ask ourselves is simple. What will we do in our generation to help unleash a movement of healthy, reproducing churches that transform their communities?
We believe that launching community-transforming churches is the most effective way to share the love of Jesus Christ with the world. When properly engaged in its community, the local church is the hope of the world. It is God’s instrument for reaching lost people…a tool by which transformation is incited in people’s lives, in communities, and the world.
Statistics from The American Church in Crisis by David T. Olson, 2008.
