Conclusions

	The Faith Journey of Young Adults A glimpse at the role of faith in the lives of young adults (ages 18-30)
	Conclusions Relationships Discipleship and spiritual depth Family influences Mentoring So, why do teenagers drop out or remain faithful in church attendance following graduation? After looking over all the findings from the study - the quantitative findings from the survey, the reasons checked on why young adults attend or do not attend from the surveys, and the careful analysis of the 24 group interviews - the following are some conclusions that grow out of the data. 1. Relationships Remaining faithful… Actives see relationships as wanting to associate with other Christians. "I am a freshman and the reason I'm here is I felt so welcomed here. My friend and her boyfriend go to another church and they go later, but I get up early to go here." "My friends brought me. It's a big part of growth to be with other Christians." Non-active young adults see church attendance as a way to meet friends who go to church, just another avenue for socializing. "They don't have a strong faith. It's for socializing. It's what they've always done." Dropping out… Actives and Non-actives both place high value on relationships as a major role in whether or not a young adult attends church. (Actives) "In high school they have a relationship with people when you grew up there. When you go off to college, no one is urging you to go and it's hard to get started. If you're in the dorm and no one else is going, you're not going to go to church either." (Non-actives) "When you first go to college you see all these things trying to get you involved and it looks glamorous." Both Actives and Non-actives are turned off by Christians who are fake. Non-actives harbor a number of hurts and dissatisfactions with their experiences in church, youth group, or with individuals in their prior church experiences. "My first experiences with church weren't so good. All over the walls in the youth room the posters looked good and everything looked good. But during the youth services, someone over here is not paying attention, passing notes, breaking up with their boy friend. It seems like even the youth leaders wanted to be somewhere else." Back to top 2. Discipleship and spiritual depth Remaining faithful… Actives see church attendance as a natural expression of a deep, abiding love for Jesus Christ. "I come to church because I want to be closer to Christ. I don't know what God's will is for my life, but I want to know it." Actives tend to see church attendance as a way of expressing their spiritual gifts and being more involved in spiritual leadership. "I come because I have a responsibility here." Non-actives see church and religious involvement as an obligation or responsibility in obedience to God. "The ones I know that are not strong Christians, it's because they feel like they're doing their Christian duty." Dropping out… Actives see it as a lack of commitment or weak faith. "I think their faith in high school was not much to them. When they got out on their own their faith didn't mean too much to them." Both groups were turned off by Christians who are fake. Both Actives and Non-actives think that lifestyle and choice of friends play an important role in their church and religious participation. (Active) "I have a lot of friends that get into college and see the party scene, and the choices, the sex, and they want to try it all. They think they can settle down later but now they want to try it all." (Non-active) "My friends just got too busy with school, too much homework, stayed out too late Saturday night, played Nintendo too late. God wouldn't want me to sleep during church. It won't hurt to sleep and miss church." Non-actives feel the Church has lost appeal or value. "As you learn more about some people you see how hypocritical they are and it's a turn-off." "I was very active in church, a junior counselor in camp. But once I entered college I stopped going completely. I believe in God but do I believe everything the Bible says? I'm trying to figure it out now." Back to top 3. Family influences Remaining faithful… Actives are more content with their spiritual heritage and comfortable in continuing a lifestyle of active participation. "Your life up to this point makes a difference. I had very supportive parents who went to church so when I got here it was just natural to go to church." Non-actives often sense some parental pressure to be more active in church attendance, but they seem to view this as an intrusion on their new-found freedoms. "It's what parents expected of them." Dropping out… Non-actives think that the church has lost appeal or value, view church as inadequate to deal with the matters of faith in their lives, and were only going because it was their parents' idea in the first place. "I'll be honest with you, I've been going to church forever and honestly going on Sunday morning doesn't do it for me anymore." "When you go off to college and parents are not forcing you to go to church anymore it's easy to fall away. On Sunday morning no one is telling you that you have to go to church." Actives tend to agree. "Sometimes parents push you so much so that when you get away you want to do something different." Parents need help with parenting styles and guiding older adolescents toward young adulthood. (Non-Actives) "I was so glad to be out from under them and do what I want to… After about a year I started to realize my parents weren't all that bad and I really had it good. You start to rebuild. It's so important for kids to get out of the house and experience something besides home." "For me it's better, because we're not around each other all the time." (Actives) "It's not that I have more respect, but when you're with someone all the time you get sick of each other. But when you're away you miss them more." "When I was going off to college, my parents and my grandparents all said, 'Just do everything! Drink it all in! Yeah, work on school but this is your one chance in life to really do a lot of things you've never done before so just fill it up!' So that's what I've done." Back to top 4. Mentoring Dropping out or remaining faithful… Both Actives and Non-actives agreed on this need. (Active) "When I was in college I went to church a few times and didn't know anybody so it was easy to sleep in on Sunday mornings. I would just sit there by myself and no one would say anything at all." "I think when they go away and visit, when they go into a church, I think they're asking, 'Does anyone here really care about me?'" Non-actives point toward previous church experiences, revealing examples of hurts and disappointments. "I think people stop coming because their faith is not their own. I know a youth pastor who really pours his faith into the youth, but their faith never really becomes their own. He always asks them about their quiet time. But they never really learn how to grow on their own." Significant items from the quantitative survey Think of current adults, either Christian or non-Christian, whom you respect and look up to (teacher, coach, employer, neighbor, co-worker, etc.). In general, how would you describe their faith or spiritual life? How many adult Christians, older than you, do you know fairly well and see on a regular basis? How many adult Christians, other than your parents, did you know fairly well and they influenced you as a Christian during your teenage years? How often did you talk to a Christian friend about your faith or the things of God? How many volunteer youth leaders were in your church (teachers, group leaders, etc., not just chaperons for activities)? Back to top
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