Current Reads-You Lost Me
Six kids regularly attended Sunday School with me at our small country church. Of those six, I am the only one who still attends church.
We host a Vacation Bible School each year to reach out to kids within the community. Our average number of attendees has been about 60 kids. Of those who have regularly attended each VBS program when they were of the age to, only about 5 still attend a church regularly.
There are at least 15 solid, Bible-believing, active churches within our county that has a population of over 7,000 people. (I live in a very rural area of America-I know!) Each of these churches has similar issues/concerns of watching the younger generation (19-30 year olds) walk away.
As one of the young people who has watched all my church friends walk away from church and faith in God in some fashion or another, I am constantly trying to find ways to help myself understand why I stayed in the church and they didn’t. And to find ways to reach out to them in hopes that they will come back someday too!
The issue of young people leaving the church is not just something affecting my local county and church. It is affecting churches and denominations of all sizes. And that is where David Kinnaman’s book You Lost Me comes in. Mr. Kinnaman is more well known for his book unChristian which was addressing why young people who were not raised in church would not consider coming to church. You Lost Me addresses the demographic of young people like myself and my friends who were raised in a church but have later strayed.
The biggest reason this topic interest me now has to do with the fact that I am a parent trying to raise my child to have a loving, saving relationship with God. Watching so many people walk away from not only church but their faith in God makes me want to do all I can to ensure that my own precious children do not become a part of that sad demographic. It is truly my daily prayer that my children will love and serve God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength!
Okay, enough about why I wanted to read this particular book. Now about the book itself! Mr. Kinnaman, as president of the Barna research group, held extensive surveys and studies and interviews of Protestant and Catholic individuals who were raised in the church. From all of the surveys and interviews, he compiled the information for this book. Some of that information surprised me, some didn’t, some angered me, some saddened me. Pretty much every piece of information was relevant so far as I have seen it happen among young people my own age.
You Lost Me is an excellent book to start discussions. As I read this book, it made me stop and contemplate several areas of my growing up years within the walls of church. And it gave my husband and myself several evenings worth of talking points as we mull over different ways to effectively influence our own kids’ love for Christ. If you want a book that will start a group talking, get this book! It will do that.
Whenever I pick up books that are along the lines of the topic of why young people don’t attend church, I tend to do so with much hesitancy. Why? Mostly because they just end up bashing church in general or promoting a watered down Gospel to attract more people. You Lost Me was none of those things. Mr. Kinnaman does a phenomenal job of addressing concerns and issues without making churches out to be villains who must hide their Biblical beliefs.
This book has given me a new hope and prayer for my generation. Plus it has given me many ideas and actionable ways to address the issues behind why young people leave. I don’t want to give away much more than that because the book says it so much better than I could and I want all you to go read it and prayerfully discuss it for yourself!
If you have read You Lost Me, let me know what your thoughts were! I would love to hear them!
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