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It’s easy to look at these statistics and blame the young people who have left the church in droves, or the parents for consigning the teaching of faith to their children to the care of youth groups and/or Christian culture. https://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/1199360345535442945
But the reality is more complex: that generation’s parents taught them a “faith” mostly consisting of actions and appearances, so it made sense to farm out the training of ‘right actions’ to the youth group (or parachurch, etc).
The understanding of Christianity for many (if not most) in the boomer and greatest generations was far more outwardly-oriented (‘do the right things, avoid the wrong things, and God will bless you’) than heart-oriented.
But that understanding was, in large part shaped by the generation that fought for scriptural integrity and reliability (the modernist/fundamentalist crisis), but in the process reduced Christianity to a (relatively short) list of necessary beliefs and practices.
In responding to a genuine crisis/attack against Biblical faith, the faith once delivered was pared down to the barest minimum (to achieve a coalition: unite to defeat heresy).
That crisis-and-response, however, was built on the events and attitudes of the generation previous, who used the truth of the gospel for nationalistic ends (for both North and South), each side claiming that God was on their side...
...and reducing the Lord of All to a (confused) national cheerleader, and making faith in Christ just one more political opinion, with no greater import than any other political opinion.
But the roots of *that* are found earlier still, in the “Second Great Awakening,” when the Truth was reduced to methodology, and growth in grace to growth in numbers.
What’s the point? First, everything is more complex and nuanced than we would like to believe. The current “collapse of Christianity” in the West cannot simply be attributed to Gen Z, or Millennials, or Boomers, or any other *single* generation or cause.
It has taken the collaboration of MANY over the course of several hundred years, debasing truth and devaluing true repentance in favor of anything more comfortable, and particularly in favor of temporal power and acceptance.
Second, the Law of Unintended Consequences has not been repealed: genuine Christians, even when aiming at the right goal, take the wrong path to get there and start chain reactions they couldn’t have foreseen (or, didn’t, anyway).
Third, the closer Christianity gets to temporal power, the farther we get from Christ. The more we strive for what the world counts wise, the more we pursue foolishness in God’s eyes. Our goal should never be the acquisition/protection of power - as if God needed our help.
Pursuing temporal/worldly power simply says that we don’t trust Him. He is wholly sovereign, and needs nothing from us. The greatest victory in all of history looked like ignominious defeat and destruction in the moment.
As Christians, we must pursue a quiet faithfulness where God has placed us, trusting Him to manage the world-shaking epochal decisions. We have as much as we can handle (and then some) just being faithful in our homes and jobs and local churches...
...training up *our* children in the way they should go, not the nebulous ‘generation’ out there somewhere.
In His hands the world rests secure, and nothing has ever surprised Him. “No power of Hell, no scheme of man” can thwart God’s perfect plan.
tl;dr - There is a God, and you’re not Him.
