Does College Take Away Young People’s Faith?
The question raised in the title of this article is actually one of many I hope to address in this writing. All of these questions are asked in a similar spirit, usually raised by a perplexed and concerned coterie of older folks who observe the rapidly growing secularism of Gen Z and wonder to themselves “is such and such cultural institution frequented by young people causing them to abandon their beliefs in Christianity?”
You may take the word “college” in this article’s title, then, and replace it with any number of comparable things. It could just as well be called “Is Pop Culture Taking Away Young People’s Faith?” “Is the Political Climate of the United States Taking Away Young People’s Faith?” “Is Social Media Taking Away Young People’s Faith?”
I have only chosen college to place in the title instead of any other aspect of culture because it seems to be the one believers most commonly attribute to the rise in youthful apostasy. With that said, the purpose of this article is to answer these questions and then create a “game plan” that allows us to respond accordingly to said answer.
Now, depending on who you ask the question to, you may receive polarizingly different answers, followed by long sardonic rants. Internet celebrity Rhett Mclaughlin, most prominently known for being one half of the talk show duo on YouTube’s Good Mythical Morning, is also famous for “deconstructing” his Christian faith and becoming an agnostic who holds drastically different values than he once held as a believer.
In one podcast, he claimed that young people are leaving the Church not because the words of Jesus have fallen out of fashion, so to speak, but because “[young people] heard the words of Jesus, and they got it.”
Essentially, he’s saying that the conduct of the Church does not match up with the teachings of Jesus, with the former being largely characterized by judgment and hate and the latter being characterized by love and compassion. Consequently, young people observe this discrepancy and then depart for greener pastures.
However, if you ask an ardent believer why young people are permanently deconstructing, they may instead tell you it’s due to the anti-Christian, worldly messaging so prominent in the media our kids consume as well as the schools they attend–after all, if you are bombarded with the notion that up is down and down is up for a sustained period of time, and all your peers as well as the thought leaders in your life promote this idea, wouldn’t you start to believe it as well?
As for which end of these two extremes I fall under, I think they are both different levels of true on different occasions. If a teen is wrestling with the mysteries of the Christian faith, for instance, then exposure to hypocrisy or hatred from fellow Christians certainly will not push him closer to the Jesus-following camp.
On the same token, if the faculty at your college and the celebrities in Hollywood and the pop stars you follow online are inculcating you–gradually, slowly, on the daily–with a philosophy that is antithetical to that of scripture’s, this could be brutally detrimental to a young person’s faith as well.
So yes, both of those things and a litany of other factors could all contribute to the widespread secularization of my peers. But here’s an idea: what if we’re focusing on the wrong question? What if it’s not so much the question of “What external forces in the world are causing the youth to abandon Christianity?” and more so the question of “What has gone wrong in their discipleship and the Church’s spiritual instruction to them that they are finding it increasingly appealing to stop pursuing a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ in favor of pursuing something else?”
Or, to put it in simpler terms: “What deficiency in their discipleship has now made it so easy for them to renounce Christ?”
To begin answering this question, let me begin by stating something that some readers may think comes across as elitist or perhaps even downright arrogant (to those that do, I ask that you extend me grace and bear with me), and it’s this: if you encounter the God I have encountered, and if you have seen Him transform your life the way I have seen Him transform mine, then there is simply no leaving Him. The very idea of doing so becomes utterly preposterous.
Moreover, there is certainly no leaving Him all because you sit through a semester of irreverent teachings from a professor who fancies himself to be an intellectual skeptic, or because you’re exposed to the foolish idealism of some Marxist classmates, or because the pop star or TikTok celebrity of your liking has begun championing political causes that go against a Christian worldview.
I have to think that if you have been discipled properly and enjoyed a genuine encounter with the God of heaven and earth, you would see those as nothing more than silly distractions–counterfeit purposes that cannot hope to fill you up any more than the offer of a breadcrumb could tempt someone to give up the lavish spread waiting for them on their picnic blanket.
This leads me to believe that a great many of the youth who are leaving their faith behind were never accurately and convincingly taught what faith in Jesus Christ offers to the believer. After all, a man does not part with his hundred-dollar bill in favor of a rock if he understands the actual value of the bill, no matter how smooth or shiny or overall alluring in appearance the rock might be.
So how, then, was the discipleship of my peers deficient? I can think of two errors. The first error was what I call “Sunday Morning Discipleship.” In other words, parents took their children to church every Sunday and then called it good. There was no follow-up on what was learned in church throughout the rest of the week, no modeling of what a personal relationship with Jesus Christ looks like day in and day out, no further inculcation of Christian teaching or virtue.
The youths who experienced this spiritual upbringing were not presented with a life-changing love for God so much as they were given a weekly obligation to sit through a service, the significance of which they likely did not understand.
The second discipleship error many of my peers experienced is the “Passive Christian” upbringing. These people received a more biblically grounded education than those in the “Sunday Morning” group. Their parents also probably sent them to youth group and encouraged regular study of God’s Word. In fact, mom and dad (as well as the other spiritual authorities in their life) likely even modeled regular prayer to them, especially in times of turmoil. I’ll bet they were rightly taught that the first thing they ought to do when things fall apart is turn to the Lord.
This upbringing led them to (again, rightly) view God as their chief source of deliverance and salvation…but that’s where their perception of God ended. He was there to save them from their sin and help them through life’s trials, but then what? Was there any responsibility on their part that came with this? Was God calling them to anything beyond passively intaking His grace and relying on Him in difficult times? No. Hence the name “Passive Christian” upbringing.
What’s missing from both of these forms of discipleship is, unfortunately, a crucial element of the Christian lifestyle: mission. Jesus did not teach us to receive salvation and then use God as nothing more than a security blanket. He also did not teach us to go to a worship service once a week and then forget about God. That is so far from how he discipled the twelve.
Instead, He taught them that after receiving God’s grace, there is a concrete action step they must take, and this action step is lifelong: the chief purpose of the believer is, just as scripture instructs, to use the unique gifting and talents God has given them in order to do fulfilling work for the Kingdom that results in the discipleship of others, the saving of many, and the edification of the Church.
It is when we do this, and only when we do this, that we will feel most aligned with our purpose and most fulfilled in what we are doing. This is the antidote to both discipleship errors I discussed today.
If my generation does not learn they have something important to offer the Kingdom of God, then they will be deprived of the day-to-day joy that comes with purposefully serving the Lord. And if they don’t feel this sense of purpose, they will seek it out elsewhere.
By my estimation, anyone who is discipling a member of my generation needs to intentionally make this a strong point of emphasis. Identify their strengths and point them out. Encourage them to hone these strengths–or, if they don’t know what their strengths are, coach them into an answer. Ask them what kind of work comes most naturally to them. When do they feel most satisfied in what they are doing?
After determining this, provide them with plentiful opportunities to utilize their gifts for the Kingdom. Maybe they can join you in volunteering for your church’s food drive or helping the youth pastor in facilitating the kids’ group. This will allow them to (1) use their gifting to do the kind of work God has wired them to enjoy and (2) see tangible positive results outflow from doing so.
It will foster a sense of identity–a “yeah, you know what? I think I was made to do this. I’m really making a difference, here!”
If my generation misses out on this essential part of the Christian walk, then they do not have what they need to keep going. Every one of us needs a mission. And we’ll find one to try and fill that void if someone does not properly disciple us. All of a sudden, national politics will become incredibly urgent. We’ll latch on to whatever social cause happens to be in vogue. We’ll dedicate ourselves to these ersatz purposes.
Basically, if our faith does not provide us with purpose, we will gladly abandon it for something that does, however perverse or inconsequential that purpose may be.
That’s why my generation leaves Christianity when they go off to college, or when they enter into a certain friend group, or when they immerse themselves in modern media.
Purpose and mission. That’s the name of the game.
