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Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it

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Ever think a book of statistics could keep you up at night? This one may be it, especially if you're a parent and/or involved in Christian education.

This book is the result of a collaborative project between Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis and Britt Beemer of America's Research Group to survey 1,000 young adults who grew up in solid, Bible-teaching churches but have left the church either permanently or temporarily. Typical thinking in Christian circles is that young adults leave the church in college due to teachings and culture that challenges their Christian beliefs. Ham and Beemer's findings run contrary to this assumption, and they are shocking and disturbing.

"We've always been trying to prepare our kids for college... but it turns out that only 11 percent of those who have left the Church did so during the college years. Almost 90 percent of them were lost in middle school and high school. By the time they got to college they were already gone! About 40 percent are leaving the Church during elementary and middle school years! Most people assumed that elementary and middle school is a fairly neutral environment where children toe the line and follow in the footsteps of their parents' spirituality. Not so. I believe that over half of these kids were lot before we got them into high school! Whatever diseases are fueling the epidemic of losing our young people, they are infecting our students much, much earlier than most assumed." (31)

From their conclusions, 60% of the children and teens sitting in our chairs and pews each Sunday will disappear in the coming years. In fact, Ham argues that they might be physically sitting there week after week, but they are already gone. Want some statistics that will really keep you up at night? There was no statistical difference in their study between kids who attended public schools, Christian schools, or homeschool. No difference between Christian and secular college. Sunday School did make a difference, but not the one you would think - according to their study, kids were more likely to leave the church if they were also attend Sunday School!

I found it fascinating that the majority of the individuals they surveyed seem to have authentic saving faith in Christ. Most even agree that attending church is important for believers. So, where are they?

Ham's primary conclusion: the Church has failed to teach the Bible as relevant fact. We have, intentionally or unintentionally, taught the Scriptures as "stories" that relate to spiritual matters and have avoided engaging the deluge of challenging questions from the secular world that bombard churched children and adults the other 166 hours of their week. Questions about the reliability of the Bible, why homosexuals shouldn't be allowed to marry, the origins of the universe, the age of the earth, the feasibility of a world-wide flood, etc. When kids raise these questions in church, they are often told that it doesn't matter what they believe, as long as they trust Jesus. Or they are told we can't really know for sure. Or they are told just to talk about that at school and talk about Jesus at church. Conclusion: the Bible must not be true when it comes to "real" things like history and biology and geology, it just speaks to our "faith."

Secondly, we have failed to connect the Bible to our everyday life. We have tolerated hypocrisy, we have failed to teach Truth in a challenging and relevant way, we have compromised what the Bible actually teaches about the function and purpose of the church in favor of traditions and entertainment. Even people who sincerely believe in Christ as their Savior and believe that the Bible is true have left the church because it doesn't seem relevant to real life.

Ham is blunt and straightforward in this book without coming across harsh. But, I think he is right - the American Church needs to take a serious look at itself because it is dying from the inside out. If we compromise the foundation of our faith, what do we have left?

The second half of the book deals with what we should do about this epidemic. Personally, I would have loved to see this section get a little more practical, but I think that really is outside the scope and purpose of this book. Although the subtitle is "why your kids will leave church and what you can do to stop it," the "what to do" is so huge that this really needs to be a springboard for much more if anything is really going to change.

Why do I say that? For this to change in any noticeable way, Ham truthfully says that the majority of church members need to personally examine their thinking about the reliability and accuracy of the Bible, including in Genesis 1-11. That alone sounds nearly impossible without the direct intervention of God. Then the church leadership needs to examine and overhaul how we're "doing church" and why, the content of the sermons, the curriculum used in children's, youth, and adult ministries and Bible studies and perhaps even question and/or eliminate extraneous programming that isn't doing the job. We need to believe the Truth before we can defend it. We need to teach the Truth before it can be lived out. It is an enormous task, and it is almost laughable to say that in 73 pages those issues can be addressed well.

This book is something I hope that thousands of parents and members of church leadership will read and "chew on." Ham and Beemer have handed us a grim diagnosis, and we need to prayerfully seek God for answers about what to do about it. In reality, I think they have unmasked some deeper, foundational issues for the Church that have no easy answers - the answers are straightforward (Know the Bible, teach the Bible, live the Bible), but the practical aspects of what that means in our churches have huge implications that need serious thought.

Already Gone is among a growing number of books addressing the floundering Western Church. Authors Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis) and Britt Beemer (social scientist) focus on research showing churches are suffering a mass exodus of young people. The value of Already Gone is that it demonstrates the critical relationship between people's view of scripture and church involvement. The weakness of Already Gone is that it lacks a biblical framework for addressing the problem.

The authors observe that disengagement from church starts at an early age. They fault "well intentioned, firmly established programs and traditions of churches" that are "utterly failing" to teach the Bible as truth. For example, one tradition that has an "overall negative impact on beliefs" is Sunday school. Instead of teaching the Bible as historical fact from an apologetic perspective, most Sunday school classes present the Bible as mere stories with a moral teaching. Even more significant has been the Western Church's abdication of science to the secular evolutionists. Once scripture is questioned on one point, young people become skeptical of its other truth claims.

Ham and Beemer argue that churches must give up "long held cherished notions" about Christian education and focus on apologetics. But while Ham and Beemer correctly diagnose the problem, they fail to adhere to their own premise; follow scripture over tradition. Instead of offering a biblical model for training children, Ham and Beemer's recommendations are limited to shoring up the content of Christian education curriculum.

Despite their admission that Sunday school is ineffective, Ham and Beemer remain unwilling to discard this sacred cow of the American Church for no other reason than too many traditionalists would object. Here Already Gone misses an opportunity to address how we can replace an unproductive tradition with scriptural means. Sunday school has failed because the Western Church has embraced the mistaken belief that activities should segregated by age. The authors even misapply Proverbs 22:6 in their attempt to justify youth ministry and youth pastors. Already Gone should have explored the impact of using unbiblical means to teach youth in addition to unbiblical content. Already Gone reveals how entrenched age (and family) segregation practices have become in the Western Church. Even Ham and Beemer (two advocates of biblical authority) recommend using a "group of elders" to walk alongside of youth to "mentor, disciple and equip" them rather than defer to the biblical role of parents(Duet. 6).

What is missing from Already Gone - and most critiques of the Western Church
-- is an adequate description of the biblical economy for transferring knowledge about God to young people. Until the Western Church conforms to biblical standards for training children, the problem will not go away.

This book is the first of its kind. At last we get to see the questions asked that really shed light on why young people are quitting church. The church's relevance to our culture and youth is normally based on aesthetic issues of music styles, programming or even how the building looks. This book asks the questions about what really is the reason young people see the church as irrelevant and it comes down to underlying beliefs. If you want to know why your children see the bible as irrelevant and therefore also the church, you have to read this book. You will find out the major issues that remain largely unspoken in the church and not dealt with in the minds of youth and you will find out that there IS something you can do about it. At last a book that will help us all to better inform and secure the next generation.

Ken Ham does an excellent job of presenting statistical data to aid in identifying a real world problem that permeates the modern church. He explains the reasons why compromising Genesis undermines the confidence people have in the authority of the scriptures. By interviewing evangelical Christians that have left the church, this book explains that the process of departure from Christianity begins as early as middle school. Because middle school and high school students do not understand the reasons for our faith, they are disconnected from the Bible and this leads to their departure. The majority of people who depart do so because of a lack of confidence in Genesis. Since the younger generation does not find Genesis reliable, they also do not have confidence in the rest of scriptures.

This is a must read for all Christians, but especially pastors and teachers.

I am not a Young Earth Creationist. Ken Ham wrote this book, and he is. It should be no surprise that this book emphasizes the importance of reading the Bible as though its words are true. Despite my personal notions, I loaded up my five kids one weekend and drove from Atlanta to Cincinnati to experience Ken Ham's Creation Museum, and I am so thankful that we did. I was surprised that the information presented went way beyond, "but the Bible says . . . ." The high quality displays were jam packed with information based on current, observational science - not hopeful conjecture. It also highlighted many widely accepted fallacies in the areas of astronomy, geology, paleontology, etc. (not to mention thoroughly discrediting the granddaddy of them all - Darwinism). I walked away wanting to learn much more - which, I expect, was the whole point.

If you believe in the Young Earth position, and you accept that there was a global catastrophic flood, then this is an excellent book. Even if you don't hold those positions, however, Already Gone remains an outstanding read - provided you have any reason to care about our children.

I believe the Bible's instruction that parents are the primary educators of their kids. I believe the purpose of education is not to equip our children with the opportunity to "succeed" in life. Instead, the purpose of education is to teach them (1) the Creation Mandate, and (2) the Redemptive Mandate. The probing surveys described in this book are critical to fulfilling the purpose of educating our kids. The reality is that the results of the surveys described herein are terrifying - and highly motivating - regardless of your specific denominational affiliation.

As their kids' primary educators, I believe every parent must read this book. As a man called to church leadership, and as someone who has served by teaching Sunday School for over a decade, I believe every pastor, youth leader, children's director, and Sunday School teacher should read this book and prayerfully consider its serious implications. As a former school board member, I strongly recommend that everyone associated with education, from Ivory Tower leadership to hands-on staff, carefully consider the statistical results presented in this book. If the information hits you as hard as it hit me, the book includes an appendix for you with resources that can assist you in connecting with kids before they are gone. Well done.

I wish I could've just bought the research study. In a nutshell, Ham believes that teaching a literal, young-earth creation is the only way to bring kids back to church. There is more depth to it than that, they make a good case that we really lose kids in middle school because Sunday School is really just a glorified babysitter program in many churches, and youth ministry does more to fuel the cultural concept of adolescence than propel kids into adulthood, instead it just creates more adultolescent consumers. But overall, Ham's conclusion and proposed solutions are kind of ridiculous. His prognosis is good, but the prescription is silly. I was hoping for a more Gospel/Jesus-centered proposal....

I perfectly fit Ken Ham's description of a kid who was already gone. I dutifully went to a "Bible-believing" church, Sunday School, and youth group. I was even a student leader in my youth group and taught children's Sunday School during my teens. Nevertheless, I am now in my late twenties, have left the church, and have no intention of ever returning. I bought this book figuring that I would disagree with all of the authors' prescriptions but curious about his overall diagnosis of people like me. I wasn't disappointed.

As with a lot of Christian apologists I have read, the authors' work was glaringly shoddy from an academic perspective. Ham's biography at the end of the book doesn't include where he earned his degree(s). The majority of the "Resources" (as opposed to a decent bibliography) at the end of the book were written by just two authors (Jason Lisle and Ken Ham). Virtually all of the listed resources were put out by a single publisher (Master Books) or were available on Ham's website (answersingenesis.org). In other words, there isn't a broad academic discussion about these issues. It's merely Ham on a soapbox.

I found the survey data interesting, but even more so, I was bemused by the authors' interpretation of it. In particular, I found their blind-spots to be insightful. For example, they talk about "the Sunday School Syndrome", that is, kids who attend Sunday School are actually MORE likely to stop believing the Bible than those who don't attend Sunday School. Ham thinks this is because Sunday Schools are not teaching kids that the Bible is the Word of God, that it is literally true, and that it can be defended. However, his own data shows that, of the young adults surveyed, 94% said their Sunday School classes taught that the Bible was true, 86% were taught that the book of Genesis was not a myth, 83% were taught that the earth was created in six 24-hour days, and 57% said that their Sunday school classes taught that the Bible could be defended. Perhaps the reason that kids who go to Sunday School are more likely to stop believing the Bible is because they are more familiar with the Bible's claims. In other words, the Bible becomes less plausible the more you read it. The authors' didn't seem to think of this alternate explanation.

My favorite example, though, is on page 139. Beemer, the researcher who oversaw the survey, is befuddled by two statistics. When asked, "Do you believe that God used evolution to change one kind of animal to another?", 24% said yes. When asked, "Do you believe that humans evolved from apelike ancestors?", 30% said yes. He says that he had expected the results of those two questions to be the same, and he can't think of any reason for the discrepancy except that sometimes people aren't logical. The much more reasonable answer is that the 6% difference is the group of atheists. Both young-earth creationists and atheists will disagree with the statement that GOD used evolution to change one kind of animal to another. To write a question in such a way that two people with diametrically opposing views will both disagree with it but for totally different reasons is just plain sloppy.

In short, I got $4 worth of amusement out of the book, and I set it down feeling pretty good. Young people are leaving the church in droves, and there's precious little that church leaders can do about it. Ultimately, conservative Christians are telling their kids to believe things that don't have a shred of evidence in their support, so digging their heels in and insisting more loudly and more shrilly will only speed their demise.

Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer with Todd Hillard

Britt Beemer's America's Research Group was commissioned by Ken Ham to survey 1,000 former attendees of conservative Christian churches, who are now in their twenties, to discover why they left. Already Gone is a summary of the survey results, and a challenge to the church to heed the warning and make the radical changes required to remain relevant - not only to the younger generations, but to everyone.

Do you believe in the authority of Scripture? Does your life demonstrate it? Ken Ham poses these questions to young adult Christians both in and out of mainstream churches, to pastors, Christian teachers, to parents, churches, and educational institutions. The subject of Already Gone is the generation of Christians my age (20's), many of whom have left the church. Of those who have left, there are two main groups: one whose worldview is mostly secular and skeptical of the Bible, and one that believes the Bible is true and applicable but has found the church irrelevant. How is the church failing to deliver a biblical worldview to the children and youth who faithfully attend Sunday school, church, and youth group? Of the twenty-something's who remain in the church, are they submitted to the authority of Scripture, or is their search for a worship experience prevailing over God's teachings about the Body of Christ?

What about the parents, pastors, youth pastors, and Sunday school teachers who make up the older generation, the church establishment? Have they sold out God's teachings on the church for their beloved traditions? How much of what we think of when we hear "church" is actually biblical? Why is the most common accusation against the church that it is hypocritical? The church in America is losing members so drastically that we need to radically reevaluate our practices and teachings. Compromise cannot be tolerated.

As founder of Answers in Genesis, Ken Ham must touch on his favorite subject: the foundational importance of Genesis, and how compromise on the historical and scientific truth of Genesis undermines all of Scripture, faith in God, and even the gospel. He calls the church back to teaching "earthly things," the correspondence between the Bible and reality. Christians need to be equipped for apologetics from an early age, to guard against doubts and to answer inquiries from a godless culture. This, more than music or games or attractive activities, is the only way to be relevant to people living in the real world and desperate for answers.

Already Gone is a fair, factual, and interesting treatment of the systemic problems in the church today. Lest we become like post-Christian Europe, where church is a marginal pastime for a few elderly people clinging to vestiges of tradition in empty cathedrals, we must take action now. Several reactions to the problem are presented, with their disadvantages and perks, but ever a challenge to study for yourself what God says about church and training up children.

As a member of the generation under the microscope, on the edge of the traditional church and ready to flee, I was impressed by the willingness to take us seriously. Some of us are leaving because we see the problems and want a church that does what a church should, and loyalty isn't strong enough to keep us from looking outside our experience. Ken Ham acknowledges, with some surprise, people in my situation. I appreciated this book. Even though I'm pushing for the more extreme reactions mentioned (abandoning Sunday school and traditional trappings: buildings, sermons, and orders of worship), I have a lot of respect for the way Already Gone ties the whole malady to the failure of Christians to teach and obey the authority of the Word of God. If a person is faithful to study and submit to that, he will be led to the mode of meeting and discipleship God intends, strongly equipped for the Christian call to evangelize our world.

To God be all glory,
Lisa of Longbourn

In considering buying this book, you need to consider that it is dealing with the mass exodus of young people from the church, which is happening across the board. However, the focus of this book is on the conservative evangelical/fundamentalist churches. This exodus is more of a crisis of faith for these churches, because of their theology.

I've noticed the negative reviews are negative because Ken Ham is the author. This should not be an issue. Yes, Ham's focus is on recent creationism and his focus is mentioned in this book, but the theme of this book is the problem of twenty somethings leaving the church and how to stop it. He sees one's views of Genesis (which he feels is the foundation of all Scripture) to be part of the problem, but what do you expect? His argument here is more on the need to defend the Bible and to live it out.

The co-author is C. Britt Beemer, who does research. The survey is done of 1,000 people in their 20's who went to church as children and are not now. The survey was very detailed (the full survey is in the appendix), and revealed some interesting facts. Among these is that Sunday School is not helping the problem and that there are two different groups that leave the church. Some do so because they believe the Bible is not relevant; others still believe the Bible but feel the church is irrelevant.

Besides pointing out the problem, Ham deals with solutions. Those solutions are well thought out. He recognizes that a lot of what's going on in church is not the commandment of God but the traditions of man. He also realizes that those traditions may be good, bad, or neutral, but it doesn't change the fact that they are traditions.

Every pastor, every youth worker, every Christian education minister and Sunday School teacher, and every Christian parent needs to read this book.

The authors look past the superficial answers, and in this startling study get to the root of the problem of why young adults are leaving the church. The study is focused on young adults who have fully left the church as former regular church going Christians. By the time they get into college they are already gone. With Ham's knowledge of scripture, especially his devotion to Genesis, and Beemer, who makes a living studying human behavior and attitudes, statistically we get a shocking discovery of what's happening to our children. The information from the study could eventually be categorized even further. The book is separated into two parts, where Part 1 covers the epidemic and Part 2, the solutions (which I found to be sparse) and defending our faith. The appendices contain a sampling of the survey and resources.

So what are the findings? The church and the teachers are not doing their job. We are losing them in Sunday school, and the thing is, their survey concentrated on conservative christian churches. Though, they point out that the father is the most important teacher, and we tend to rely too much on school/church teachers. It stems from the belief in biblical error, especially what is found in the book of Genesis. The kids see the hypocrisy and the compromising teaching of the bible, so they see the church as irrelevant. There are positive findings though: these young adults are open to coming back, which gives an opportunity for the "church" to become relevant again. The bottom line is it's up to the parents, especially the father to teach the uncompromised truth.

Wish you well
Scott