Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can Do to Stop It

Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can Do to Stop It

3.93 of 5 stars 3.93  ·  rating details  ·  231 ratings  ·  51 reviews
Nationwide polls and denominational reports are showing that the next generation is calling it quits on the traditional church. And it's not just happening on the nominal fringe; it's happening at the core of the Faith.
Paperback, 189 pages
Published March 1st 2009 by Master Books (first published January 1st 2009)
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Kevin Thompson
It’s been no secret that many teenagers leave the church completely shortly after entering into college. However, the shocking news is these teenagers have already left the faith long before they may have left the church. Its not colleges that our encouraging our teens to leave the church, it may be the church itself. Thus the premise of Already Gone by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer…

Already Gone seeks to analyze the results of a survey conducted by Answers in Genesis and conducted by Britt Beemer his...more
Adam T Calvert
This was truly a sobering look at what's happened in England - with their rich history of evangelism and preaching (John Wesley, George Whitefield, Charles Spurgeon) and doctrinal clarity (the Westminster divines, et al.) - and the similar consequences that could soon be clearly visible in America. The authors especially hit it home the way they open and close the book (not going to spoil it).

Ordinarily I tend to be very skeptical of "statistics" and the way people use them, but when Brit Beemer...more
Kenneth
Ham, Ken and Britt Beemer: Already Gone: why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it (ok) (166pgs) Some good insight in this book, but seems to oversimplify some problems. It seems their answer to the problem was to have answers for critics of Genesis and not much beyond that. I believe we need to have answers but the Bible is not mainly a science book. Where it teaches science we can trust it fully but it is about God, creation, man, sin, Christ as redeemer, and his return to...more
Rick Toews
Aug 25, 2010 Rick Toews is currently reading it
The study contrasts the effectiveness of Sunday School, in which kids learn "stories" from the Bible for perhaps a couple of hours per week, with public school, in which they learn facts about the real world for several hours each school day. It notes the influences these respective sources have on the formation of a child's worldview and that when there is a conflict, it is very likely that the information under the "real world" heading will be believed.
Interestingly, it found that those who ha...more
Nora St Laurent
In the front of this book are pictures of beautiful churches in England that have been transformed. They show a church in the United Kingdom turned into a rock climbing center, one in England turned into a night club, one a restaurant and still another a theater.

The authors talk about a shift in society, “The decline of the Church has followed the plummeting spirituality of a nation that has lost its roots—its foundation. England, the country that was once a cornerstone of western Christianity,...more
Thomas Freeman
Ken Ham has teamed up with a Britt Beemer, a survey research specialist. Working together they have surveyed a cross-section of conservative evangelical young adults. After analyzing the results they present the case that our young adults are leaving the church at an epidemic level. However t he most surprising discovery is that the vast majority left the church prior to high school graduation. The youth had questions and challenges for the Christian worldview that were not answered satisfactori...more
Sarah
Jun 27, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: 2012
Very insightful book. I've seen enough of the problem they describe to allow me to take the premise as stated and skip over the pages and pages of statistics and proofs to get to the meat of the solution. I am so grateful for thoughtful people who are willing to take the time and trouble to work through these difficult issues and come down to the biblical root of the matter: are we willing to take God at His word, to live lives based on the Bible in more than a superficial "only spiritual with n...more
Dan
I wish I could've just bought the research study. This book makes it clear that we are losing kids in Sunday School, not college. 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 ad...more
David Natiuk
Sep 15, 2010 David Natiuk rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Christians, Educators, Parents
Recommended to David by: Friend
ONE-MINUTE REVIEW:
A necessary wake-up call to whomever calls themselves a Christian and has even the slightest desire to pass those values on to the next generation and beyond!

The biggest problem facing the Christian world today is the attack on the authority of the Bible, and the inevitable slide to irrelevancy once that foundation has been destroyed. From the very first chapter of Genesis, our post-Christian society doubts the Bible's history and Christians have not done a good job of correct...more
Tonya
This book has been expressing much of what I feel when I think about church. It is very educational and shows me how I should help my own children.

My only complaint is I don't fit either group. I propose a 3rd group: those that have tried and tried to follow God's Word to the letter, but have been hurt by hypocrasy so many times in the church, they are looking for something better. Churches are made up of human beings and are never perfect, but they COULD keep those who do things against the Wor...more
Stephen
READ MAY 2011

Interesting take on the dynamics of many leaving the church, as an institution, while they continue to seek community of faith. While the focus is on high school and college-age, the application is to all with similar perspectives.

Best quotes, "Our spirituality has become compartmentalized....'If I can't trust the Bible in the earthly things, why should I trust it in the spiritual things?' ... The church actually disconnects the Bible from the real world" (p. 78), and "at least half...more
Joel Arnold
Already Gone

Based on a survey of 1,000 kids who grew up in conservative Christian homes but subsequently abandoned their faith, this book explores what is causing our kids to leave. Many insights from the data are fascinating and very helpful. Unfortunately, the book also tended to be an exercise in data interpretation. Ham believes that our kids are leaving because we fail to teach them creation science. The data led me to conclusion that the issue is our families and our personal walk with God...more
Todd Miles
Ham tries to make the case that the primary reason that so many teens leave the church when they leave the home is because they have not been taught the Bible well. He tries to link teaching the Bible well to teaching a literal account of Gen 1-2. I tend to agree with that assertion and his overall concern. His book is based on statistical surveys of those who have left evangelical churches. The results are interesting, though I think that his statistical work seemed dubious at times. This book...more
Jefferson Sweet
As SS director in my church, this book and movie caused us to realize changes were needed. We implemented changes to our curriculum and our teacher training based on this book. I recommend it to all parents and grandparents; especially of elementary age children.

As Associate Pastor I see the effect on our children when their parents rely on the Public schools to educate their kids. I try to educate the parents in our church of their GOD given responsibility to raise up children in the care and a...more
Joseph Sawanowich
Answers In Genesis commissioned America's Research Group to study the exodus of today's youth from the faith. What they found was that 2/3s of young people (<20)currently present in body are actually already gone in heart. To reverse the trend, the book encourages a return to the authority of Scripture, especially the foundational chapters of Genesis (1-11) and teaching our youth how to answer challenges to the faith through apologetics. Very good book overall. It tends to seem like an advert...more
David
It is said that 90% of churches in the US are either in decline (80%) or have plateaued (10%). Already Gone was not written to be a text on how to grow your church. It does address, in part, the decline in conservative churches. Written by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer, it seems to be a well researched book, full of shocking yet "user friendly" statistics that address in large part the exodus of younger people from conservative Bible-believing churches. One might question the validity of the statist...more
Honeybee
This was an eye-opening book. It is not an easy read. It was full of statistics and analyses of the most common reasons young people give for leaving the church as young adults--and why they have no intention of coming back.

Basically, we have failed to make the Christian faith believable or relevant to them--especially in face of the onslaught against the Bible through secular humanistic science to which they are exposed constantly through the media and public education, while receiving Bible-ba...more
Amy
Jul 07, 2010 Amy marked it as to-read
My church is obsessed with this book. I don't think a voter's meeting has gone by since it was published that someone hasn't mentioned it. Sometimes I find it kind of ironic. They talk as if its a new revelation, and maybe it is for them. But really? All they had to do was ask any number of teenagers. We know. We see, we hear, and we answer. But my generation isn't expected to feel anything, we're just "a problem" and "losing our faith", wanna know why?
Ask one of us.
I dare ya.
Brian Eshleman
I'm not sure suspicious is the right word, but when an author widely known for Answers in Genesis commissioned statistics that arrive at the conclusion that apologetics on that issue are THE critical issue is whether twentysomethings stay in church, one has to ask.
His insight that young people don't place the value in church because they don't put what they learn on equal footing with other subjects was insightful. His contention that apologetics needs to be included in our lessons from the Bibl...more
Val
Oct 23, 2010 Val added it
This book is chilling. Every sunday school teacher, youth leader, pastor, parent, teacher, etc. must read this. I teach 20somethings every summer and this is the answer to the slow fade of that age group from their roots in the church.
Beth Cronk
Not my theology. Kids are leaving church because we aren't teaching them the literal truth of Genesis? And the "right answer" is that dinosaurs coexisted with people? I'm sorry, that is not a universal Christian belief.
Matthew
This guy is a sham. Ken Ham just wants to sell you more of his AIG stuff. He doctrine is in my opinion questionable. His points are backed only by assumptions. I suggest one stay away from this guy.
Chuck Bonadies
I like Ken Ham. I like him a lot. I have a feeling, however, that many economists would disagree with some of his methods of research. In short, I find some of his solutions a bit shortsighted.


Tim Sheppard
I appreciated the new thought about losing kids in Sunday School. I agree with Ken that we need people who have a proper view of the Scriptures all the way down to the Creation account. Kids need to see us believing the Bible and living it as well. I don't think all the stats were necessary. We need to be thoughtful and intentional about everything we do with kids. My family was most influential on my view of the Bible. I probably had some poor Sunday School teachers as well. The church needs to...more
Library of Pastor  Chris
there is a lot of truth in what Ken Ham presents. We must build a stronger foundation in the lives of our children.
Andy Anderson
awesome book about teaching the first 11 chapters of Genesis and how it is so important to a Christians worldview...
Bob
A sobering look at trends in church attendance and spiritual commitments among American youth
Sue
Lots to think about here. It's true - if you lose creation, you've lost the fall, and ultimately the need for Christ.
Jason
Ken Ham and Brit Beamer did a fantastic job at researching a current trend in the church today. They asked probing questions to find out why people (mostly kids and twenty-somethings)are leaving the church, and often times the faith. They shed light on the urgent need of understanding and leadership in the church today. People need to start educating themselves on the seemingly harder issues of the Bible, or they just need to "man-up" and have the faith that it takes to stand on the Word of God....more
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Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it (Kindle Edition)
Already Gonewhy Your Kids Will Quit Church And What You Can Do To Stop It
Already Gone (ebook)
Already Gone (ebook)
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Dr. Ken Ham is the president of Answers in Genesis USA and is a well-known speaker and author on the subject of Young-Earth Creationism. He received a bachelor degree in applied science (emphasis on environmental biology) from the Queensland Institute of Technology, and a Diploma of Education from the University of Queensland. He has also received two honorary doctorates: a Doctor of Divinity from...more
More about Ken Ham...
The Lie: Evolution The New Answers Book: Over 25 Questions on Creation/Evolution and the Bible One Blood: The Biblical Answer to Racism The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved: A Biblical View of These Amazing Creatures The New Answers Book 2

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