Kinnaman Examines the Journey from Lost to Found, Part 3
David Kinnaman with Aly Hawkins. 2011. You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith. Grand Rapids: BakerBooks. (Goto part 1; goto part 2)
Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra
Perceptions matter.
In a world where everyone is potentially connected with everyone else, urban myths thrive. I remember in my career as an economist spending an enormous amount of effort working to verify perceptions with statistical research, in part, because elites actively manipulated perceptions to steer the public’s attention to their agendas. In economic circles, I referred to these perceptions as “sham debates” because elites were often shameless in distorting perceptions to deceive people. Consequently, I took a “trust but verify” attitude about the perceptions that I let shape my work [2].
In You Lost Me David Kinnaman sees mosaic (millennial) perceptions of the problems facing the church as falling into 6 categories:
1. Overprotective. Mosaics perceive the church as a “creativity killer where risk taking and being involved in culture are an anathema”. Kinnaman sees 4 risks of overprotection: 1. It leads mosaics to seek thrills elsewhere in life, 2. It makes it harder for mosaics to step into adult roles, 3. It leads to paralyzing self-doubt resulting in personal, professional, relational, and spiritual paralysis, and 4. It makes the church a weak place for creatives to hang out (99-101).
2. Shallow. “The most common perception of churches is that they are boring…Few young Christians can coherently connect their faith with their gifts, abilities, and passions.” (92) While the majority of Christian teens said that they understand the Bible pretty well, when specific questions are posed they performed poorly (117). Kinnaman sees the shallow faith problem as a consequence of a discipleship problem (120).
3. Anti-science. “Many young Christians have come to the conclusion that faith and science are incompatible…science seems accessible in a way that the church does not.” (92) More than half of teens talk about studying science, including medicine, health, engineering, research, and technology (139).
4. Repressive. “Religious rules—particularly sexual mores—feel stifling to the individualistic mindset of young adults.” (93) Kinnaman observes: “Sexual sin is not worse than other sin but it does have profound consequences for relationships…sex is not about me…sex is about us.” (161)
5. Exclusive. “…they have been shaped by a culture that esteems open-mindedness, tolerance, and acceptance. Thus Christianity’s claims to exclusivity are a hard sell.” (93) Kinnaman observes in 1960 about 4/5 of the 18 to 20 year olds in the U.S. were white; now that number is about half; in 1960 about 9/10 were Christian; now that number is 62 percent; in 1960 about 5 percent of live births were to an unwed mother; now that number is 42 percent (171). The point is that mosaics live in a social environment completely unknown to boomers when they were growing up.
6. “Young Christians (and former Christians too) say the church is not a place that allows them to express doubts.” (93) Kinnaman observes that “unexpressed doubt is one of the most powerful destroyers of faith.” (192)
Kinnaman’s comments about biblical illiteracy point to an important problem. When I entered seminary in 2008, my entering class was tested for biblical competency and just 13 percent passed [3]. (The biblical competency test for my denomination was seriously easier to pass). Mind you, the folks taking this exam were prospective pastors from evangelical congregations, not your typical youth group participant. The Koran refers to Christians (and Jews) as the “people of the book”. What does it mean to be among “people of the book” if you have never read “the book” and your pastor has only a passing knowledge of it?
Kinnaman’s comments about over-protection also struck a nerve with me. As an economist working in finance, I learned that taking risks is the key to earning a high rate of return on your investments. If you are overly cautious in investing, then your rate of return must necessarily be low. In addition, if you are poorly schooled in identifying and gauging risks, then the risks that you take will likely not be rewarded and you may actually loose money. During my own career when I was in my 20s, I took big risks and had a successful career in economics, in part, because I was comfortable being the first person to delve into new areas of study, including finance (my doctoral degree was in agricultural economics, not finance) [4]. Had I been more sheltered as a young person, I might not have been so self-reliant or prepared to succeed in my career. The same critique could be applied to my faith journey because the path that I have taken has certainly not been the most obvious or pain-free.
In summarizing what he learned in studying mosaics, Kinnaman focused his recommendations into 3 points:
1. “The church needs to reconsider how we make disciples.”
2. “We need to rediscover Christian calling and vocation” both inside and outside the church.
3. “We need to reprioritize wisdom over information as we seek to know God” (201).
Kinnaman ends his book with 50 suggestions on what can be done to re-energize the church in this generation taken primarily from other authors. His first suggestion—don’t overreact to what has been learned! (220) Frankly, Kinnaman’s advice was better than most of the authors that he cited.
David Kinnaman’s You Lost Me is an important and interesting read. The willingness of the Barna Group to interview and survey to explore problems empirically offer a breath of fresh air to the endless books based primarily on personal experience. Parents, lay leaders, pastors, and seminarians will want to be aware of these issues.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_....
[3] I was among the 13 percent that passed. However, I taught adult bible study for about a decade before taking that exam.
[4] At my retirement party in 2010, a colleague made a surprising admission. He stood up and in front of all my friends to say that he had spent his entire career following me into different lines of work. I know from experience that he could not have made nearly so much money as I did and certainly did not have as much fun.
