Why are so many young people leaving the church and walking away from faith?
The young little Japanese Maple tree I planted in our backyard last year offers some insight. Earlier this summer strong winds pushed it to lean over precariously as the roots were not strong enough to hold it in place. Without intervention, it would die. The roots were not yet strong. They had not yet spread into the soil in which they had been planted. And so I roped and staked it so that it would stay in place and start to flourish as its roots spread and grow. That tree has continued to require my time and attention. . . fertilizing, watering, and pruning. I know that growth, strength, health, and flourishing will only result from increased rootedness. Our kids. . . and yes, our selves. . . we are exactly the same.
For those of us parenting and doing youth ministry, we need to understand why our “output” isn’t resulting in the kind of spiritual growth, strength, and vitality that are marks of genuine discipleship. In the December 2025 edition of Ligonier Ministries’ “TableTalk” daily devotional, Dr. Chris Cataldo offers these words regarding the contemporary evangelical church and the reason for exodus. . . an exodus rooted in a lack of roots.
“For all its strengths, the evangelical tradition often lacks the depth to sustain souls over time. So often cut off from the rich soil of doctrine and the church’s accumulated wisdom, evangelicalism grows shallow and showy. With no deep roots to anchor it, the movement easily confuses emotional intensity with spiritual maturity and numerical growth with genuine fruit.
Video screens and fog machines replace sacramental mystery; manufactured experiences substitute for the slow cultivation of holiness. Worship becomes performance, aimed more at producing a mood than forming character. Add corporate metrics of success and the result is a greenhouse Christianity: impressive from a distance but lacking the hardy growth that weathers storms. The predictable wilting follows: celebrity scandals, authoritarian excess, and exodus to Rome and Constantinople in search of the very roots that evangelicalism has abandoned.”
I’m thinking here this morning about how we do youth ministry. Are we committed to “the slow cultivation of holiness” rather than the constant and exhausting work of maintaining the kind of Wow-Factor! that keeps them coming in the doors. . . for now. . . but will fail to sustain them when they encounter the inevitable and harsh winds and storms that life in this broken world is sure to bring this side of eternity?
What will you do in 2026 to stake them up, to feed their roots, and to grow their souls?
As 2025 comes to an end and we stand on the cusp of a new year, consider and meditate on these words from the Apostle Paul to Timothy. . . and to each of us. . .
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, doe the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (II Timothy 4:1-5).