1 in 5 Adults Leaving Their Childhood Faith Worldwide

This isn’t a big surprise—we’ve been commenting on growing secularization, particularly of the West, for decades. And most of this “religious switching” is happening in North America, Europe, East Asia (specifically South Korea), and South America.

Interestingly, though the secularization trend holds for South Korea, it also has “the highest share of people who say they were raised with no affiliation but have a religion today (9%). Most of them (6% of all South Korean adults) say they had no religious upbringing and are now Christian.”

But what’s happening in the West and even in South America? Well, obviously it’s complex, but I believe the growth of religious disaffiliation really comes down to two reasons.

1. Failure of parents to pass on a spiritual legacy: A spiritual legacy doesn’t happen by accident! It takes intentionality, time, and effort. It takes opening God’s Word with your children, discipling them, and equipping them with a biblical worldview and with answers to the issues of our day. But so many parents leave the spiritual upbringing of their children up to the church—only a few hours a week!

But as I tell parents, you can’t take your house, career, sports accomplishments, or anything else to heaven with you—but your children have an eternal soul that is going to live forever.

2. Failure of the church to stand on the authority of God’s Word and equip the coming generations: Many parents have entrusted the spiritual upbringing of their children to the church, but so many churches have become increasingly shallow, focused on entertainment rather than prioritizing true discipleship, biblical worldview teaching, and apologetics. And the result is generations of churchgoers who don’t know what they believe or why they believe it—and they’re either ineffective believers or easy prey for the secular world as they slowly drift into disaffiliation.

So what can we do? Well, we can do what God’s Word commands. We (especially dads, the spiritual leaders of the home!) can prayerfully prioritize the spiritual upbringing of our children, teaching them God’s Word in every situation and at every opportunity (Deuteronomy 6:7), understanding that we can’t save our kids—only God can—but God often uses faithful parents to pass on a spiritual legacy and build his church. Here at AiG, we offer a variety of resources to help families, including through-the-Bible devotionals to get you started with the habit of a regular family time of worship, my commentary on Genesis 1–11, and my new collection of daily readings.

We can start teaching biblical worldview and apologetics in our homes and in our churches, showing how God’s Word is the only proper lens through which to interpret the world.

We can start teaching biblical worldview and apologetics in our homes and in our churches, showing how God’s Word is the only proper lens through which to interpret the world. Rather than teaching God’s Word as something we add to our thinking, we need to raise up generations who will start with God’s Word in every area. Our chronological Bible curriculum, Answers Bible Curriculum, is a great place to start (we have a Bible/Sunday school version and a homeschool version).

How are you prioritizing the spiritual legacy of your family? Think about that!

Get More Answers on Answers News

This item was discussed Monday on Answers News with cohosts Bryan Osborne, Dr. Gabriela Haynes, and Jessica DeFord. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum, broadcast on our Answers in Genesis YouTube channel, and posted to Answers TV. We also covered the following topics:

• How do Christian universities “crash and burn”?
• Are kids really falling in love with robots?
• Have scientists uncovered how feathers first evolved?
• And more!

Be sure to join us each Monday at 2 p.m. (ET) on YouTube or later that day on Answers TV for Answers News. You won’t want to miss this unique news program that gives science and culture news from a distinctly biblical and Christian perspective.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.