Why the Next Generation is “Already Gone”

The following post was originally published by The Christian Worldview with David Wheaton as a 2-part radio interview. Links to both parts of the interview are below. Part 1 was aired Oct. 17, 2009, and Part 2 was aired Oct. 24, 2009.

• Why the Next Generation of Christian Young People is “Already Gone” (Part 1 of 2)
• Why the Next Generation of Christian Young People is “Already Gone” (Part 2 of 2).

Ken Ham is the founder and president of Answers in Genesis and the author of numerous books, including  Already Gone published by Master Books. In 2009 he co-authored Already Gone with Britt Beemer, president of America’s Research Group.

The book is now in its 5th printing, with more than 75,000 copies sold.

“Already Gone” Impact is Growing

[The following post was originally published in Ken Ham's personal blog, "Around the World with Ken Ham." Ken is the founder and president of Answers in Genesis and the author of numerous books, including  Already Gone published by Master Books.]

The impact of the research in our book Already Gone as to why so many young people are leaving the church continues to grow. Here are just two feedback items we received this past week:

I just wanted to send a note of encouragement to your ministry. My husband and I attend [a church in] Michigan. Today our Executive Pastor highly recommended your new book, Already Gone, during the Sunday sermon. We are doing a fall sermon series on mentoring the next generations, and today our pastor described some of the research in your book. In fact, our entire pastoral team is going to study your book this fall. My husband and I are really excited to order and read the book.

We visited the Creation Museum last summer, and we often visit your website and are so blessed by your ministry. Thank you for standing so strongly on God’s Word and being defenders of the faith. We will continue to support your ministry through prayer and financial gifts as we are able! Thank you again, and we look forward to reading your book!

And:

Had a good turn out in church this past Sunday for the showing of Ken’s Already Gone DVD; the response seemed to be very positive, especially from families with middle- and high-school-age children I was observing as everyone was watching the DVD. Everyone seemed to be paying close attention.

Had a great introduction by our pastor at the beginning; he read from the Parade Magazine interview with Dan Brown concerning how the church let him down with questions he had concerning Genesis, and our pastor read a brief part of an article that was in our Grand Rapids Press religion section of this past Saturday’s paper . . . there was a big front page article on how area colleges here and around Grand Rapids are accepting the teachings of Darwinian evolution . . . Hope and Calvin to name two (I will send you the article). Our pastor felt it was God’s providence that these two articles came out about the same time this DVD would be shown in our church! Our pastor than prayed for AiG’s ministry to be blessed…

At the end of the DVD, our friend . . . gave his testimony on how this [AiG ministry was used by his] girlfriend and now his wife . . . and her family to take him from being an atheist and help bring him to know the Lord. But, he still had questions concerning dinosaurs/millions of years. . . .

[H]e found a book titled The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved! in the church library. Aaron explained after reading this book he became an on-fire Christian because he had his questions answered! . . . Talk about God’s timing, this is where i get goosebumps just thinking about this.

A year ago I became our church’s librarian, and because God used AiG to re-ignite my faith for the Lord, I eagerly put new books from AiG into our library. One was Ken’s The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved! . . . .

We will be working on getting . . . other apologetic curricula into our youth Sunday school classes in the near future also . . . .

I’m praying God will use apologetics and AiG to get our church excited again . . . . In the near future, [we] are going to bring up the idea of a church bus trip down to the museum, and a good possibility of getting a speaker to come too! (this is so fun  ).

Praying for the Two-Thirds

[The following post was originally published in Ken Ham's personal blog, "Around the World with Ken Ham." Ken is the founder and president of Answers in Genesis and the author of numerous books, including  Already Gone published by Master Books.]

We are finding more and more churches that are being awakened by the research published in our book Already Gone, which deals with why and when two-thirds of young people are leaving the church. Two Sundays ago in Atlanta, the pastor invited families—with their children—down the front and prayed for their children that they wouldn’t be in that two-thirds.

Last evening in Broken Arrow First Baptist Church (Oklahoma), the pastor, Nick Garland, was moved to ask the congregation to join in small groups across the auditorium and pray for the church’s young people—to pray they wouldn’t be in the two-thirds.

I praise the Lord for pastors like Pastor Nick who understand the importance of the biblical creation message and stand on the authority of God’s Word. Pastor Garland was so dedicated to getting this message to his congregation that he did something I rarely experience: for this weekend he cancelled all the normal formalities of a church service, including the music. He basically opened each service in prayer, welcomed people, told them how important it was for them to listen to the message, and then handed over to me to speak to them.

For the three services, I had nearly an hour for each message—which gave me a great opportunity to de-secularize thinking and build a creation/Christian worldview, helping people understand the vital importance of standing on the authority of God’s Word beginning in Genesis.

Nice Boys Don’t Ask That Question

[The following post was originally published in Ken Ham's personal blog, "Around the World with Ken Ham." Ken is the founder and president of Answers in Genesis and the author of numerous books, including  Already Gone published by Master Books.]

In Parade magazine published this past weekend (9/13/2009), an exclusive interview with Dan Brown (author of The Da Vinci Code), called “Life After ‘The Da Vinci Code,’” included the question, “Are you religious?” Dan Brown responded:

I was raised Episcopalian, and I was very religious as a kid. Then, in eighth or ninth grade, I studied astronomy, cosmology, and the origins of the universe. I remember saying to a minister, “I don’t get it. I read a book that said there was an explosion known as the Big Bang, but here it says God created heaven and Earth and the animals in seven days. Which is right?” Unfortunately, the response I got was, “Nice boys don’t ask that question.” A light went off, and I said, “The Bible doesn’t make sense. Science makes much more sense to me.” And I just gravitated away from religion.

I have heard people testify to similar sorts of circumstances in their lives in what seems like countless times to me over the years—and it is one of the reasons the Lord has raised up ministries like Answers in Genesis. As I have talked with literally thousands of young people over the past 30 years, so many have told me they didn’t get answers to their questions concerning whether the Bible can be trusted because of what they are taught at school about the big bang, evolution, millions of years, etc.

The research conducted by America’s Research group (detailed in the book Already Gone) on why young people are leaving the church (two-thirds statistically are leaving the church) showed clearly that these young people are not being taught—at church or home—a defense of the Christian faith against the secular onslaughts of today’s world. Dan Brown is obviously another casualty of not getting the right answers. However, we praise the Lord so many people over the years have received answers from the Creation Museum and Answers in Genesis resources and conferences.

Truly Awesome

[The following post was originally published in Ken Ham's personal blog, "Around the World with Ken Ham." Ken is the founder and president of Answers in Genesis and the author of numerous books, including  Already Gone published by Master Books.]

We are receiving many testimonies as to how the book Already Gone (and its reported research into why young people are leaving the church) is having a tremendous impact on churches. Here is one such example received this week:

I recently bought a case of Already Gone and passed it out to friends and all of my pastors. My wife and I also led a biblical worldview group this summer—in which, we viewed the webcast State of the Nation. We were not sure how the book or the information within the book would be received, but our Lord had it all taken care of . . . .

[O]ver the last two Sundays, the individual in charge of our youth ministry (who received a copy of the book) has spoken to the entire congregation about the importance of discipleship, having a biblical worldview, and each of our roles within the lives of our youth—utilizing facts and passages from the book. It is truly awesome to see how God can get our attention!

Thank you for such a timely book. I am not sure if you will receive this message, but it is my hope and prayer that it will encourage you both. God bless.

“Already Gone” Continues to Impact

[The following post was originally published in Ken Ham's personal blog, "Around the World with Ken Ham." Ken is the founder and president of Answers in Genesis and the author of numerous books, including  Already Gone published by Master Books.]

Our book Already Gone continues to have a tremendous impact on individuals and churches. We receive many encouraging comments, like this one:

… just wanted to compliment you on the book “Already Gone” Ordered one and not even through with it, I just ordered a bulk shipment. It is right on the money on hitting on the main reason I left the church after high school. I am thrilled by your work and thank God for your ministry. Keep it up!

You can order Already Gone from the AiG website.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying, Ken.

Truly Awesome!

[The following post was originally published in Ken Ham's personal blog, "Around the World with Ken Ham." Ken is the founder and president of Answers in Genesis and the author of numerous books, including  Already Gone published by Master Books.]

We are receiving many testimonies as to how the book Already Gone (and its reported research into why young people are leaving the church) is having a tremendous impact on churches. Here is one such example received this week:

I recently bought a case of Already Gone and passed it out to friends and all of my pastors. My wife and I also led a biblical worldview group this summer—in which, we viewed the webcast State of the Nation. We were not sure how the book or the information within the book would be received, but our Lord had it all taken care of . . . .

[O]ver the last two Sundays, the individual in charge of our youth ministry (who received a copy of the book) has spoken to the entire congregation about the importance of discipleship, having a biblical worldview, and each of our roles within the lives of our youth—utilizing facts and passages from the book. It is truly awesome to see how God can get our attention!

Thank you for such a timely book. I am not sure if you will receive this message, but it is my hope and prayer that it will encourage you both. God Bless.

Continuing to Impact

[The following post was originally published in Ken Ham's personal blog, "Around the World with Ken Ham." Ken is the founder and president of Answers in Genesis and the author of numerous books, including  Already Gone published by Master Books.]

Our book Already Gone continues to have a tremendous impact on individuals and churches. We receive many encouraging comments, like this one:

… just wanted to compliment you on the book “Already Gone” Ordered one and not even through with it, I just ordered a bulk shipment. It is right on the money on hitting on the main reason I left the church after high school. I am thrilled by your work and thank God for your ministry. Keep it up!

You can order Already Gone from the AiG website. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying

Ken

Tags: Already Gone, events, Feedback, outreach, travel

How Can Christians Survive Secular College?

[The following post was originally published by Dr. Jason Lisle, a Creationist Astrophysicist at Answers in Genesis, and author of The Ultimate Proof of Creation, published by Master Books.]

A: I can say from experience that being a biblical creationist at a secular college has its challenges. In addition to the normal academic pressures faced by all students, the consistent Christian must learn to be discerning about the views and interpretations expressed by his or her professors. This requires extra research as well as time (a valuable commodity while in college!). Such intellectual challenges occur in the midst of a social environment that is hostile to Christianity.

Many Christian parents are concerned that such a secular environment may lead their children to walk away from the Church. This concern is justified, since studies have shown that around two out of three Christian students from conservative churches will leave the church when they become adults.

First of all, our research shows that the problem starts much earlier than college. Nearly 90% of those students who leave the church have already begun to doubt God’s Word by the time they graduate from high school. Although they may continue to attend church with their parents, spiritually they are already gone.

Most Christian teenagers do not understand how the Bible connects to the “real world.” They have been taught “Bible stories,” but they have not been shown how the Bible’s history explains the evidence around us—from biology and geology to astronomy. Conversely, public schools use their evolutionary version of history to interpret the present world. So, students are inclined to think that the secular version of history they learned in public school is real, whereas the Bible is just a collection of interesting stories.

A Pastor Reviews “Already Gone”

[The following review is by Kyle McDanell, pastor of Goshen Bible Church in Kentucky.]

Recently a representative from Answers in Genesis came to our county and gave a series of talks on creation, evolution and culture. The three talks were very good and I especially enjoyed, and learned a lot from, the talk on fossils. At the mini-conference someone picked up Ken Ham (founder of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum) and Britt Beamer’s new book called, “Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church And What You Can Do to Stop It.” The book is centered on a poll taken of a thousand young people who left the church after high school and seeks to give the reasons why and how the church can fight against this growing trend.

The truth is, a far majority of students that grow up or are involved at some point in their teenage years end up leaving the church after high school. The statistics the book reports are at times surprising. For example, the survey suggests that there is a great percentage of students that grew up attending Sunday School who end up leaving the church than those who only attended the worship service. This is rather shocking to say the least!

The authors see the integrity and authority of God to be under attack in our culture today. And I believe they are right. Their perspective is the attack made on Genesis and the creation account. The authors rightly point out that churches have more than willingly obliged to the attacks made on Scripture without defending God’s Word. As a result, the Bible is presented as a book of stories rather than history, truth, and authority. As a result, our students learn stories, but do not learn truth. It is tempting to say that just because one doubts the historicity of Noah’s Ark or the creation account doesn’t mean that one can’t be a good Christian. It is possible, certainly. But the slippery slide one finds themselves on is very dangerous. If God’s Word can’t be trusted in Genesis (or anywhere else for that matter) then why should we trust it regarding everything else?

Overall, this is a good book that should challenge us all. The authors point out that the answer to keeping our young people is not changing the music or dressing differently, but to share the gospel and preach God’s Word unashamedly. They are right in saying that we live in a post-Christian culture and we need to learn how to reach such a culture.