My very large parish is very orthodox and increasingly evangelical. According to some traditionalists, our orthodox teachings should be attracting young people right and left.
But our overall attendance has been essentially flat for several years. Our Sunday school programs for the younger children are crowded, but Confirmation is something of a graduation exercise: even with wonderful youth ministers and an active parent group, it’s tough to get the young people to come to church, let alone to Sunday school.
Part of this is normal adolescent rebellion. But I think there’s more to it than that. My own impression is that, the further along our young people get in their educations, and the more exposure they get to the rest of God’s creation, the less they buy what we’re selling.
And not without reason: We don’t just try to sell them Jesus’ teachings and example, which are exciting and life-transforming. Instead, we keep insisting that the young people buy a bunch of other, centuries-old doctrines that we call orthodoxy — which, to be blunt, are a square peg in the round hole of modern life.
It’s as though we ask our young people to buy a great car, knowing that they’ll love it. But we insist they have to take it with tail fins, whitewall tires, and the radio permanently set to a Big Band station.
They can get what they really want elsewhere — an explanation of why the world is the way it is, a sense of belonging, companionship. It should be no surprise that in response to our car-salesman pitch, they often respond with the equivalent of, “hey, sounds great, thanks a lot, we’ll get back to you.”
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