Assist News Service Podcast

Assist News Service Podcast


Young People Are Leaving the Church In Record Numbers

April 25, 2019

Jeff with J Warner Wallace and Sean McDowell

It's a fact, young people are leaving the church in record numbers—but what can we do about it?  Bestselling authors and worldview experts, Sean McDowell, Ph.D., (son of Josh McDowell) and J. Warner Wallace, (author, Cold Case Christianity) know that parents, youth leaders, and Christian educators need to help the next generation embrace a biblical worldview. Their new book is available now!

Anaheim, CA (ANS) - Sean McDowell and J. Warner Wallace’s rushed into the interview booth at the annual NRB convention, Proclaim 2019.  These gifted men, both university professors, and authors came to talk about their new book, So the Next Generation Will Know: Preparing Young Christians for a Challenging World.   Their new book is an extraordinary resource for equipping Generation Z with a biblical worldview.

"Sean is a professor at Biola University and he called me to talk about how this generation is more disconnected from their Christian faith than others.   Truly, this generation is walking away in relatively large numbers," J Warner Wallace said.  "Not to be alarmist about it, however, the numbers don't lie.  Sean said we need to equip leaders, educators, parents, and youth pastors to pass on the truth of Christianity to this generation.  Not just what they believe about church or faith, but more, why are these things true?  We felt like we needed a "how to" book because of people always asking us, how do we pass on our faith to our kids?"

Now the narrative is that Christianity is bad, bigoted, harmful and exclusive

A "how to" engage with Gen Z

"There are more ideas, more narratives out there, both in the media as well as the classroom, than before.  Our young people are bombarded with a "worldview" that doesn't include God and is anti-biblical, Sean said.  The primary narrative used to be that Christianity is false.  Not any longer however, now the narrative is that Christianity is bad, bigoted, harmful and exclusive.  Thus, many in this generation ask if this is a faith that I really want to embrace?  This belief system is going to cause me to be excluded, and marked as a racist or a bigot."

J Warner Wallace continued, "This generation is the first to literally grow up with and be connected to smartphones.  Thus, as Sean said, the sheer number of voices out there espousing different narratives are available and promoted to every 12-year-old in America.   It used to be that you had to study philosophy or worldview in college.  Now you are inundated with ideas without training in critical thinking skills."

This wonderful resource is officially available May 1st from Amazon, however, a special offer "pre-order" is available right now!  Go to www.seanmcdowell.org to get several free resources when you pre-order through the end of April.  This special offer disappears on May 1st.  Listen to Sean's podcast at Reasonable Theology here.

So the Next Generation Will Know covers how to:

Recognize the uniqueness of Generation Z
Connect with the hearts of young people
Relate and share what we know about Jesus
Provide kids a worldview that is significant
Prepare students through movies, music, social media, and current events

This may be the most important book of the year! (Lee Strobel)

About Sean McDowell, PhD, - He is a bestselling author, coauthor, or editor of more than 18 books, including Evidence That Demands a Verdict (with his father, Josh McDowell). He is also an associate professor of apologetics at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University and blogs regularly at sean_mcdowell.org. Sean speaks internationally on a variety of topics related to culture, students, and apologetics. Follow him at www.twitter.com/sean_mcdowell  or www.seanmcdowell.org