Choosing Our Religion: The Spiritual Lives of America's Nones

Empathy with Emerging Generations as a Foundation for Ministry

“…It does not take much digging to unearth ministry leaders’ concerns about young people becoming less engaged with traditional Christian religious expressions. Studies point to a decline in church attendance and a rise in young people designating their religious affiliation as “none,” meaning that they describe themselves as having no loyalty to a particular denomination (Glenn, 2017; Shrauner, 2017). Some ministry leaders interpret these trends as alarming, while others frame the findings as a generational decline in which young people are merely imitating what a previous generation of adults has taught them (Bengtson, Putney, & Harris, 2013; Kinnaman & Hawkins, 2011; Smith & Snell, 2009).…”