Fast Facts: May/June 2008

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a study early this year, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Among other findings, Pew mentioned that the religious unaffiliation rate doubled from childhood to adulthood in the U.S. That is, only 8 percent of today's adults do not remember being associated with some religious group as children. But 16 percent of today's adults say that they are not affiliated religiously. When do people lose their affiliation within the Church of the Nazarene? The Research Center reviewed the age group reports from Churches of the Nazarene in Canada and the U.S. From 2000 to 2007, each local pastor was asked to report the number of people in several age groups within the church they served. While this is not an easy number to gather, it does provide a rough estimate of how the church in Canada and the U.S. is attracting and retaining people of various ages. There is a slight loss of four percent between 9 and 10 years old. Between the children's department and the youth department, we have averaged a 16 percent loss each year, ranging from 12 to 20 percent. But the major loss has been after high school. Just over half our teens, ranging from 53 to 56 percent annually, do not remain part of our responsibility lists. Currently, age-specific reports are not collected from Churches of the Nazarene in other world areas. As that information is received in the future, similar comparisons will be made. We have many ways of making Christ-like disciples, and not all of them involve being part of the Sunday School. But our churches must be certain that they are finding other ways of helping our young adults through the transition to adulthood as Kingdom disciples. Compiled by Dale Jones. Holiness Today, May/June 2008

 

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