I know it’s been a while since I started this series of reflections on why young adults are leaving the Church of the Nazarene. I’d like to conclude this segment, based on my multiple conversations, with a concerning observation towards young adults themselves. My previous posts have been aimed more at the Nazarene denomination, its leaders and practices. However, I want to change gears and focus squarely on young adults.
All of my conversations and observances of young adults leaving the denomination can be boiled down to two primary decisive moments: 1) they were forced out, or 2) they deliberately chose to leave.
As to the first, I’ve seen ministers have their credentials pulled for various reasons (some legitimate, and some motivated by church politics), and have also seen laypeople essentially run out of the church. Those situations are tragic, and there can be something of substance to discuss, but I’m more interested in the second item of interest: when young adults choose – on their own accord – to leave the denomination.
More specifically, I want to explore the two primary approaches young adults take that end with them leaving the Church of the Nazarene: deconstruction and consumerism. One of these is a healthy approach to discern one’s relationship with a denomination, and the other is inherently flawed.
For some of the people I spoke with, and it was a minority, the decision to leave the Church of the Nazarene came as a result of honest seeking, intensive study, and reflection. These people began to ask questions, and those questions led them to conclude that the Nazarene Church is not the expression of Christianity they can align with any more.
Typically, the kinds of questions one asks that lead to this conclusion relate to church & theological history, consistency and clarity of belief, and polity (church structure and practice). For example, as one begins to wrestle with Historical Christianity and explores the beliefs of the early Church Fathers, they begin to perceive contradictions between their discoveries and the Nazarene Church. The differences become irreconcilable, and the individual concludes that they need to search for a church that is more consistent with their discoveries.
I’ve heard from several individuals who left the Church of the Nazarene because they began to study things like Church and Bible History, various theological developments over the last 2,000 years, as well as how consistently the Nazarene Church adheres to Biblical teaching. Similarly, others had begun questioning the validity and depth of certain Nazarene teachings (or lack thereof) regarding human identity (race, sexuality, etc.) and Christian social living.
These types of people who left the Nazarene church exercised what I would consider to be a healthy deconstruction. They didn’t leave out of anger, or during a particular tumultuous time of disagreement with church leadership. Instead, they sought to develop a more full understanding of their Christian Faith and, in so doing, discovered that the various pieces of theology, Christian living, and history don’t match up to what their denomination teaches and practices. And so, almost always with a great deal of grief involved, they begin searching for a more true expression of Christianity to which they can join themselves.
These cases are rarely (in my experiences, never) motivated initially by a desire to leave. Rather, it is the Church of the Nazarene and her emphasis on holiness, Christian love, and a deep reverence for the Scriptures that causes many to dive deeper into their Faith. In an ironic twist in these cases, the Church of the Nazarene has actually set young people on a path that leads to exiting the denomination.
I admire those deconstructionists who invested so much of their time, energy, and souls into asking the tough questions. More than that, I admire them for their humility – accepting the Truth of the Church regardless of whether it’s comfortable or aligns with what they want to be true.
That leads me to the second point: consumerism.
I don’t mean to denigrate those who would fall under this heading, because consumerist approaches to everything – including Christianity – have become a major part of our culture’s zeitgeist. All the same, I still see this as an unhealthy approach to leaving the Church of the Nazarene, and strongly caution people against it.
A consumerist approach to leaving the Nazarene Church looks like this: When a young adult is confronted with a teaching, practice, or perception of the denomination that runs contrary to their personal beliefs, they simply reject it.
In other words, a young adult leaves the denomination not because they’ve done the hard work of study, nor have they undergone the humbling exercise of submitting to Scriptural teaching. Rather, they have decided for themselves what the Bible says and what the Church ought to believe. And so, when their self-declared and self-certified beliefs are challenged, they reject those challenges and seek to find a new community that thinks and behaves in ways that agree with them.
It’s essentially church-shopping, but on the denominational level. And, unfortunately, it appears to be the majority approach of those young adults who leave the Church of the Nazarene. Coincidentally, those who leave under these motivations also tend to be the most vocal about it, whereas those who leave having done the work of deconstruction tend to leave quietly. Make of that what you will.
Some concluding thoughts on this one…
I do think older generations are given a poor view of why and how young adults are leaving the denomination. Some older folks see this as a movement of lethargy – young adults are simply too lazy to do the hard work of staying. Others see it as a movement of self-indulgence – young adults leave because they’re flaky and don’t like accepting the possibility that their personally held views are in need of correction. Others see it as a mix, and many more simply don’t know.
Regardless, I hope it becomes clear that the reasons for leaving the Church of the Nazarene are greatly varied, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
In truth, there are many who leave the denomination with very good reasons for doing so, and they may have a point if we allow them to speak. For clarity, I’m not speaking here of those who have left over prevailing social issues – I tend to think we give those too much attention. Rather, I am speaking of those who are exiting quietly, having done a great deal of study and reflection, whose movements are muffled by the loud cries of those championing their consumer-Christianity.
To those young adults considering leaving the denomination: do your homework! No matter where you go, you will run into issues of leadership, abuse, neglect, and teachings that run contrary to your preferences. If you’re going to leave, do yourself a favor and learn some humility. Accept that a Church with a 2,000 year history has done a great deal more work on Biblical interpretation, theology, and Christian practice than you have, and be willing to do some digging to discover what those are. If, in the process, you find yourself being aligned more and more with the Nazarene denomination, then please consider offering your gained wisdom and knowledge to gently and diligently correct us where we are wrong.
If, on the other hand, you find that your spelunking of church teaching leads you to an inevitable conclusion of the Nazarene Church being fundamentally and irreconcilably wrong, then I pray your journey leads you to a more faithful adherence to the Sacred Scriptures and a community that does the same. At least now, you don’t have to leave in anger and frustration, having done the work and humbly sought after Christ.
Okay, now onto what I’ll be writing next. Somewhat in the same vein, I want to address some of the approaches churches employ in regards to Young Adult Ministry. I’ll be speaking in a general sense, because I’m basically done with writing about the Nazarene Church for the moment.
Strait Talk 