Holy shift!

LOUISVILLE — The title of Thursday’s webinar, “Holy Shift: Young Parents are Rethinking Everything. So Should We,” was the first clue that the more than 500 people who signed up for the first of three installments were in for a time of learning and sharing ideas.

They weren’t disappointed.

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Dr. Josh Packard, a sociologist and research director at TryTank Research Institute, an initiative of Virginia Theological Seminary, took the large crowd through key findings from the Young Adult Parents Research Project, “What Happens to Faith When ‘Nones’ Have Kids.” The research investigated the evolving role of religion and spirituality among parents in the United States aged 25-39, a group marked by increasing disaffiliation from organized religion.

It noted that the number of adult “nones” has more than doubled since 2005 and now makes up 1/3 of the adult population. At the same time, the number of self-identified Christians has fallen dramatically.

What happens when nones start having children? “Historically, the church has relied on parents as a pathway back into the faith for adults who maybe stopped attending during their late teenage years and into their 20s,” the report states.

That theory held for much of the 20^th century, but increasingly, it’s not the case. “A generation of people who have explicitly rejected institutional forms of religious expression are very likely to raise their children differently when it comes to religious and spiritual formation, if they’re planning on raising kids at all,” according to the report.

Packard discussed the study’s six key findings:

• The faith stops here (or nones are parenting very differently). One respondent told researchers, “I want to pass on the ability to make their own choices. If they are going to have a relationship with religion and faith, I want that to be something that they pick for themselves.” Packard wondered: “Isn’t that parenting? I was shocked to hear it come out that way.”
• Parents are worried about a lot of things, but religion is the least of their concerns. Imparting religious faith to their children was at the bottom of a list that included being responsible, working hard, being well-mannered and helping others.
• Life is hard, and the church is not seen as a resource. 7 in 10 respondents agreed with the statement “life is generally harder than I expected it to be at this point.” Churches and congregations “have a vital role to play [in the lives of these families], but only if they adopt relational approaches that acknowledge the full range of life events shaping people’s experiences,” the study stated. “I think you are exactly who people in their 20s and 30s need,” Packard told attendees, “but they aren’t turning to you in ways they used to because they don’t see institutions and leaders as trustworthy.”
• Jesus is popular, but church isn’t. On a 10-point ranking scale, Jesus scored a 9 among Christians and 7 among people of other faiths. Even nones gave him a score of 6.
• Parents are overwhelmingly confident in their ability to teach their kids to lead meaningful lives. More than 80% were “extremely” or “very” confident in their ability to teach their children the skills they need “to lead a life filled with meaning and purpose,” Packard noted.
• Parents think virtues are essential for their kids, but that the church doesn’t teach them. For example, about 70% of respondents said that self-control is an important virtue they want their children to have, but 48% said the church emphasizes that virtue.

“Nones are more interested in faith than we thought,” Packard said. “Jesus and spirituality are still important to them, and there is a lot we can do in the church around those things.”

But many church models came about at a time when people trusted clergy and churches more than they do now, Packard said. “We try to get people through the doors and be the authoritative voice on an issue instead of recognizing we are operating in a low-trust environment.”

The importance of the relational component is growing. Packard called that “reaching people where they’re at so they see the church as a real resource in times of need.”

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Respondents were asked if they’ll continue to go to church once their children finish high school and leave home. “Our data shows parents are intending to leave once their kids graduate, and that is kind of alarming,” Packard said. Churches may fall into the trap of “once we get parents to come back, we stop paying much attention to their needs.”

“Our ways to reach people have traditionally been through the family,” Packard said. “We might need to think about opening pathways to make sure our churches are still relevant to people without children.”

While the study included “a lot of data, none of it is as important as you sitting down with a young adult parent and having a conversation with them,” Packard told webinar participants. “If you want to take a first step based on this presentation, talk to someone to broaden your own perspective.”

Watch Packard's presentation here.

The Holy Shift series is co-sponsored by the Around the Table initiative and 1001 New Worshiping Communities of the PC(USA). The series continues at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday and concludes beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Sept. 23. Learn more here.