OMAHA, Neb (KMTV) — Most pastors, rabbis and Imams will tell you that when it comes to attendance, the pews aren’t as full as they used to be.
“I think we have seen a decline of people coming to church, in general, of all ages. For sure in young people as far as not identifying with any religion, usually called the 'nones,' that number is going up,” said Greg Griffith, lead pastor at King of Kings church in Omaha.
The numbers back that up as well. According to the National Study of Youth and Religion in 1998 around 15% of young people identified as non-religious. In 2021, that number has doubled and the number of young people who have never identified as religious is surging as well.
“Historically, this is the way that almost everyone who is non-religious became non-religious — they left. But increasingly we are seeing people being raised with no religion,” said Phillip Schwadel, professor of sociology at UNL.
While most of the focus on the decline in religion has been on how it is affecting churches, Schwadel is looking at what a decline in young religious folks might mean for society.
And his numbers show that being religious affects much more than just where you spend your Sundays.
“Broadly speaking, our research shows religious people tend to be happier. They tend to be healthier, they have better mental health outcomes and better physical health outcomes,” said Schwadel.
A sense of community, or a lack thereof, is often the cause of these declines in mental health.
“One thing I’ve heard a lot over the last few years is we are the most connected, digitally, we have ever been. But personally, we feel the most disconnected our society and culture has ever been in the history of humanity, loneliness is a real issue right now,” said Griffith
Drawing those young folks back to church can be challenging and Griffith said sometimes you just have to meet kids where they are.
”We have to let Jesus do the Jesus thing and then let us be his expression of love. Jesus will meet them where they are at and continue to help each and every one of us where we are at because we are all on the journey. As he meets us then he walks alongside us,” said Griffith.
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