Clica una miniatura per anar a Google Books.
S'està carregant… Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it (2009 original; edició 2009)de Ken Ham, Britt Beemer, with Todd Hillard
Informació de l'obraAlready Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it de Ken Ham (2009)
Top Five Books of 2014 (1,047) S'està carregant…
Apunta't a LibraryThing per saber si aquest llibre et pot agradar. No hi ha cap discussió a Converses sobre aquesta obra. For all I know, the survey of the thousand unchurched young adults from “conservative and 'evangelical'” churches done by Britt Beemer is absolutely correct. That said, I believe that the reportage on George Barna's statistics that is the context for Beemer's study is garbled, and there are certain pieces of data that would have greatly improved this analysis. I'll mention that I am an atheist, but here I am reviewing that book for the use of statistics, not my opinion of the authors' views. I'm not a statistician by any means, but I have serious questions about some of the figures that are presented. Here's how it looks to me: Ham confuses speaking of young adults AS A WHOLE with speaking of young adults WHO WERE CHURCH ATTENDEES IN THEIR TEENS. These are not the same, since not everyone in the United States attended a Christian church. On page 24 Ham presents statistics, and an accompanying but contradictory pie-chart created by George Barna on page 25. Ham says: “61% of today's young adults who were regular church attendees are now 'spiritually disengaged,'” and ; “20% of those who were spiritually active during high school are maintaining a similar level of commitment,” and ; “19% were never reached by the Christian community.” If you read that quickly, it seems to add up: 61% + 20% + 19% equals 100%, right? No, because in two cases you are talking about teenage CHURCH ATTENDEES and in the third case you aren't. It is like adding miles to miles per hour. The 61% and the 20% account for 81% of teenage CHURCH ATTENDEES. Where are the other 19% of teenage CHURCH ATTENDEES? They certainly aren't accounted for by the 19% who never attended church at all. Barna's pie-chart, titled “Twenty somethings struggle to stay active in Christian faith” labels the sections as: “20% churched as teen, spiritually active at 29 “61% churched as teen, disengaged during twenties “19% never churched as teen, still unconnected.” This is different from what Ham says, and does add up because he is talking about all Twenty somethings. On page 19, George Barna is quoted as saying: “A majority of twenty-somethings – 61% of today's young adults,-- have been churched at one point during their teen years but they are now spiritually disengaged (i.e., not actively attending church, reading the Bible, or praying).” On page 23, he is paraphrased as saying “six out of ten 20-somethings who were involved in a church during their teen years are already gone.” The two statements (on p.19 and p.23) are not the same although they sound similar. Again, Ham is equating ALL young adults with young adults who were CHURCH ATTENDEES. If these are two different studies with different results, that certainly isn't made clear in the text, although they have different web citations. (I have had only erratic success in finding the original articles on Barna's website.) Ham's figure of an attrition rate of 61% or approximately two-thirds matches the paraphrase on p.23. If 19% of all young adults never attended a Christian church, that would mean that 81% or 81 out of 100 young adults (which is easier for me to envision) attended. If 61% of the 81% who attended church have disengaged from religion, that is 49 out of a hundred, or 49% of ALL young adults. Now let's see how those figures change based on the quote on p. 19. According to the Barna quote, 61 percent, or 61 out of those 100 young adults attended church as teenagers but no longer do so. Since those 61 attended church, they are all included in the 81 young adults who attended church as teenagers. That would mean that that about 75% or three-fourths of teen-age church attendees no longer go to church, not two-thirds. Beyond this, the comparison with Barna's figures is a little sloppy. If Ham is really most concerned about young adults from “conservative or 'evangelical'” churches, it would be nice if he had a figure for disengaging calculated for them, instead of using an overall figure. It appears that in determining the unchurched for their own survey, Ham and Beemer have used a different standard than Barna's figure for the disengaged. Barna's standard, you may recall was “ not actively attending church, reading the Bible, or praying.” Yet the Beemer figures for the unchurched include 51% who go to church at Christmas and Easter – it is unclear if Barna would consider that to be “actively attending church.” In addition, the hypothetical “William” on pp. 55-56 would not be considered to be disengaged by Barna since he reads his Bible and prays, even if he doesn't go to church. Ham and Beemer are free to create their own standards, of course, but the figures are accordingly less comparable to Barna's. It would also be better if Ham and Beemer had statistics on the young-adults who continue active involvement in their church as a comparison. After all, it could be that their beliefs aren't any different, they are continuing to attend for other reasons. I don't think that the figures prove that Ham is correct that the problem is the failure to teach apologetics; we have no figures on what they are taught. Ham apparently goes to a lot of churches, and perhaps correctly senses that this is a short-coming, but it isn't evident from these figures. It is also the case, as evidenced in these data, that people who do take the Bible literally are failing to go to church, so as he acknowledges, it can't, be the only problem. So the figures may be suggestive, but hardly definitive. For other books on young adults and Christianity, I suggest David Kinnaman's UnChristian and You Lost Me. Title: Already Gone Author: Ken Ham and Britt Beemer Publisher: Master Books Publishing Year: 2009 Pages: 190 My Rating: 4 out of 5 (1 meaning I hated the book, 5 meaning I loved the book) It’s been no secret that many teenagers leave the church completely shortly after entering into college. However, the shocking news is these teenagers have already left the faith long before they may have left the church. Its not colleges that our encouraging our teens to leave the church, it may be the church itself. Thus the premise of Already Gone by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer… Already Gone seeks to analyze the results of a survey conducted by Answers in Genesis and conducted by Britt Beemer his America’s Research Group. The survey questioned 1,000 former, regular, conservative church-goers between the ages of 20-29. More than just complaining about the fact that we are losing many of our young people, this survey sought to find out why. It is certainly an interesting concept every pastor, youth worker and teacher ought to find intriguing. Here’s just one of the interesting and alarming statistics: 95% of those surveyed who have left the church were regularly attending while in elementary school. Only 55% of them were still regularly attending while in high school. Obviously there is a big drop off there. People are not waiting for college to drop out of church. In fact, of those surveyed who now doubt the reliability and relevance of God’s Word first began doubting in Middle School. Only 10% of those surveyed experienced their first doubts in college. So why are these young people leaving? The top answers that were given where: Boring services, legalism and hypocrisy in the church. Just reading the results of this survey justifies the money you just spent on the book. Its more than just interesting, it is informative and a slap in the face of evangelical Christianity. It is a wake-up call to re-examine just how we “do church.” Ham urges pastors, youth workers and teachers to evaluate their ministries and methods in light of God’s Word rather than just being “traditional.” “Are we doing church ‘by the book’? Just because we want to be ‘conservative’ or ‘traditional’ doesn’t mean we are ‘biblical.’ Its safe to conclude that if one of the original Apostles visited one of our churches today, he wouldn’t have any sort of clue that he was in a Christian gathering… ‘Church’ today is mostly driven by man-made traditions and not by the biblical mandates to defend the Word of God and live by the Word of God.” As great as this book is, it is not perfect. While Ham and Beemer do a great job at exposing the problem and highlighting some of the causes, I think their own ministry clouds them from thinking about the bigger issue. As you would expect, Ham comes to the conclusion that people begin doubting the Word and leaving the church because we are not teaching them how to defend 6-day, young earth creationism. For the record, I hold to 6-day, young earth creationism. It is an important doctrine that churches do need to preach and equip their congregations to defend. I believe this doctrine is a key fact in unraveling God’s redemptive history as unfolding through the entirety of the Bible. In other words, the Gospel is at stake. But, Ham stops at creation. The gospel is rarely mentioned in the pages of Already Gone. That’s a problem for me. I think many middle and high school students doubt the Bible and church in general because they are given self-esteem pep-talks instead of Bible doctrine. They are told to check their brains at the door and focus on their emotional needs. They are not being feed. The feel-good religion of many youth groups and churches just doesn’t hold up in a fallen world filled with pain, sorrow and death. They need real doctrine – they need the gospel! They need more than a four-point walk down the Romans Road. They need a full fledged-gospel that imparts live-saving truths to be applied to their entire spiritual walk. They need to be pointed toward a holy, glorious sovereign God who rules and reigns in the midst of sin. Instead, they are told Bible stories that are comparable to Aesop’s fables (at least in their presentation). The gospel must be defended, not just creation. I whole-heartedly agree with Dr. Ham in that Genesis lays the foundation for a right understanding of the gospel. In Genesis 1-3 you have the establishment of sovereignty, sin and redemption. It’s all their. A Biblical understanding of Genesis is crucial in understanding the rest of what God has to say – its non-negotiable. Teens must also learn how to defend this literal approach from scoffers both secular and Christian. However, as I stated previously, Ham needs to take that next step. He doesn’t here in this book. Yet, the book is still a valuable resource. It is a tool in your hand to help your ministry address this problem. As a teacher, I tuck this information away everyday as I teach young people. We are losing them before they ever walk out of high school. That should cause every one of us to seriously examine our approach to youth ministry. Buy this book and use it! Purchase the book at: CBD or Amazon Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher for review. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review. Sense ressenyes | afegeix-hi una ressenya
Over 100,000 copies in print!If you look around in your church today, two-thirds of the young people who are sitting among us have already left in their hearts; soon they will be gone for good.This is the alarming conclusion from a study Answers in Genesis commissioned from America's Research Group, led by respected researcher Britt Beemer. The results may unnerve you - they may shake long-held assumptions to the core - but these results need to be taken seriously by the church. Already Gone reveals:Why America's churches have lost an entire generation of believersThe views of 1,000 twenty-somethings, solidly raised in the church but no longer attending - and their reasons whyRelevant statistical data effectively teamed with powerful apologeticsThe study found that we are losing our kids in elementary, middle school, and high school rather than college, and the "Sunday school syndrome" is contributing to the epidemic, rather than helping alleviate it. This is an alarming wake-up call for the church, showing how our programs and our approaches to Christian education are failing...and our children are paying the price. Though the statistics reveal a huge disconnect taking place between our children and their church experience, Already Gone shows how to fight back for our families, our churches, and our world. We can make a difference today that will affect the statistics of tomorrow in a positive and Christ-focused way! No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
Debats actualsCapCobertes populars
Google Books — S'està carregant… GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)259.2Religions Christian pastoral theology, homiletics and religious orders Other ministries and church work Youth ministryLCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:
Ets tu?Fes-te Autor del LibraryThing. |
Though this book, and the survey it's based on, is over 10 years old, I can't imagine the results and impact are any less relevant today. In fact, I can say from my own personal life that the danger of a child growing up and not finding church relevant (and possibly, by extension, God) is still very real. With admonitions like not leaving it up to the church/Sunday school/youth group to teach your kids the fundamental truths of the Bible, this book should be an eye opener for many parents of children and teens. And I have to agree that while one's individual salvation may not be dependent on whether or not they believe in a literal six days of creation, amongst other ways the the world is trying to undermine the Bible, the impact that an individual's belief can have on young Christians (meaning young in age or simply new to the faith) can be devastating. Put simply: if you can't trust the first chapters of Genesis, what makes you think you can trust the gospels? Is it really more believable that a man could be born to a virgin and then rise from the dead than that a supernatural being could create the world in 6 days?
I know that I was one who was really confused about things in this area when I was younger. I don't remember it leading me to question whether God was real or the Bible was infallible, but I also think I learned the facts about Genesis early enough that I didn't have the chance to question these things, and I thank God for that. In fact, it was Answers in Genesis that led me to the understanding that the existence of dinosaurs does fit with the Bible (that was the first eye opener for me, as I remember having this vague uncertainty about how what I learned in school about dinosaurs made any sense if Adam and Even in the garden of Eden was also true). But therein lies the issue the book addresses—my family attended church regularly when I was young; why did I not learn about this there?
Though I do wish I'd read it years ago, this book comes at a good time for me, as I'm poised to take over the VBS program at my church in a year or two, along with my husband. Though it's only a week-long program once a year, we'll definitely be taking this book and its admonitions to heart. And on that note, if you're thinking about reading this book, understand that it makes the assumption that the reader believes the Bible 100%, including on matters like creation in 6 literal days, a young earth, the global flood, and...well, find out more about what the authors of this book believe at this link. If you do not believe the Bible is true, or to be taken literally, on all of these points, this may not be the book for you. Sadly, as Ham puts it, it has now become acceptable "to use man's ideas to re-interpret the Bible, rather than to use the Bible to judge man's ideas." To put it bluntly, somewhere along the line, we decided that we knew more than the author of the Bible (God), Who was there when everything was made.
My only issue with the book is that it can be repetitive. I almost rated it 4 stars for that reason, but I think doing so would undermine the truth presented within. If you are interested in reading this book, you don't have to purchase it, as you can find the entire contents online at this link (it can be purchased there, too, but scroll down the page to find each chapter linked). ( )