For at least three generations now, the majority of mainline
Protestant youth have left their churches by the time they reach
adulthood. In each generation, a notable
minority of these young persons choose to reactivate their participation when
they become parents, usually in a congregation that has a strong children’s
ministry. This tide now comes back in with diminishing force. Across 75 years,
the overall decline has greatly cooked down the numbers of active younger
people in mainline churches. The decline is further exacerbated by the fact
that the minority who do return often don’t return to their home congregations
at all. They congregate in a few places
where minimum critical numbers of young families remain. Thus, most mainline Protestant congregations
today have no active children remaining, and little promise for finding any.