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.
