From Answers in Genesis comes a new book by founder Ken Ham and researcher Britt Beemer, Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it.
Based on a study of one thousand twenty-somethings who were raised in the church but no longer attend, this 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 between our children and their church experience, Already Gone shows how to fight back for our families, our churches, and our world.
It was Rags Ragland who first connected me to this interesting study, and I am happy to see that Dove Mountain has implemented some of the necessary reforms recommended in this volume. First of all, the new Knights, Squires, and Ladies program is much more likely to be effective than traditional age-based Sunday school precsely because it forms meaningful relationships across age boundaries. Secondly, by using the Westminster Catechism as the framework for the scripture memory and study, children are being exposed to doctrine that really sticks with them, as opposed to moralisms and lessons taught as "stories" instead of the history they truly are.
Answers in Genesis is a multi-faceted ministry that is probably best known for its Creation Museum, but it is a great source of educational and inspirational materials of a wide variety. Take a look at what they are doing here.
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