Why Young People Are Leaving the Church
So last night I had the opportunity to attend The Gate, Times Square Church’s youth service. Every Friday night at 7PM flocks of people ranging from 13 to 29 fill the main sanctuary with upbeat music courtesy of the Youth Choir and a dynamic sermon from the youth pastor or another church member (past speakers include the likes of Donnie McClurkin). At the end of the service, congregants are invited to stay a little later with the Youth Choir as they sing some urban gospel (think “Higher, Higher”). Many of the songs in this segment includes dance moves some reggae beats. If you were to walk in during this segment, you might think you walked in on a dance club. Don’t get me wrong, the lyrics are undeniable gospel (“lift Jesus higher...”) but the beat is not what you would expect to hear during a Sunday service. See, Times Square Church really understands the new generation; they understand that young people don’t want to be condemned in church and hear about how their entire generation is damned to hell. They need encouragement, they need friendships, but most importantly they need to have fun.
Unfortunately, Times Square Church is a rare exception. Traditionally, the church has been geared towards older adults (read 30 and up). Leaving churches baffled on what to with the new generation. What worked in the 50s, 60s, and 70s just doesn’t work now. America is in a different climate socially, economically, and politically than it was 30 plus years ago. The failure of the youth programs at many churches is often blamed on the young people because they don’t come out. Perhaps many church leaders subscribe to the “if you build it, they will come” school of thought. However, this just doesn’t work these days. The question being asked by potential participants is “whats in it for me?”.
Now lets delve deeper. And here is where its going to get a bit controversial. The solution is more than getting young people to come to church. This issue is that, for too long, the church has been too closed minded. I understand the need for sound doctrine and standards but when it becomes overly religious, you lose people.
The most common line in any R&B/pop singer’s biography is “[so and so] grew up singing in the church...”. Why is it that they didn’t remain in the church? R&B/Gospel singer Coko (formerly the lead singer of SWV) candidly said in interviews that, growing up, she sang solos and church but the minute she wanted to change things around sing more contemporary style songs, the church went up in arms. The minute her skirt made it to her knees (or she wore-- *gasp* pants!), the church went up in arms. The minute she started listening to mainstream (read secular) music, the church went up in arms. She wasn’t able to innovate in church because her church wanted things done the same way they did 20 years ago. Finally she got fed up, left, and landed a lucrative career in R&B music where she was free to express herself.
Its no wonder that so many child prodigies go the secular route. Gospel superstars like Mary Mary, Kirk Franklin, 21:03, Kierra Sheard, and others are constantly defending their music because Christians are so picky about how gospel music is supposed to sound. Mary Mary got in hot water over their last album, The Sound (Columbia Records, 2008), because Christians alleged that the duo was shaking hands with the devil when they included hip hop artist David Banner on a song. However, David Banner was apologizing about his sinful lifestyle in the song and even made a declaration to be more like Christ in the song. Somehow that clarification was swept under the rug and to this day people are still complaining about it. They also got in trouble off their record breaking single “God In Me” which recently peaked at #5 on the R&B charts. Once again, Mary Mary received sharp criticism about the beat being too secular and the lyrics not being gospel enough. Artists like Kierra Sheard and others are constantly being criticized about the use of secular producers on their albums.
However, people in our parents generation seem to get away with this. Back in the day, The Clark Sisters scored a #1 dance hit with their groundbreaking single “You Brought the Sunshine” which Twinkie Clark later admitted was inspired by Stevie Wonder’s “Masterjammin”. Somehow that’s okay but when Mary Mary sampled Honey Comb’s “Want Ads” on the 2005 single “Heaven”, all hell broke lose. Its a double standard against our generation.
Side note: The ladies of Mary Mary are approaching their 40s but I count them as our generation because most of their songs are marketed at the younger crowd
Back to Mary Mary, lets say hypothetically that “God in Me” was a secular song. They wouldn’t be the first artist to cross over; Gospel’s sweetheart, Vanessa Bell-Armstrong ping ponged between gospel and R&B. She actually signed to Jive Records (a secular label, mind you!) and issued “lyrically neutral material” and “urban contemporary ballads” (source: BET Gospel). However, I don’t hear anyone complaining about that. Oh, that's right, Ms. Armstrong is in our parents generation so its alright.
In fact, Grammy Award winning duo BeBe & CeCe Winans owe most of their crossover success to the fact that their lyrics were so vaguely gospel that they were played on the R&B stations since they could easily pass for love songs.
Why can Patti LaBelle sing gospel and have it accepted but when Michelle Williams (Destiny’s Child) released her gospel projects, she struggled to top the charts? Why is it that most church folks are okay if I hum a Michael Jackson song but I get dirty looks when I hum an Usher song? They’re both R&B singers.
The truth is that gospel music is prejudiced against younger acts. When Kierra Sheard came out, people got upset because her album was way too contemporary but they somehow forgot that her mom and aunts (Karen Clark-Sheard and The Clark Sisters, respectively) became popular by using the same formula--music that was gospel enough to play in church but urban enough to play in the car during the week. Its no wonder so many young people chase after secular labels, its less restrictive.
One inevitable truth about gospel music is that it will always be influenced by the current musical climate. Today we see that with more gospel “dance” songs on the way. When we look back in the day, we see how many of yesterday’s soul artists sound similar to gospel music of the time. When people complain that today’s gospel music sounds secular, they don’t realize that all gospel music sounds secular. I can’t say I’m completely familiar with the music my parents grew up with, but I know what a lot of it sounds like. In particular, I saw Dreamgirls. Its a movie that's loosely based on The Supremes. The music is replicate of the 60s music. I noted a lot of similarities between the music in the film and the music I hear in church. Its so similar. Especially the music they play during “praise breaks” (if you go to a Baptist or Pentecostal church, you know what I mean!)
Okay, I think we’ve spoke enough about music. Lets talk about whats going on INSIDE church. Sometimes church can be just a bit too judgemental. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “our young people are so [insert negative remark]”. They expect young people to be perfect when Lord knows 90% of the people sitting in the church had quite the sinful past. Also, if our generation is so screwed up, shouldn't we be pointing fingers to the generation that raised us? Could it be they did a terrible job?
One Sunday afternoon, I was in Wal-Mart with a baby that wasn’t mine. However, a woman who looked like she just got our of church (long glittering dress, hair done nice, you know the drill) came over to me, looked at the baby, looked at me, then rolled her eyes at me. She passed judgement on me without even speaking to me. If I didn’t go to church, I could’ve added that to my arsenal of reasons on why I don’t go.
One time I visited a church with a friend on mine. I like this church so I don’t want to smear it’s image. Therefore, I won’t say it’s name. Just know that its a large church in the New York Metropolitan Area (NOT Christian Cultural Center, NOT Times Square Church). As we sat down, this older lady next to us kept eyeing us up and down and shot a few scathing looks at me throughout the two hour service. To this day I don’t know what I did. My only guess is that she assumed we were a young unmarried couple. I will say this, it distracted me during praise and worship and it really diverted my attention during the dynamic sermon. Again, suppose this was my first time going to church? You think I would come back?
In conclusion, I hate to sound morbid, but no generation will be around forever. If churches don’t begin to cater to the younger crowd, they run the risk of going extinct sooner than you might think.
Ammendment: I would like to add that my current church, Changing Lives Christian Center, does a wonderful job of catering to the youth while preserving sound doctrine :-)
