For decades, women have been the bedrock of church communities, demonstrating higher levels of religious engagement than men.
They’re more involved at church, more likely to attend and less likely to grow away from religious practice.
That’s no longer true—at least in America. In fact, our young women are leading the departure of the young from the church.
Recent Barna research found that women aged 18–24 are less religious than young, comparably aged men. Specifically, they’re less likely to identify with a faith tradition or to be “very” involved at church. They are also more likely to profess explicit atheism.
This doesn’t surprise me, necessarily. But it saddens me.
When we lose young women in our churches, we’re losing daughters, sisters, ministry leaders and teachers. Women are half of the population. It is essential that they are represented when we think about the future of the church.
Jesus says in Matthew 9 that the harvest of those seeking the good news is plentiful—which means that plenty of young women are searching for the hope and purpose found in the Bible. The societal and cultural trend of young women leaving churches doesn’t change this truth.
If we want to reverse the trend of losing these women, we need to intentionally cultivate powerful, authentic female leaders. And developing those leaders requires that we cultivate young women when they appear in our churches.
Bay Area Christian Church, where I lead the women’s ministry, offers internships and professional opportunities to young women who demonstrate promise or interest in spiritual leadership and ministry.
We get them involved, and we try to keep them involved. And they’ve brought tremendous insight, talent and energy to our church in exchange. Our congregation is richer and better because of their presence.
They don’t just bring themselves as employees, though. They become friends and leaders. They develop relationships while they’re here, and we go out of our way to help cultivate those connections.
