Much is made of Millennials leaving the Church with many Christian publications hyper-ventilating (and many secular ones crowing) that a huge wave of Millennial Christians leaving the Church signals its impending demise in the west. But what if it's not Millennial Christians who are leaving, but instead only Millennials who were nominal Christians, sometimes called Cultural Christians? These are young people who were raised in the church as children but who never fully committed to Jesus with the whole of their lives.

Recent studies suggest this is indeed the case. The bulk of Millennials leaving the Church were not wholly committed, nor did they come from homes where the parents were wholly committed to their faith. In fact, of Millennials abandoning the faith with which they identified as children, "Only 11% of those who abandon their childhood Christian faith say they had a very strong faith as a child and came from a home where a vibrant faith was taught and practiced."

Richard Ross of Theological Matters (a blog of Southwestern Theological Seminary) surveys recent data regarding Millennials and their faith and observes,

Homes modeling lukewarm faith do not create enduring faith in children. Homes modeling vibrant faith do. “This is not a crisis of faith, per se, but of parenting,” the Focus on the Family study noted.

Christian Smith, sociologist and author of Souls in Transition, concludes from his research,

Religious outcomes in emerging adulthood are not random happenstances about which all bets are off after age 18. Instead, they often flow quite predictably from formative religious influences that shape persons’ lives in early years. … The religious commitments, practices and investments made during childhood and the teenage years, by parents and others in families and religious communities, matter—they make a difference.

Several applications for ministry clearly present themselves. Ross lists three of the more obvious ones:

Churches clearly teaching the Bible (conservative evangelical churches) are growing while those that do not (mainline denominations) declined. Young adults want “uncompromising truth” that “calls them to something beyond themselves.”
Homes with serious faith tend to produce children who carry faith into adulthood. Christians should create homes where children “witness a vibrant faith that’s lived out honestly and intentionally.” Strong families produce lasting faith.
Millennials want serious, substantive faith—not entertainment and theatrics. “Truth trumps trappings,” the study said.

One is forced to conclude that churches that do not intentionally disciple parents in their faith are risking losing future generations, no matter how good those churches' children and youth ministries are. Children's ministries and youth ministries are good and important, but a church cannot ignore the discipleship of parents and put all its hope in other ministries to raise up a generation of committed young Christians. That's not effective ministry; that's triage to try and stop the hemorrhaging.