“I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 89:1-2
Christianity has long been on the decline in the United States. According to Pew Research Center, 65 percent of American adults described themselves as Christians in 2022 – down from 78 percent in 2007 and 90 percent in 1990.
If recent trends continue, Pew Research suggests that Christians could make up less than half of the U.S. population and become a minority religion by as early as 2045.
While much has been said about what has caused this rapid decline – and why this trend is likely to continue – there remains an often overlooked explanation that the Bible itself cautions us against: a failure to pass on the faith from one generation to the next.
The Importance of Passing on the Faith
Beginning in ancient Israel, God instructed His people not only to teach their children His law, but to remember and proclaim His “glorious deeds, His might and the wonders He has done” (Psalm 78:4) to the next generation. Deuteronomy 4:9-11 says:
“But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children…”
Implicit in this command is a subtle warning to guard against the assumption that the passing on of faith happens automatically. “But take care and watch yourselves closely…make them known…” (emphasis mine).
We cannot assume that future generations will know who God is or what He has done for humanity; rather, we must intentionally and deliberately pass it on from one generation to the next.
The Israelites themselves seemed to recognize this responsibility, declaring their commitment to it as part of their worship: “I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 89:1).
But as scripture shows us, we can fail in this responsibility. In Judges 2:7, before Joshua dies, we’re told that “the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.”
After Joshua’s death, however, there seemed to be a colossal failure to pass on the faith. A new generation arose that no longer knew God or His wondrous deeds. Judges 2:10 says: “After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.”
As a result, the Israelites strayed further and further from God – a direction that all but guarantees a spiraling into great distress. Judges 2:11-15 says:
“Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord…they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them and bowed down to them…so the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.”
“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me…”
Psalm 66:16
Interestingly, data from Pew Research today suggests that we are likely experiencing the effects of a breakdown in the passing on of faith that began in the 1990s and which has culminated in a generational “snowball” effect. In an article summarizing their research, they write:
“Whatever the deeper causes, religious disaffiliation in the U.S. is being fueled by switching patterns that started ‘snowballing’ from generation to generation in the 1990s. The core population of ‘nones’ [those who don’t identify with any religion] has an increasingly ‘sticky’ identity as it rolls forward, and it is gaining a lot more people than it is shedding, a dynamic that has a kind of demographic momentum.
Christians have experienced the opposite pattern. With each generation, progressively fewer adults retain the Christian identity they were raised with, which in turn means fewer parents are raising their children in Christian households.”
While reasons for this trend are undoubtedly complex and multifaceted, it’s worth noting that a widespread failure to pass on the faith – and to proclaim who God really is, “His might and the wonders He has done” – from one generation to the next is likely a contributing factor.
Passing on the Faith Today
It’s tempting to look at the rapid decline in Christianity in America as a problem that’s concerning at best and hopeless at worst. But, it actually presents a significant opportunity – an opportunity for the older generation of Christians – those who grew up in a country where belief in God was nearly taken for granted – to pass on their faith.
Indeed, as Christianity is still the “stickier affiliation” for older Americans, the older generation of Christians not only have a God-given responsibility to pass on their faith, but a unique role to play in helping reverse this trend.
The need is great. Gen Z is less religious than any other generation; only 4 percent have a biblical worldview – an all-time low. As an article from The Gospel Coalition explains, Gen Z is “less likely than previous generations to be familiar with the Bible, to know how to use it, or to believe the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life.”
Tony Dentman, Campus Outreach area director at the University of Illinois Chicago, said of his experience with Gen Z:
“[M]ost of them will claim they’re atheist. However, once we’re talking, and I tell them what an atheist is, they’re finding out they’re agnostic. They don’t know [about God]…”
Interestingly, there is no shortage of older people to provide guidance and mentorship. Indeed, we are living in a world with a rapidly growing older population. In the U.S. alone, the number of Americans aged 65 and older is projected to increase from 58 million in 2022 to 82 million by 2050. As the Gerontological Society of America notes, one fifth of the country’s population will be age 65 or older by 2030.
Far from lacking a sense of purpose that many bemoan in old age, the Christians among this older cohort* can play a historical role in shaping the faith of a generation that is hungry for God’s truth. Indeed, as this article from The Gospel Coalition aptly points out, Gen Z may be less religious, but their desire for spiritual growth and understanding is great:
“Gen Z is spiritually starved. The disorienting circumstances of the last three years—a global pandemic, countless mass shootings, the woke wars, a contested election, rapid inflation, and widespread abuse scandals—created a famine of identity, purpose, and belonging.
Gen Z is hungry for the very things the empty, desiccated temples of secularism, consumerism, and global digital media cannot provide, but which Jesus can.”
The obstacles we face in reversing the decline in Christianity in our country may be numerous, but they are no match for our Almighty God. May we have the spirit of Caleb, who after seeing what awaited them in the land that the Lord had promised the Israelites, boldly declared: “Let’s go now and take possession of the land. We should be more than able to conquer it” (Numbers 13: 30).
Now is the time for the older generation of Christians to rise to the task of their God-given responsibility. May they echo the commitment sung by their ancestors long ago:
“I will come and proclaim your might acts, Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone. O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.” Psalm 71:16-18
*According to Pew Research, more than 80% of Americans older than 75 are Christian, compared with roughly half of people in their prime childbearing years (ages 20 to 34).