For more than a generation now evangelical church leaders have been doing everything they can think of to make their ministries more appealing to younger people. Gone are traditional hymns; in their place, worship bands lead hip contemporary praise songs. Pulpits have been removed and preaching has had to make room for "drama" even as it takes on more of the character of a late-night monolog than a prophetic exhortation. Pews and traditional sanctuaries have been replaced by theater seats and kleig lights. Sophisticated sound and video systems have made it possible to do away with clunky hymnals. Doctrine has been shoved aside for the sake of anecdotal and "how to" preaching. All this "making contemporary" has been for the sole purpose of appealing to the 18-29 year-old segment of the population. And guess what?

It ain't workin'.

A report in yesterday's USA Today summarized a series of studies done on this age group relative to their religious commitment. 72% of those surveyed indicate that they're "more spiritual than religious," which means they prefer spirituality of their own concocting to that which they might get in a church. They're still seeking something transcendent on which to anchor their lives, but they aren't finding it in the Church.

Worse, even those of that age group who are in the Church and profess to be believers appear to be fairly squishy and uncommitted in their faith. 65% never pray with others. 38% never pray even by themselves. 67% of this church-attending population never read their Bibles. Is it any wonder their lives continue to reflect more a love for this world than for the unseen things of the Kingdom of God?

Those who collected the data in these surveys worry that not only are church leaders failing to attract, keep, or disciple the very people it threw away its grand tradition to reach, they also may be guaranteeing the closing of many churches in the years to come.

This is what happens when the Church tries to glom on to the spirit of the age in trying to make itself "relevant," rather than cling to the Spirit and Word of God for instruction in how to build the Church and win the lost. Before the last young person blows off the Church for good, church leaders need to repent of their presumptuousness in turning their backs on Scripture and the Christian heritage, and begin seeking the Lord together, with tears, for the revival of the Church and awakening in the hearts of the lost.

T. M. Moore