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It’s time to stop the FALLOUT!

CMI produces an inexpensive, but powerful resource to help the church

by

First published in a CMI newsletter in October 2016
stop-fallout

Dear friends, in my 25+ years of ministry, this newsletter could arguably be the most important—particularly if you, as parents, grandparents, and church leaders respond. It could preserve many, including your loved ones, in the faith.

As you know, CMI conducts hundreds of speaking events each year in the US alone (over 1,000 globally each year). Each international office has a full time Events Department that literally makes thousands of phone calls to churches. Why so many phone calls you might ask? Well, the reality is that many churches particularly those with lots of members, believe that creation is a side issue and that they do not have a problem. But we can vouch from being involved in ministry for over 35 years, that the reality is, they don’t readily recognize they do have a problem, because it mainly occurs after some of their people move away from their church. Perhaps it then becomes someone else’s problem?

Statistics … blah!

Like me, you are probably weary hearing about surveys that show overwhelmingly that the majority of their young people are not remaining in the church after they leave home. For example: US educator Bruce Short, author of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools, wrote: “Contrary to what many Christians have been led to believe, there is no such thing as a ‘neutral’ education. The overwhelming majority of children from evangelical families leave the church within two years after they graduate from high school …1 And even as far back as 1994, Australian Students for Christ chaplain, Craig Tasker noted “This [creation] is a vital subject at uni [college]. Since the institution’s philosophy of education is secular humanism. Thus students are bombarded with it in every lecture as the basic assumption. This constant ‘brainwashing’ destroys the faith of many Christians each year. Our surveys indicate that 80% of first year students believe in a God who is there. By their second year only 15% believe in God.2 And more recently, a confidential survey by Barna Research showed that while still sitting in our pews, 2 out of 3 young ‘Christians’ had already made their minds up they were going to leave the church once they left home.3

Why is the message not getting through?
And why aren’t we doing something about it?

It’s because the foundational problem is not being recognized. While music, entertainment, fun and games may ultimately make church an exciting and interesting place to be, it is the foundational intellectual challenges and doubts about the Christian faith and the Bible that are not being answered. And there is nothing more foundational in the Bible than the early chapters of Genesis—the very chapters that will be attacked the most by secular, higher education, particularly in the sciences where evolution is taught to the exclusion of everything else.

It is all too easy to dismiss surveys as being ‘someone else’s children. But if I had a dollar for every parent who told me that their child no longer goes to church, I’d be a wealthy individual. All CMI speakers record the same experience. How can we change the world for Christ, if we cannot even retain our own next generations?

Do you know a church/leader that sidesteps biblical creation?

Over the last year we embarked an a project to video survey college students on campuses in the US. We targeted those raised in the church. We asked:

  1. Whether they believed in creation or evolution.
  2. Had they ever been exposed to any creation teaching during their church upbringing.
  3. And whether they still attended church or not.

The results showed an obvious and direct correlation between those who had not been exposed to biblical creation and those who had—in some cases just one creation presentation was enough to make the difference. Why? Because it provided a ‘heads up’ about what they will be taught in higher education, and that there is a place to go where they can find answers. In short, letting them know that the Bible could always be trusted despite the barrage of objections they will face.

It is not hard to fix

The surveys showed there is an ‘easy fix’ to avoid the problems teach your young ones creation! You can now view these surveys for yourself and hear first-hand the questions that these students raised, and the answers to same. (Note: We are not saying that creation vs. evolution is the only reason our youth leave the church, but our surveys clearly showed it is a major reason. And obviously, as this issue is the main focus of our ministry, we naturally asked questions in this key area).

Please share this effective 26 minute documentary called FALLOUT! with your church leaders and your youth—let them know that they will be a future statistic too, unless they make an effort to understand the evidence that supports the Bible’s history, and not just in the area of science.

We are making this FALLOUT! DVD available in packs of 10 at prices inexpensive enough (as low as a dollar per DVD in some countries) to give away, because we need you to share them with others to create awareness of the problem, and to help churches do something about it.

First published: 15 November 2016
Re-featured on homepage: 14 October 2021

References and notes

  1. Author shares harsh campus realities, wnd.com/?pageId=28769#ixzz1NUhNH3cO, Return to text.
  2. Macquarie University, April 26, 1994 (in a letter to a CMI staffer). Return to text.
  3. Barna, G., State of the Church 2002, Issachar Resources, Ventura, California, p. 109. Return to text.