The statistical claim is that evangelical churches are no longer retaining the youth. The reason is Evangelical support of dogmatic theological positions and the brashness of a Trump presidency have driven the youth away from the tradition of Billy Graham.

Assuming this is true, there are deeper questions to consider beyond the statistical evidence. For instance, under what theological framework did these children grow up throughout their lives? Was it a theology of fear or one that pressed the claims of King Jesus?

Are we merely seeing the results of faulty theological paradigms coming home to roost like dispensationalism, public education, civic-calendar driven church life, female-led congregations, invitationism?

What I am seeing on the ground is that the youth are leaving because they have been catechized in particular trendy hashtags. They are not leaving because their pastor supports Trump explicitly, but because they support Biden's policies implicitly.

I would be curious to analyze these youths straying from conservative churches to find out whether they affirm basic Christian doctrines on sexuality and classic economic policies. My suspicion is the Trump presidency served as a marker to determine that their inclinations...cont

...were headed towards Leftism all along and that the harshness of Trump was ultimately the rationale used to protect their Left-leaning policies and friends from a meanie in the White House.

On the other hand, we do need to analyze carefully from whence these youth are coming? My small denomination has grown through this entire COVID crisis immensely, and there are virtually no statistical cases for the youth leaving while many others continue to shrink in numbers.

Why is that the case? I've argued in an upcoming Theopolis article that only Ecclesiastical Conservatism answers that question. However much I appreciated Trump's policies, my allegiance is to Christ's politics on Sundays, not Trump's platform.

When you keep first things first with the youth, conservative politics is the result, in my estimation. When the youth ground themselves in the Creeds and Classical Theology, there is no reason to pursue Liberation Theology afterward.

There are always exceptions, but I suspect the real reason for the youth leaving was not Trump, but ultimately the Trump presidency forced the youth to opine objectively for once and what came out was what was in the hearts all along.

The answer is not to lament Trumpism, but to lament the liturgical education of the church and see to it that we provide a ritualized worship that draws the child and then the youth, and then the married man and woman.