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85% of Public Schooled Children Leaving Church Forever

by Alan Melton

Between 85% and 88% of K-12 public schooled children are leaving the church, never to return, according to two recently conducted studies. T.C. Pickney and Bruce Shortt of the Southern Baptist Convention submitted a resolution in June 2004 which cites a SBC study conducted in 2002. The study found that 88% of all children are leaving the church permanently. In another study, Considering Homeschooling, an organization that supports families who educate their children reports that 85% of children who attend public school for 12 years are leaving the church. In spite of this information, many Christian parents, guided by their pastor and by the status quo, have decided to leave their children in these institutions of destruction, even arguing that their young children need to be “salt and light!”

The implications of these statistics are astounding! The fact that a young adult will leave the church forever raises important questions about the condition of his soul. Is this person saved or not? It may be possible to be born again while not regularly attending a church. However, the condition of the next generation’s souls will be certain. With no church and no spiritual training, the grandchildren and future generations are headed for hell. Now add to that the fact that more than 8 out of 10 of all Christian children are permanently leaving the church, and the appropriate solution seems obvious.

Jim Brown and Jenni Parker, reporters with Agape Press recently reported the following. “Dr. Tim LaHaye, co-author of the Left Behind novel series, says evangelical pastors who advocate sending their Christian youth to public schools are ‘philosophically out to lunch.’ He says those pastors and other Christian leaders who look favorably on public education ‘don't understand the worldview of the secular humanists that's being taught’ in U.S. public schools, and they have a tendency to think that we just preach and pray and plug away, and we'll get our kids saved."

“However, the author believes that this attitude is a naļve and outdated one; inappropriate for life in postmodern America and, as some have termed it, post-Christian America. He says Christian parents who want their children to grow up to know God as he reveals himself in scripture should not think for a moment that they can compensate for the philosophical and mental damage being done in public schools by sending their kids to Sunday school, youth group, or Bible study once a week.”

The vast majority of evangelical children are in government schools. These schools segregate our children by age, placing them with other fools of their age (Proverbs tells us that “foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child,” Proverbs 22:15a). Then the public school teaches them how to be good evolutionists, humanists, feminists, and homosexuals. Our children are taught how to be God haters. They are forbidden to witness to other children. Their teachers are forbidden to witness as well. My question is this, “How are we going to be ‘salt and light’ when it is illegal to do so?” Will we break the law? Can a young child be a missionary? Will we witness by our lifestyle? It is doubtful that any significant results are possible. But even if some marginal benefits exist for staying in the government schools, losing nearly 90% of our children is certainly not worth it. We can certainly find some better, less costly strategies for winning the lost.

Modern evangelical churches are doing many great works in our society. Many who are perishing in the sea of sin are being pulled into the life boat of salvation by these faithful pastors and church members. Thanks be to God! However, it seems that evangelical pastors have decided to allow most of our precious children to fall into the sea in order to rescue a scant few. Any way you look at it, if we leave our children in these God hating institutions, we are condemning 85% of our future to death.

Is it a sin to send your children to public school? If a parent cares about the condition of his child’s soul, he must agree that it is sin. If a parent doesn’t care about his child’s soul, he won’t care what scripture says about training his child.

My prayer is that pastors and parents will start yelling FIRE! FIRE! GET OUR CHILDREN OUT NOW! If they won’t do that, perhaps they will at least share the truth about government schools with families, so that the parents can “count the costs.” Otherwise, the blood of our children is on our own hands.