churchrelevance.com

The same LifeWay Research study that discovered teenagers’ perspectives on heaven also studied their involvement in religious activities. Among 12-19 year-old teens:

Attendance

• 54% attended a church or religious service in the last 30 days
  >> 28% attended a Christian religious service other than Catholic or Southern Baptist
  >> 20% attended a Catholic service
  >> 8% attended a Southern Baptist service
  >> 4% attended a religious service of a religion other than Christian
• 23% attended a church youth group social activity in the last 30 days
  >> 26% of 12-17 year-olds
  >> 13% of 18 & 19 year-olds
  >> 26% of girls
  >> 20% of boys
• 20% attended Sunday school (24% in ‘05)
  >> 24% of 12-17 year-olds
  >> 8% of 18 & 19 year-olds
• 14% attended a small-group Bible study (18% in ‘05)
  >> 18% of girls
  >> 11% of boys
• 8% have been in a leadership role within their youth group
  >> 10% of girls
  >> 6% of boys

Lifestyle

• 39% prayed regularly within the last 30 days
  >> 48% of girls
  >> 31% of boys
• 24% had told a friend about their religious beliefs (30% in ‘05)
• 15% had invited someone to a church activity (19% in ‘05)
• 14% read the Bible regularly
  >> 17% of girls
  >> 11% of boys

In summary, 18 & 19 year-old guys are the least involved in church and religious activity. They will take the most effort to be reached

In some ways, it is surprising to learn that church related attendance drops by at least 50% when teenagers turn 18. But then again there are many things vying for their attention at this time.

Consider this:
If you want to keep reaching teenagers as they begin to go off to college, your church will have to be a better promoter, offer a better time, and offer better close-knit relationships than the college frats and sororities. And that says a lot because Greeks will do just about anything to get membership dues.