The Atlantic

But according to their report, church communities are struggling with this: They pointed to pastors having a hard time keeping up the day-to-day management of their congregations, focusing on attendance rather than conversion, and choosing “to celebrate other things as a measure of their success rather than new believers following Christ in baptism.”

Most telling, perhaps, were the task force’s conclusions on the denomination’s “Next Generation Problem.” Although our churches have increasingly provided programs for children, students, and young adults,” they wrote, “we are not being effective in winning and discipling the next generation to follow Christ.” In terms of baptisms, they’re right: In 2012, 60 percent of churches reported that they didn’t baptize anyone aged 12 to 17, and 80 percent reported they had either zero or one baptism of someone aged 18-29. Although the report calls for pastors to “renew their focus” on young people, it’s unclear how that’s supposed to happen.