As the Church prepares for its largest annual influx of visitors this weekend, those who look ahead may be saddened by the prospect of many not returning—particularly young adults.

In a ChurchCentral feature story earlier this week, consultant Sam Rainer talked about the need to make church an essential part of their lives if we hope to stem this exodus.

The net effect of his talk was for the Church to point the finger at itself when searching for reasons for the dropout rate.

That is something worth pondering this Easter, for it is easy to blame any one of a variety of social ills for our problems. Or, to moan about the decline in the percentage of professing Christians, as spotlighted in a recent Newsweek story headlined "The End of Christian America."

The discussion of young adults leaving the Church includes several myths, according to Rainer, who worked on a national survey of 1,000-plus young adults.

Understanding those misguided beliefs can help us get over casting blame and move on to change the conditions that have created the problem.

The four myths he identified:

While there is a popular view that young adults get caught up in humanist "gobbledygook" on state campuses, universities aren’t part of the problem, Rainer says.

"It’s an influence but it’s not the reason," he says. "The rates of (dropouts) who go to a secular university and those who don’t are the same."

In reality, 8 of 10 of the more than 1,000 people surveyed didn’t plan to leave. Rainer says they actually want responsibility, but not finding much, hit the exits.

The theory goes that by spreading news of spiritual leaders’ moral failures far and wide, the news media are disillusioning youth and causing them to turn their back on the Church.

Yet, Rainer says only 15 percent of young adults cited moral failure as a reason for their departure: "It has an influence but it’s not causing our youth to leave the church."

The idea that teaching deep Bible truths won’t attract young people isn’t so, Rainer insists, commenting that biblical depth is very relevant.

"Depth is more than mere knowledge about God," he says. "Depth is a growing relationship with the Creator."

The components of depth Rainer points to include biblically-based preaching, small groups and classes that explore the Bible, and people spending time in scripture study individually.

American churches may be fighting a period of decline, one worsened by the break-up of so many families. Yet as we consider reversing the young adult dropout rate, I can’t help remembering consultant Reggie McNeal’s recent comment: "What kind of God do you think we serve?"

We didn’t arrive here overnight nor will we find solutions quickly, either. Yet, in my own spiritual life, I find myself more excited than ever.

In addition to a renewed prayer life the past year, lately so many people at our church have praised God for helping them overcome perplexing problems that I can’t wait to see what will happen next.

I pray that in each of your congregations, a similar expectancy will reign, which will appeal to young adults—and those of all ages.