Every week, another viral TikTok appears: “Why I’m deconstructing my faith.” Young adults raised in church are walking away in record numbers—not because Christianity asks too much of them, but because it has offered them too little. They’re not rejecting deep faith; they’re rejecting shallow substitutes.

Meanwhile, podcasts diving deeper into theology, philosophy, and apologetics are exploding in popularity. Even Jordan Peterson’s biblical lectures have millions of views. Young people are hungry for substance, for answers that match the complexity of their questions about suffering, identity, and meaning.

The problem isn’t that Christianity is irrelevant. The problem is that many churches have served spiritual baby food to people starving for a feast.

The problem 

The church is spiritually weakened when it neglects the hard work of theological maturity that comes from deep engagement with Scripture; Christ calls us not to remain in infancy but to grow strong in discernment, feeding on the solid food of his Word in an age that desperately needs mature believers.

I. The Diagnosis: We’ve Grown Comfortable with Spiritual Immaturity

Hebrews 5:11–14” About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.” (Heb 5:11)

The author of Hebrews faces a frustrating reality: he wants to teach deep truths about Christ, but his audience has become spiritually sluggish. The Greek phrase (νωθροὶ γεγόνατε ταῖς ἀκοαῖς) doesn’t describe people who lack intelligence—it describes people who have stopped listening carefully, stopped wrestling with hard questions.

Sound familiar? In our swipe-up, soundbite culture, we’ve trained ourselves for spiritual fast food. We want inspiration, not transformation. We prefer three-point sermons with cute alliterations over the kind of deep biblical thinking that actually changes lives.

“Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food.” (v. 12)

Here’s the devastating indictment: these weren’t new believers. They should have been mature enough to teach others by now. Instead, they were stuck in spiritual adolescence, needing constant spoon-feeding.

This explains why so many young adults feel frustrated with church. They’ve been given therapeutic talks about being “enough” when they’re wrestling with questions about suffering, sexuality, and social justice that require robust theological frameworks. They don’t need less doctrine—they need real doctrine.

“Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice.” (v. 14)

Maturity isn’t about age or Bible knowledge trivia. It’s about developing discernment or the ability to distinguish truth from error, wisdom from folly, in a world full of competing narratives.

II. The Cultural Moment: Why Shallow Christianity is Losing

Hebrews 6:1–2 “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity…” (Heb 6:1a)

The writer isn’t saying to abandon foundational truths like repentance, faith, and resurrection. He’s saying don’t camp out at the entrance when there’s a feast waiting inside.

But this is exactly where many churches have stopped. We’ve become experts at Christianity 101, recycling the same basic messages while the world asks increasingly complex questions.

These aren’t “advanced” questions for seminary students. they’re everyday realities for believers trying to live faithfully in 2025.

The Result of Theological Thinness

Young people aren’t leaving because Christianity is too demanding. They’re leaving because the version they’ve been offered feels too small for the complexity of their lives. When churches offer therapeutic positivity instead of robust biblical theology, people sense the mismatch.

The verb φερώμεθα (“let us go on”) is passive. this maturity is something God works in us, not something we achieve through self-help strategies. Spiritual growth happens as we engage deeply with Scripture, allowing God’s Word to reshape our thinking.

III. The Path Forward: Deep Engagement with Christ in Scripture

 Hebrews 6:3 “And this we will do if God permits.”

The solution isn’t to make church more entertaining or relevant. It’s to trust that God grows his people through deep engagement with his Word. As Paul tells Timothy:

“Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” (2 Tim 2:7)

God gives understanding, but only as we do the hard work of thinking carefully about Scripture. The tools of careful biblical interpretation such as understanding historical context, following the flow of biblical theology, wrestling with difficult passages aren’t obstacles to spiritual growth. They’re the means God uses to open our hearts and minds to Christ.

 Applications for Today

For Church Leaders:

– Stop apologizing for theological preaching. Train people to engage with Scripture intellectually and emotionally

– Address contemporary questions through rigorous biblical theology, not pop psychology

– Equip people to think biblically about the issues they face Monday through Saturday

For Parents:

– Don’t outsource theological education to youth programs. Engage with your kids’ big questions

– Model intellectual curiosity about Scripture. Show them that deep thinking and deep faith go together

– Help them see that Christianity has resources to address their generation’s specific challenges

For Individual Believers:

– Embrace the discipline of careful Bible study. Use commentaries, study the original context, trace themes through Scripture

– Ask how biblical truth applies to contemporary issues rather than keeping faith compartmentalized

– Join or start groups focused on theological growth, not just fellowship or service

Conclusion: The Feast Awaits

We live in a moment of unprecedented opportunity. A generation raised on shallow spirituality is discovering that the world’s problems require deeper solutions than self-help Christianity provides. They’re not asking for less doctrine—they’re starving for real doctrine that speaks to real life.

The feast is spread before us in Scripture. Christ has given us everything we need for life and godliness through his Word. The question is: will we remain at the children’s table, or will we grow up into the fullness of what God offers?

The world doesn’t need more Christians who know a few Bible verses. It needs mature believers who can think biblically about the complexities of contemporary life—who can offer the deep wisdom of Scripture to a world drowning in shallow answers.

The choice before us

We can continue offering milk to a generation that’s outgrown it, watching them walk away disappointed. Or we can trust God’s method of growth by feasting deeply on Christ through his Word and watch him raise up the kind of mature believers our moment desperately needs.