Has it always been difficult for churches to reach the next generation?

Taking Korvin Starmast's comment re. you question as my guide, I will answer within the general time-frame he points out: "The Modern Age (radio communications and the rampant rise of secularism in the 20th century) posed a much different scope and scale of challenge to the Faith than the Enlightenment era skepticism/attacks on the faith that preceded the Industrial Revolution." I'll speak about generations from the start of the 20th century till now. Having been born half-way through that century, I have a little experience of the difficulties you enquire about.

A major difficulty that put huge numbers of young people off "the church" (I use the term generally, the way most people think of all Christian denominations) were the two World Wars. Christian religion had been well established, with very large numbers of people quite regularly attending services, and baptism of infants was equally regular practice for all such church-goers. Most baptised infants would go on to attend Sunday School and go to the Boys' / Girls' Brigade, youth camps etc. Many of them would profess to be Christians.

After two World Wars, however, things could never be the same again. People were disillusioned and so shocked by the carnage and open wickedness that happened, many began to think there could not be a God. Adults who were so impacted often stopped going to church and although they might still have sent their children to Sunday School, the fact they they no longer set a Christian example to their children regarding the importance of worship, Bible study, sharing the gospel etc. meant that in the second half of the 19th century there was a noticeable decline of young people.

Those young people then had the excitement of rock music, cinema films, television, drugs, and earning money to lure them into ungodly ways and habits. I remember being at a Y.M.C.A. Saturday night event, full of teenagers like me, dancing the twist as pop songs blared out, while a lad writhed all over the cafe floor, crashing into tables and chairs, his brain addled with L.S.D. or something similar.

However, I had parents who conducted weekly Bible lessons with me and my siblings, and who took us to religious meetings religiously. We had a thorough grounding in Bible knowledge, and our parents set a solid example of living by Christian principles and sharing their beliefs with others. That ensured I did not drift away from a basic Christian faith. And I thank God for that, and for them.

But, come the 21st century, an immense change enabled control of the thinking and actions of young people via new, powerful media developments. This was when computerisation turned into virtual reality (which is no 'reality' at all). But it so gripped the imaginations of billions of people that they found great excitement and a new way of relating to others (which was not actually relating to others in any meaningful way) living in individualistic bubbles within the Internet.

This is what 'the church' is now up against. It had failed to respond appropriately to the secular, godless challenges of the 19th century, and is failing likewise today. A book could be written on why this is so, but I'll stick to your question. Yes, each succeeding generation is more and more alienated from the established church system, which has become an anachronism to young people, if not an offense (e.g. sexual abuses by religious people).

I read a recent article in a Christian paper on how Christians should prepare for "The Metaverse", which is the next stage that will further alienate young people from Christian faith. Meta is placing itself to control a new digital universe. Matthew Ball, managing partner at a venture capital fund investing heavily in the metaverse defines it thus:

"The metaverse is a massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D worlds which can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users, and with continuity of data, such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, communications, and payments." (Article by Ian Harber & Patrick Miller in Evangelical Times, January 2022, pp26-27)

This will take away personal identities by getting billions of (predominantly) young people to imagine their own preferred identities and 'personal worlds' which they think they will be able to 'create' and live in. You may be sure that this metaverse will have no place for God, the Bible or 'the church' in it. And our young people have already been conditioned to go with the Internet flow, unthinkingly rushing to experience its latest excitements and temptations. Until 'the church' faces up to this, the next generation of young people is already lost to them. It's a thousand pities that most religious leaders have never grasped, let alone believed the warnings about this written in the Bible. The less 'the church' goes by the Bible, the less it will be able to attract anybody, let alone the next generation.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14, NIV)

Evangelisation the next generation is very difficult in every age. We are naturally inclined to sin and away from God. But God is merciful and works in the lives of many. So I would find it hard to say that this particular younger generation is significantly harder to reach than any others.

That said, each generation also has its own particular factors which can make it difficult to be receptive to the Gospel. Here are some that I think are relevant:

1. Affluence and comfort. In many parts of the world people are fantastically wealthy compared to living standards a few centuries ago. Maybe not quite as much as a few years ago, but even now during this pandemic with all the uncertainties it brings, we still live in an incredibly wealthy age. Wealth is both its own distraction from the Gospel, while the comforts it brings can make us feel safe and secure, putting thoughts of God out of mind. God is always loving, but it's no surprise that many people only notice his love when they are going through a difficult time in their lives.

2. Social media. The internet is great! But social media and mobile phones do train us to have short attention spans and always be looking for something new. We probably read much more now, but we might be taking things in less. I've seen people suggest that social media is contributing to poor mental health, not only because of how it entices us to compare ourselves to the (fake/curated) images of everyone else, not only because of bullying, but also just through the information overload. We are not limited to the 20 minutes of curated news each night on TV, but we can instantly know when anything bad happens anywhere in the world.

   This is the world we live in, and it would make raising anyone to maturity difficult. But it also offers opportunities. Many people recognise that they don't like this always-on information-overload culture. People like face-to-face "offline" conversations. People listen to long podcasts and read long form journalism. Churches offer real connections and conversations with substance.

3. Abuses. In the last few decades the world has finally realised how much institutions including (but not limited to) churches have been havens of abuse, including sexual, child, emotional, and spiritual. Churches had covered up, and in some places still try to protect those who have done great evils. They have done great damage to the reputation of the church, and that reputation will not be restored quickly. Churches must be on the forefront of being safe places that remove opportunities for abuse to occur. Maybe in time we might regain a good reputation, but probably not for many decades more.

4. Politics. Many Christians have associated themselves with "conservative" politics, but which is in actuality frequently self-serving, discriminatory, abusive, sexist, and racist. And then in the past two years many churches even took stands that are seen to be on the opposite side from public health. Now they may or may not have good reasons for their positions, but reality is that being seen to be anti-vaccine, and anti-virus-precautions (such as the churches fighting against masks) does not put the church in a good light. But this comes after decades of churches which seemed to care more about small government (and small taxes) than caring for the weak and vulnerable, more about nationalistic identity than being welcoming to refugees fleeing wars, and more about minimising changes to our current lives than preparing for the possibility that we are doing irreparable damage to our planet's climate.

   I'm not saying there aren't good Christian reasons to be on the conservative side of politics. There are. But Christians and churches need to realise that a lot of what has passed as "conservative" recently really has been nothing of the sort. Christian politics should stand up for life, for compassion, for justice, and for interdependent care. Christians have been shown great love and mercy by God, so let's make sure that in our lives, and in our votes, we are doing the same for others. Because hypocrisy is easy to smell, and one of the biggest deterrents for the Gospel.