Stay away, log out, leak out: Religious educational evaluation and possibilities of dealing with a crisis phenomenon

With a special focus on adolescents the phenomenon of non-participation in offers of religious youth work, quitting the RE class and exiting the church are analyzed with the theory of behavior settings (Barker, 1968), Hirschman’s (1974) concept of “exit and voice” and a value based model of life styles (Gennerich, 2017, 2018). With data of a youth study (N = 795), an image-based analysis of participation in leisure time groups of a village (N = 216), a study on quitting RE classes (N = 325) and data of the third and fifth study on church membership by the EKD (Protestant Church of Germany) the phenomena of non-participation are descripted and explained with reference to the summarized theories. Conceptual advices for practical work are given based on the gained insights.

participation, resignation, youth work, deregistration, lifestyle