TY - BOOK AU - Gurney, Nadine TI - Why School Leavers Abandon the Church CY - Johannesburg, South Africa PB - South African Theological Seminary KW - Christian education KW - Church KW - South Africa N2 - The Church is currently faced with a huge dilemma in that many young adults leave the Church post adolescence. To many of them the experience of attending church is tedious and passé; they feel there is a clash between their ideologies and that of the Church. Several of the respondents attended Sunday school, youth and church when they were still in school. The purpose of this study is an attempt to investigate the reasons why high school graduates extricate themselves from the Church, not only as a global phenomenon but particularly within South Africa. An empirical, quantitative, deductive research approach was undertaken, using an attitudinal survey method. The total number of respondents who participated in this study consisted of one hundred individuals. Respondents had to meet the following requirements: they had to be young adults between the ages of eighteen to twenty-three years, attending a tertiary institute and who were faithful church/youth goers until they left High School. Two of the strongest factors determining why those respondents in this study who left the church did so, where the following: firstly as a result of being put off by hypocritical Christians and secondly finding church or church activities boring. Despite changing social context the Word of God is an unchangeable standard, this study therefore applied elevant scriptural texts to each individual cases. This research study concluded with a summary of the research findings and proposed practical steps that the Church could take in order to curb the dilemma of individuals abandoning the Church after high school. Each recommendation was outlined in detail in order to contribute to the field of Practical Theology ER -