Let’s Get Real with Stephen Jones
Let’s Get Real with Stephen Jones

New Research: Why People Leave The Church — And Why Others Stay | Justin Dyer E0058

June 18, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Why People Leave the Church — and Why Others Stay

When Justin Dyer, a BYU professor and researcher, first looked at the raw retention numbers for Latter-day Saints, his reaction was "kind of depressing." About 54% of people raised in the Church still identify as Latter-day Saints as adults, and only about 42% are still actively attending worship services at least monthly. But that initial discouragement shifted dramatically when he placed those numbers in context. "All of a sudden you go from, well, what's going wrong with their church to what's going right with the church," Dyer says. "We're able to retain our members at a really high rate" — higher than almost every other Christian denomination, including for Millennials and Gen Z.

Four Types of People Who Leave

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What you'll learn

  • 1 Timestamped Navigation Outline
  • 2 (00:00) **Opening Thesis & The 10% Problem** - Stephen Jones introduces the central tension: narratives about the church doing "uniquely poorly" vs. the actual data
  • 3 (01:05) **Retention Rates in Context** - The actual numbers on Latter-day Saint retention and how they compare nationally
  • 4 (05:09) **The Four Groups of Those Who Leave** - A detailed breakdown of the four categories found in the national data
  • 5 (12:28) **Practical Implications of the Four Groups** - Why we must avoid lumping all leavers together
  • 6 (17:27) **The Initial Emotional Reaction to the Data** - Dyer's personal experience seeing the 42% retention number for the first time
  • 7 (21:16) **The Broader Societal Decline** - Why this isn't just a religious problem but a connection problem

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

For years, many Latter-day Saints have looked at declining activity rates and wondered the same thing:

Is the Church failing?

In this episode, I sit down with BYU Studies Editor-in-Chief Justin Dyer to examine what the data actually says about retention, religiosity, mental health, and why people leave faith. What we found surprised me.

While religious participation has declined dramatically across the United States, the data reveals that Latter-day Saints continue to retain active members at higher rates than nearly every other Christian denomination. The question may not be, “What’s going wrong with the Church?” but rather, “What is happening to religion, community, and identity as a whole?”

We discuss the four major groups of people who leave the Church, why many never completely close the door on returning, how politics increasingly shapes religious belief, and what predicts whether someone stays connected to faith over time.

We also explore a striking idea found in Doctrine and Covenants Section 1: that God foresaw the challenges of our day and provided guidance for navigating them. According to Justin’s research, the strongest predictor of whether someone remains connected to their faith isn’t simply church attendance or religious habits. It’s whether they consistently experience God in their lives.

Whether you are a parent worried about a child who has left the Church, someone wrestling with questions about faith, or simply trying to understand what is happening in our culture, this conversation offers both data and hope.

Let’s Get Real with Stephen Jones

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