A woman’s faith is fanned back into flame after walking away from church as a teen.

What causes teens who have been raised in the Christian church to walk away? This question troubles churches everywhere. In WELS, about 60 percent of young people leave the church by the time they reach their mid-20s, with the majority leaving in the 17- to 23-year-old age range.

Jill Gilchrist, a member at Illumine, Rock Hill, S.C., has unique insight into this issue.

A painful chapter

When Jill was growing up, her family attended a United Methodist church where she was deeply involved with the youth group and other church-related activities.

As her teen years progressed, however, she noticed a disconnect between the Bible’s teachings—particularly on topics like homosexuality and same-sex marriage— and the practices and beliefs of the church. When she shared her concerns, she was dismissed and isolated by church leadership and friends alike. “When I stood up for what I believed in, I felt like I was not protected as a Christian,” says Jill. “I didn’t feel like I was being protected by God, who I was trying to show that I was there. I was with him.”

She watched with sadness as her previously tight-knit community melted away. The years that followed were difficult for Jill, who was now adrift without a church community. She began to question her faith, made decisions she regrets, entered into a marriage fraught with challenges, experienced a miscarriage, and endured a painful separation and divorce.

“After my divorce, I lost absolutely everything,” says Jill. On top of losing her home, her cars, and a business, she lost primary custody of her three children. “I was so angry,” she explains. “And even in moments of anger—when I felt like I had written God off—I continually found myself asking, ‘Why, God? Why is this happening to me? Why am I going down this path?’ ”

Despite trying out a few nondenominational churches, she was not able to find an answer to this question or the sense of community she craved. Organized religion became nothing more than a painful chapter in her past that she did not wish to revisit.

A new direction

When Jill met Luke, her current husband, she had no way to know that God would work through her new relationship to fan the dim light of her faith back into flame.

When it came to organized religion, Luke and Jill had a lot in common. They had both written it off after enduring difficult life circumstances.

After just a couple weeks of dating, however, Jill met Luke’s grandfather Jim Lucus, and everything began to change. “The minute I met him, I didn’t know him as anything else but ‘Papa,’ ” says Jill. “I felt like he had been a part of my entire being. He was my favorite person at that time.” Jim immediately made Jill and her children feel like a part of his family.

More important, Jim asked Jill and Luke to attend church with him on a regular basis. “He always had a Bible with him,” Jill remembers. “He always had some sermon to share. . . . He always had something to say, a Bible verse to give, a prayer to pray.”

But Luke and Jill, who eventually got married and had a daughter, always said no. They remained largely uninterested in Jim’s persistent evangelizing and Sunday morning invitations.

Grace upon grace

Finally, in 2022, Jim wore the couple down with his now infamous remark, “I just wish someone in the family would come to Easter Sunday service with me.” Jill says, “I think that night at dinner, he said that probably three times until Luke finally caved.” So, by the grace of God, Jill and Luke agreed to attend church with Papa Jim at Illumine on Easter Sunday under one condition: that he would stop asking.

For Luke and Jill, the most impactful moment came after the service when Nathan Loersch, pastor at Illumine, “chased” them out to introduce himself, invite them back for future services, and assure them that he was there to answer any questions they might have.

They were amazed that a pastor cared enough to speak with them personally. “As soon as the car doors closed, Luke looked at me and said, ‘You want to go back next Sunday?’ I was pretty sure that was a life-changing moment.”

Soon after, the couple began attending a Bible 101 class, which Loersch hosted in his home. Where she expected to find a dry, stuffy informational class about Illumine’s teachings, Jill found the depth of community she had been missing for years. She explains, “That was the most fun class we have ever been in. . . . There was laughing, there was picking on each other. There was so much learning and such community and friendship that was formed by so many people in that class, all while containing the intimacy of the group.” Luke and Jill gladly became members.

Blessings upon blessings

The Lord has continued to bless Luke, Jill, and their family—perhaps most miraculously with the baptism of Jill’s two middle children. Her oldest daughter from her previous marriage, Christalina (16), had been baptized years ago, and Skylar (7), the daughter she shares with Luke, had been baptized as well (due to Papa Jim’s influence). With encouragement from Loersch, Jill spoke with her two other children, Anderson (now 10) and Brinleigh (now 13), about being baptized.

“Thankfully, they ended up being baptized at Illumine,” Jill says. “That was a very beautiful thing because they were old enough to kind of wrap their heads around it, understand it, and see what was happening to them as younger children in God’s eyes.” Now, Anderson and Brinleigh consider Illumine to be their church home. When they are with Jill and Luke every other week, church attendance is non-negotiable. “They hold us accountable,” says Jill. “[Illumine] is their second home.”

Jill has also found great comfort in the fact that Illumine’s teachings are rooted firmly in Scripture. “Pastor Nathan preaches straight from the Bible,” she explains. “He tells you what God says, and you can ask all the questions in the world that you want, but ultimately the answers are all in [the Bible]. And they’re not going to change, whether you like it or not.”

The service opportunities available at Illumine have also blessed Jill in a way she never imagined. As an event coordinator and administrative assistant in the professional world, Jill has been able to put her skills to work at church. “I am super active in coordinating some of the programs and events,” says Jill. “It fills a little empty part of my heart that I didn’t even know existed before.”

The ripple effect

While the Lord has certainly been faithful in leading Jill back into his fold, she acknowledges that her life still has its challenges. Her relationship with her parents has been strained to the point of non-existence for years—another casualty of her messy divorce.

Unlike her earlier years, however, Jill now sees that God is with her even in the messiest parts of life. “My prayer every day for my kids is that they never have a gap in their faith like I did, because life is so much easier with Jesus by your side,” she says. “I pray that they never forget how valuable their relationship is with God. . . . Their passion for Christ is so big, and I think that my parents saw the same thing in me. But I know [my parents] also saw that light diminished, and I can’t imagine watching that light go away.”

While Papa Jim was called home to heaven in June 2024, the ripple effects of his gospel outreach live on. Ten years ago, Jill didn’t think she would ever join a church again. Now, according to Loersch, Jill has shared stories of car rides filled with “Jesus songs” from her three youngest kids.

“Who knows the ripple effects of Papa not stopping inviting his grandkids and great-grandkids to church until they finally attended with him? And who knows the ripple effects Forward in Christ readers’ invitations could have as well?” asks Loersch. “God works in absolutely wonderful ways.”

Learn more about Illumine, a mission church for the past 13 years that has gone off synod subsidy and become a financially independent congregation, in this month’s edition of WELS Connection.

Watch a video sharing more of Jill’s story. 

Author: Stephanie Boeckman
Volume 113, Number 03
Issue: March 2026

They were eager to serve

It was a Tuesday evening, and no one showed up to help spread mulch on the parking lot islands. No one, that is, except for Luke and Jill. And this was just a couple weeks after they attended worship for the very first time! But they were eager to serve.

While we served, we got to talk. They asked questions they couldn’t or wouldn’t ask on Sunday morning when there were a bunch of other people around. Conversation flowed in a way that often only happens when people are working together on something.

The takeaway: Invite people into service. Ask them to help, even if they’ve never been to worship. Serving together can stoke relationships, ignite trust, and be a beautiful bridge for the gospel.

Whether it’s spreading mulch in the parking lot, working at the soup kitchen, or taking groceries door to door, invite them into service. And show up to serve with them.

Who knows the marvelous things God might do through the trust you build and the conversations you have . . . . as you eagerly serve together. After all, look at what he already did through the one eager to serve you. “Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

Nathan Loersch