By Elizabeth Prata
The Atlanta Passion Conference is a Christian conference aimed at older teens and college-aged students. I live not too far from Atlanta, and I live near a University town. Lots of young folks around here flock to the annual Passion Conference in Atlanta at this time of year. This year’s conference just closed. I have received several questions about the conference from friends in real life and online. Here is some information about this conference I’ve written in the past. Hopefully it will bring to light the major concerns with this conference. I do not recommend it for several reasons, which are explored in the links below.
This year’s lineup included the usual array of not-solid-to-false teachers and singers.
Passion’s cumulative effect is bad. Young attendees are drawn to a large event with the tantalizing enticement of rock music, purposely separated from senior pastors, elders, and parents for several days, drenched in a fishbowl of adrenaline-fueled zeal, given half-truths to feed on, told by adored celebrity musicians and pastors they are a special generation, diverted their focus from service in church or campus to solving a global problem, encouraged to sacrifice their money for social justice causes, (end global slavery, end global poverty…) and often turned back to their home churches or campuses carrying new leaven.
Phil Johnson on the Passion Conferences: The Passion Conferences have progressively been more and more and more about raw passion rather than about biblical truth, going back years. For at least five years I’ve been totally critical of the Passion Conferences and the direction they’re going.” ~Too Wretched for Radio, 9/16/2019
Personally, I have a problem when conference organizers specifically prohibit parents/guardians from attending with their child(ren).
Examining Christine Caine’s 2019 Passion sermon: It’s straight Word of Faith
Are there too many Conferences?
Discerning a Gnostic Conference: Passion 2013 part 1, Kim Walker Smith & Jesus Culture
Discerning a Gnostic conference: “Passion 2013,” part 2, Louie Giglio
Discerning a Gnostic conference: “Passion 2013,” part 3: Conclusion
Passion Conference introduces Catholic Mystical practices to impressionable youths
the-end-time.org 
I went to the conference this year and there was nothing about parents not going. A lot of friends from my church that went actually took their parents with them. It’s also not like these are kids are at the age where they need adult supervision, they’re in college and a most of them are already living on their own or in a dorm so I feel like they can go without needing their parents coming with them. It’s a Christian conference, which should be the LEAST of ATLANTA’S problems for crying out loud, it’s not like they’re showing up to do a bunch of drugs. And I’m not sure how trying to encourage the audience to end global slavery, end global poverty, or in this years case, translate the Bible into languages where people don’t have it. Those aren’t the same “social justice” causes like BLM, or Queers for Palestine, where the money goes somewhere else and the programs are super liberal. Causes talked about at Passion are considered global problems that should be a concern for every Christian. Personally, I think you shouldn’t hate on it so much if you’ve never been. If you’re okay with the atmosphere of sitting with, (as my pastor described it, sitting with 60,000 of your closest friends) you may actually like it and if you have the time I think you should give Passion 2025 a chance next year.
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From the Passion page: anyone over 25 is not welcome to attend (unless a pastor accompanying their group)
“Passion 2024 is a gathering for the collegiate generation and is open to anyone who is 18-25 years old. High school seniors may attend even if they are not 18 years old. Adult ministry leaders are encouraged to attend with their students.”
From the Passion Page: 17 year olds can attend. Even if 18, 19, 20, 21, these are youngsters. They can’t even legally drink alcohol (if they cared to) until 21. That’s because they do not make wise decisions until their brain is fully formed and that doesn’t happen till until mid to late 20s.
“High school seniors are welcome to attend Passion 2024, even if they are not yet 18”
A Barna recent research says “According to the Barna Group, roughly 70% of high school students who enter college as professing Christians, will leave with little to no faith.”
This demographic is the MOST of our problems we should be concerned about.
I will not be giving Passion 2025 a chance. I stated my reasons and they stand. It’s a conference run by false teachers introducing false teaching to minds that are under minimal supervision and of a demographic that LEAVES the church in droves. It is not a Christian conference. I’d encourage you to be more discerning. Just because someone calls something “Christian” doesn’t mean it is
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