Why are there so Few Young Adults in our Church? Part 1

One of the greatest concerns that I hear from leadership in churches has been their observation of how few young adults are in their congregations. I've heard it said that ages 18-29 represent the lost generation of the church. This is interesting because in the past 60 years the American church has spent massive amounts of money and energy on ministry to young people. After decades of focus on ministry to young people (Youth Pastors, Youth Retreats, Young Life, Campus Ministries, Young Adult Services etc) is the American Church any better off? Are we healthier? Have we raised up new generations of Christians who love Christ and His church? Not in my experience. I’d like to propose some changes that you could make in your congregation that may increase your opportunity to minister effectively to young adults. 1. Refocus your youth ministry. Let's get serious. What is the drive of your youth ministry? What's at the center? What do you care most about? Youth Pastors, Directors, and volunteers are not mainly called to plan the social calendar of students and focus on ski trips. They are called to shepherd the hearts of students and walk through many of their most formative years. So many today are writing and preaching about the massive number of young people that are falling away from their "faith" in the first two years of college. I've heard many guesses as to why this is. "They can't defend their faith" or "they don't know the Bible well enough" or "they don't know creation science well enough." My guess is much more simple. My guess is that most of them were entertained in their youth ministry and the entertainment was enough to hold onto them through high school. But the entertainment of the College Campus Ministry can't beat the entertainment of the frat party/sports scene/video game scene and they've chosen a more entertaining path. There is a place for fun in youth ministry but let's ask hard questions. What do our Elders want to see happening in our youth ministry? Are our Elders impressed with numbers? Do our youth leaders understand biblical doctrine? Can they teach it with conviction? 2. Don’t make your problem their problem. What is your reaction if you look at your body and see very few people between the ages of 18-29? Young adult flight is a symptom of an unhealthy body as much as it is a symptom of young adults who don’t love God or don’t understand God’s call on the Christian. God has called every local church to minister to multiple generations and God makes this possible when our churches teach God’s Word in its entirety and worship Him in spirit and Truth. We can continually blame larger churches who “steal our sheep” or the culture for our inability to reach people or we can look realistically at ourselves. What are the ways of relating and teaching in your church that alienate young people? If you like what you're reading, feel free to pass this on to a leader in your church. http://markrevans.blogspot.com/ Part 2 will come next week.

When "Leaders" Stop Growing

“There is a theory of human behavior that says people subconsciously retard their own intellectual growth. They come to rely on clichés and habits. Once they reach the age of their own personal comfort with the world, they stop learning and their mind runs on idle for the rest of their days. They may progress organizationally, they may be ambitious and eager and they may even work night and day. But they learn no more. The bigoted, the narrow-minded, the stubborn and the perpetually optimistic have all stopped learning.” – Philip Crosby _Quality is Free__ Here's seven signs that you're, possibly, being led by people who are no longer growing. 1. They're rarely reading books or listening to sermons/lectures or, 2. They can't tolerate books or sermons/lectures that aren't from their pet perspective. 3. All of the people that influence them are in their close knit social circle (church, organization, school etc.) 4. They will challenge no one and they run from being challenged. 5. Their communication is full of cliches rather than cohesive, thought induced, sentences. 6. They continually posit their current situations in the best possible light, regardless of evidence to the contrary. 7. They rarely surprise and therefore rarely create. Their answers and actions are incredibly predictable. They are at incredible peace with the the way they are doing things.