Why are there so Few Young Adults in our Church? Part 3

5. You probably shouldn't try to fix this problem by starting a program. When most churches discover that they have a problem they attempt to fix the problem by developing a new program. If your church believes that they are not ministering to individuals ages 18-29, the first reaction may be to start a small group or a separate service. Bible study groups and services that are designed for young people can be good but many times they exist as an unhealthy guard against the integration of young adults into the life of the church. The goal of the multi-generational church should be a harmony of approaches to worship and discipleship. If your youth ministry promotes worship of God and discipleship in a way that is antithetical to your corporate worship and teaching then you have a problem. Our goal should be an integrated approach if our goal is an integrated church. Programs can set our minds at ease that we are reaching people when all we have done is further alienate people from the greater Body. It seems to me that God wants your church to think and act about what it is that you do on Sunday morning, in small groups, in the community and prayer meetings that are not relatable to people of different backgrounds, differing ways of thinking and various age groups. 6. Through teaching, attempt to replace what they think they want, with what they truly need. It was said of the Puritan pastor William Perkins that "he was far from being 'needs oriented' in his preaching. He was more interested in creating needs that weren't felt than in pandering to needs that already existed."(2) Answering the pressing questions that young people need answered is very different than pandering to their every whim. Accomplish the former and you'll see less pressure to fulfill the latter. Your young people don’t really need sermons that are funnier or more entertaining but they do need sermons to be faithful to the text, encouraging, challenging to the predominate worldviews and Christ focused. Your young people don’t need a new service geared for young adults but the most faithful need to be integrated into the leadership of your current services. Your young people don’t need louder music but it is not unreasonable for them to expect music with great content in a contemporary context. Bibliography: MacArthur, John. "Plexiglas Preaching: The Devastating Consequences of a Watered-Down Message" www.9marks.org (1) Ferguson, Sinclair B. "A Godly, Learned, Resident Preaching Ministry", Westminster Theological Seminary, 1997. (2)

Why are there so Few Young Adults in Our Church? Part 2

Please excuse the way the blog appears. If you receive this blog by email there is no way for me to format the content. But if you view this blog online, for some reason, Blogger will not allow me to format the blog with appropriate spaces. Hopefully we'll clear up this problem soon. So we've been thinking about why there are so few young adults in our churches. Here's two more points. 3.Try to understand post-modern culture. Some of you want to put this article down right now, but please don’t do it. One of the biggest misconceptions in the church today is being propagated by faithful people who are unwittingly reacting against cultural trends. These faithful people make statements like, ‘you don’t need to understand culture to be a good pastor.’ Or, ‘as long as people realize your serious about God, that’s all that matters.’ Even John MacArthur, whom I love, has written that “the nuances of worldly culture are virtually irrelevant to me. I want to know the mind of Christ and bring that to bear on the culture, no matter what culture I may be ministering to.”(1) Might I suggest that John MacArthur is so smart that he can naturally adapt and relate no matter where he finds himself. He knows enough about the culture because he communicates what Christ “bring(s) to bear on the culture.” Not all of us are blessed in that way. Some of us need to work at understanding the average family in our neighborhood. The study of culture does not pit itself against the study of God but the sin and Truth we find in a culture points us to God. The greatest missionary endeavors of church history have been because God’s people taught the Word, without compromise, in culturally understandable ways. When the BFC sends our missionaries around the world, we applaud the fact that our people take the time to understand the people groups they will be ministering to. We desire for our missionaries to understand language, customs, and ways of relating. We don’t encourage these things because we want our missionaries to be carnal or worldly but we encourage these things because we always minister the Gospel in and through a complex cultural grid. We should approach our neighborhoods with the same care. The Apostle Paul speaks very clearly about these concepts at the end of 1 Corinthians 9 as his ministry was one of theological accuracy that promoted a love for people and an understanding of culture “so that by all means I might save some….all for the sake of the Gospel.” Hudson Taylor did not personally baptize 50,000 converts by accident. His was a ministry of the Word that was grounded in prayer and aided by cultural understanding. He encouraged all of his missionaries to dress and speak like the Chinese people. His understanding of culture did not negate his trust in the power of the Gospel, but strengthened his trust in God’s Word as THE means to reach all types of people. 4. They want to be heard, after all they are adults. If Pastors and Elders stay in one location for an extended period of time they are blessed with the privilege of seeing children grow up. Recently a member in our church commented that one of our Pastors dedicated his children, performed his children’s wedding ceremony and dedicated his grandchildren. Now that’s longevity. But we must fight the natural tendency to look at people as they were when we first met them. Are we seeing them with new eyes? Are we seeing how they’ve grown? If you’ve been an elder for twenty years then the newborn you dedicated is now an adult. It is your responsibility to treat them that way. Part 3 comes next week.