Lead a Weblog for Young Adult Leaders

This week we’re answering the following question raised at last year’s Connect Conference:

What outreach ideas do you have for reaching unchurched young adults?

This is one of the most popular questions we hear from church leaders, so I will give it my best shot based on what I am seeing from churches effectively doing young adult ministry.

I didn’t plan to be the primary teacher at Kairos, a Tuesday worship event focused on young adults at our church. In fact, I told them I didn’t have time. I would help them get started, I promised, but then we would have to find someone else to do it full time. That was more than five years ago.

Quality research has always been central to the decisions we make and the resources we provide. Quite simply, research has driven our work as opposed to the other way around. We didn’t start an initiative and then do research to support what we started. Our research wasn’t retrofitted into our message. Rather, our message is formed by our research. For accuracy, we’re examining young adults with different backgrounds and contexts. This moves us across geographical, socio-economical, and racial boundaries. We’ve heard from the unchurched and churched. We’re also listening closely to those of you who are working hard to connect with young adults in your church, community, or campus.

This week we’re answering the following question raised at last year’s Connect Conference:

Since I am part-time in ministry, what are the top three things I should commit to in order to make ministry happen?

I just finished a part-time ministry position in a church, so this is one question I can answer with pretty good clarity.