Lead a Weblog for Young Adult Leaders

The idea of finding balance seems really important to me these days. Balance is one of those things we all strive for and yet, unfortunately, have such a difficult time achieving. Achieving balance has both a practical and a spiritual side. Here are some helpful tips from both sides.

The Roman Road. F.A.I.T.H. Four Spiritual Laws. The bridge illustration. These are all names of good, useful tools for evangelism, and I’m sure you can add to the list. The goal of each is to introduce someone to a relationship with Jesus Christ in a simple, straight-forward way. And they have worked well. Really, really, well. The question is not whether or not they have worked, but are these the best models for evangelism in today’s culture?

My husband and I have officially worn out our welcome. The “welcome” word on our doormat, that is.

A few weeks ago, Ryan noted that the welcome mat at our front door was faded and shredded. You couldn’t even read any of the various multi-lingual “welcomes” that once covered it. As usual, our perspectives on this mundane domestic development were about as distant as the loyalties of Red Sox and Yankees fans or the political views of Mary Matalin and James Carville.

People leave the church. The dropout issue is well known and discussed widely. Perhaps less known is the high rate of young adult dropouts. Our research reveals that over two-thirds of 18-22 year-olds leave the church. In the short, four-year transitional window of teen to adult, the church loses the majority of its students.

Most of the dropouts do not leave their families during this time. Most of the dropouts do not leave their social networks during this time. Most of the dropouts do not leave the educational system during this time. But most of them leave the church.

The excuse that the secular society has more to offer than the church simply does not pass muster. Let’s look at four keys that our research shows are critical to keeping young adults.