Lead a Weblog for Young Adult Leaders

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.

I vividly remember what it was like to serve on a summer camp staff the summer after I was married. On a team of about 20 young adults, there were only two married couples. My wife and I had been married around six months when our summer started; the other couple was maybe three or four months further along their marital journey than we were. In all honesty, I didn’t mind the juxtaposition all that much. I loved my wife and looked forward to sharing my life with her, much more so than going to sleep every night in a room with a bunch of messy guys. I didn’t even see myself as all that different from the non-married guys. My job was the same as everyone else’s, and my day looked exactly like my teammates’, except for when “lights out” hit. But the perception from my team toward us? That was very unexpected. People were nice enough and made efforts to connect with us, but the idea that married people could be the same as everyone else was kind of lost on our team of mostly singles. The perception that I was so different just because I was married nagged at me for a while. There was a definite separation that I didn’t understand … until much later.

Dale Bynum, the associate pastor for adults at Oakwood Baptist Church in New Braunfels, Texas, asked me a very good question at a conference last week that you may be asking yourself: “Does Sunday School work for young adults?”

It all began with a seemingly innocent question: “Does anyone have any prayer requests?” An hour later, the prayer requests were still going strong.

For many women’s small groups, this is a common occurrence. Prayer requests and even Bible study time can often turn into long-running therapy sessions in which women unload the anxieties and worries of their weeks onto a sympathetic group of listening ears.

A popular question in young adult ministry is: Should I divide my Bible study groups into demographics? This is a valuable question, especially since most young adult ministries span the ages of 18-34 and may include college students, single adults, and young married couples with or without children.

As the body of Christ, we affirm the Bible as bedrock to our faith and the plum line for our interaction with this world. As we’ve said before, young adults are looking for truth. However, many of them don’t know where to find it or what it looks like. We must never lose sight of what we can offer this generation—the truth that is found in the Word of God. Biblical depth becomes a non-negotiable in ministry.

If you truly want to follow Jesus, to become His servant and to help others follow in His footsteps, practicing discipleship is required. Don’t leave discipleship to chance. Don’t make it a program. Make it a living, breathing part of your daily ministry. Make it a practice.

As a part of my church duties, I work the café, greet guests and generally try to make the lobby of the middle school we meet in as friendly and welcoming as possible.

For the past three weeks, my café partner has been 20-something Val. During a lull, she asked me what I did and I told her about Threads and how our entire mission is about encouraging churches to reach people just like her.

Here is a sampling of what she told me between serving up drinks for our guests

Paul had a somewhat tenuous relationship with the Galatians. He loved them, but when they abandoned the gospel for a hybrid of Christianity, he had to come down on them. Hard. And through the first three chapters, Paul is angry, irritated, and direct. But in chapter 4, his tone starts to ease up a bit.

One of the four markers we talk about in young adult ministry is “depth.” Depth of Bible study is more than just knowing the whos and whats, of the Bible; it’s also being able to talk about and wrestle with the whys. The goal of depth is not just intellectual stimulation; true depth is measured by the level of encounter one has with the information.