At a large gathering for organizations (including Vibrant Faith) that are involved in a Lilly Endowment project called Thriving Congregations, I led a breakout session for ministry leaders interested in reaching young people. Around the table were eight leaders from diverse organizations, all of them wrestling with the challenges brought on by the steep decline of young people engaged in the church. The goal of the gathering was to raise the most vital questions these leaders identified in their disparate contexts, and to offer support and strategic response to those questions. I was impressed with the expertise, insight, and commitment these eight leaders brought to the table. Here I’ve listed the questions they raised, and how group responded to each one…
Question: How will worship and prayer experiences change for digital natives?
Answers: We have ceded digital spaces to young people, abandoning them in this “wild frontier.” We need to bring discernment into these spaces—young people know there is good in the digital sphere, and also not-good there. How can we help them think and participate more critically, and more redemptively, in the digital world? We must think of ourselves as missionaries to a foreign culture, and discover how to lay down “this is how we do things” in favor of “what could we do that resonates?” We must help digital natives learn to live as Christians in this foreign land.
Question: Our planning meetings never have a young person in the room—how do we change that?
Answers: We have made our expectations for participating in the life and decision-making culture of the church too high for young people to access. Our membership standards and processes are complicated, dense, and slow-moving. What “red tape” must we cut to pave the way for young voices to participate in the life of the church?
Question: How do we find, equip, and release more leaders who have a heart for, and a commitment to, youth in our church?
Answers: First, the most important question is: “How do we better equip parents in their primary role as faith-formers in their kids’ lives?” We have made the barriers high for adults to participate in discipling young people, and we’ve made the barriers and expectations low for youth, aiming way below their capability and dignity.
Question: How do we engage and disciple young people amidst the challenges of today’s culture?
Answers: We must be present the digital spaces that are the relational ecosystems of young people. We need to engage them about what they like, and don’t like, about these spaces. We need to listen well first, offering own vulnerability and pursuit to them. As we remain and abide in Jesus, we bring His presence into these spaces. We must resist the temptation to give into “merely attractional” strategies and gimmicks. And we must focus on guiding young people into “the ways of Jesus”—for people who generally believe in Jesus but generally don’t practice the Jesus way of life.
Question: What can we do about the disconnect between what young people say they need and what our church leaders want to do.
Answers: We need to co-develop our church structures with young people to shift our focus—from “come to us” to “we’ll go to you.” We need to find a balance between new “expeditions” into youth spaces and respecting elements of our religious traditions and our missional callings.
Question: Why does it seem as though parachurch organizations are supplanting the church in the lives of young people?
Answers: In the past a religious commitment was tied to a certain geography and a certain church building. But young people are drawn to organic ways of gathering and pursuing a relationship with God. We need to plant ourselves in these new currents, and help young people answer this question: “What does it mean to live in the world as a Christian?”
Treat these questions and answers as discussion-starters for your own ministry team. What questions resonate with you? And what answers spark your creative energy?
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Help Is Here!
Fall is on our doorstep, and we innovative, practical resources that will help you infuse your ministry environment with “rich soil” for transformation. Our newest resource is The Sacred Stories Project. This multi-media resource offers your people a simple, safe, and “normal” way to share aspects of their story in natural, genuine ways. And you get a more connected, honest, and “known” congregation. It’s four guided sessions with accompanying video segments from Adam Young, trauma counselor and host of the podcast The Place We Find Ourselves.
And check out our new resource Listening to Jesus Together. It’s a set of six carefully crafted “listening encounters” designed for three people to experience together—online or in-person. The goal is to give people in your congregation a weekly “reminder habit” to help them listen to Jesus in the context of a short-term small-community experience.
Next, Following Jesus is a curriculum resource you can use with both adults and teenagers in your church this fall—help them explore what an ABIDING/REMAINING relationship with Jesus is like. It’s an experiential, highly interactive, co-discovery way to invite people into deeper intimacy with Jesus.
And The Life of Jesus TalkCards is a simple, devotional way to invite small groups into the heart of Jesus.
Rick Lawrence is Executive Director of Vibrant Faith—he created the new curriculum Following Jesus. He’s editor of the Jesus-Centered Bible and author of 40 books, including his new release Editing Jesus: Confronting the Distorted Faith of the American Church, The Suicide Solution, The Jesus-Centered Life and Jesus-Centered Daily. He hosts the podcast Paying Ridiculous Attention to Jesus.
Save your seat for… Faith Formation Simplified, taught by Dr. Gary David Stratton. Drawing upon the teachings and example of Jesus and insights from the lives of some of history’s greatest spiritual climbers, we’ll map out eight “expedition camps” through which Jesus guides every person seeking to become a disciple. Hurry, registration for this course closes soon! Learn More Here