Question:
I like the challenges you presented to each of us on Sunday. Sometimes we tend to get a lot of the “feel good messages” and not specific challenges to our discipleship and faith journey. I have had some people say they know some young adults that have been looking elsewhere (how many, I don’t know) because they don’t feel a challenge to discipleship or taking the next step. Maybe we are seeing a slight change in how young adults are thinking and that could revolutionize and possibly revitalize our church specifically if this is true. Wondered what your thoughts were on this.
Response:
The term young adult is about as wide ranging a term as exists. The age 18 to 25, or 18 to 28, or 18 to 30 includes: people who work for minimum wage to those already getting rich; people who are single, married, and single parents; high school drop-outs to Ph.D.’s; people of about every political and theological persuasion; people still innocent and living at home to combat hardened war veterans. Psychologists are telling us that in our current culture adolescence extends until the mid to late 20’s. They are still experiencing brain development, especially in those areas of the brain dealing with decision making. This is not a cohesive group. If there is any commonality in the group as a whole it is that they are constantly changing and always looking for the next best thing. The next best thing is likely defined by their peer group.
We always have some people “looking. And so does every other church. If we try to select a worship/music style that perfectly fits each taste, we would have to have a couple hundred worship services.
I have received this same message from a parent. Some of our 20-somethings have been exposed to very fundamentalist/conservative theology in college churches and through para-church groups like Campus Crusade. Those experiences occurred at very positive and affirming times in their lives when responsibilities were low and lots of time was available for friendship. As they hit the work-a-day world, there is yearning for all things which once provided the structure and comfort of the good old days – including the sermons. For some of this group there is little we can do that meet their expectations. It is easy for the young to be quite judgmental and critical, seeking affirmation of those things they have already decided are right or wrong with the world.
Our challenge is to cast a broad net so as to gather as many as we can into the kingdom, but not so broad a net that everything flows through it. Should we share less “Good News”? Should we encourage those in struggle less? Is not discipleship best learned in a small group or with a mentor?
I hope I do not sound defensive. There is a core issue here worth examination and discussion – what is the role of grace and what is structure in the life of Christian and do we provide both.
I have read this post many times. I am not sure where you are going with the comments.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I read it and think you are giving up on young adults.
By saying "For some of this group there is little we can do that meet their expectations." Is this true?
Here are age groups and how the church I believe handles them:
5-12 Children program is wonderful
12-18 youth groups are great, but need to involve them more into the services. They do not seem to be part of the main church and interact with all other ages, especially 60+
18-23 Well, most are off to college. I believe the church does an adequate job here.
24-40 The church struggles in this area. Other Noblesville churches (White River, Genesis, Grace) excel in this age group.
40-50 As parents see their kids off to college in this age group, I believe the church has open arms and offers many studies.
50-80 This church excels in this area. Frankly because I believe this age group has the money and the church seeks out their support. It is widely known that Noblesville Methodist is where the old money resides.
The future of the church depends on continued membership. I know you will post back that and say that I am mistaken and you desire all age groups. I want a diversified church with young and old, black and white, rich and poor. If you look around the church on a Sunday, we all look pretty much the same.
So what's the answer?
Somehow change the image of the church and be more open and fun; less staunchy and rigid. And this may take years.
As for sermons and feel good messages, I am not interested in a history lesson of a bible passages. They don't relate to 2011. I wish you would state recent examples straight from the news stories or highlight a family (without names) that demonstrate overcoming hardship, or care for others, or how community involvement helped someone, or how someone was deciding what to do with an extra $5,000 (buy a car or boat, but decided to invest in the community), or highlight specific issues such as texting while driving or working 20 hours a day (hurting family life), or child abuse or teenage pregnancy or smoking. Each one of these topics could tie into a bible passage. The key would be to have a take-away that parents can talk further with their kids or grandparents can talk with their grandchildren. I would even like a special guest speaker once in awhile from the service to tell us their life story (and not how they found religion), but about how they made it in life, what struggles they had, and what goals lie ahead for them.
These are topics that young adults (18-40) can sink their teeth into.
I have been a member of the church for 10+ years. I am in the 40-50 age range. My attendance has been extremely spotty as I am looking for a change.
I really don't think we have given up on young adults at all. Our new pastor is younger and hopefully with a small child at home will able to relate well to families with small children.
ReplyDeleteWhile some other congregations have the appearance of being successful in addressing the needs of younger adults, that doesn't establish a competition with those churches. We are all working together to build the Kingdom of God. We are each given different gifts, and that includes congregations.
One of the big factors is "image" of each church. Some would think NFUMC to be older and stuffy merely because they have "heard that" some where. It is an assumption based frequently on hearsay and not direct experience. Other times folk will state a church to be "stuffy" because the church never quite met that person's need. We might have failed or we might not been given the opportunity.
I'm going to do some additional research but I really expect that our church has a really good cross section of our community - ministering to all ages and economic levels - perhaps more effectively reaching a full cross section and thus reaching a more group in Noblesville than other larger protestant churches.
As for as Noblesville First being a place for "old money" that would be nice. However, again that impression is more based on assumptions other than data. In fact, while we have a wonderful facility, it quite quite modest compared to some of the other congregations mentioned.
And even with that I find quite interesting that when I Googled the age/sex profile for Noblesville, the graph http://www.city-data.com/zips/46060.html shows a significant dip in the population of those between 15 & 25. The greater populations are in the 30 to 50 group.
I hope we are serving all those of all ages on the mission field where God has placed us.