Basic Concepts of Young Adult Ministries
Why target this group, as opposed to other age groups?
A healthy faith community will serve all age groups, of course. Right now, however, young adults (aged 22-30) tend to be absent from mainline churches and little understood as a potential constituency.
In order to have a vibrant future, many congregations need to focus special energy on young adults. Once balance is attained, perhaps this constituency won't require such targeting.
Here's why:
- A balanced age mix is critical to the future stability of a congregation. The rising average age of mainline congregations -- currently estimated at 62 years old -- simply isn't a sustainable trend.
- A lively presence of young adults will keep the congregation current with the needs and trends that will shape future ministry.
- Through targeting young adults, congregations will embrace key principles like responsiveness to a changing market, seeing needs through others' eyes, need for broad diversity of offerings and nimbleness in changing design. This will keep the congregation open to new ideas. Or, said another way, it will prevent the congregation from simply growing older (rising average age) and losing touch with emerging constituencies.
- Young adults are difficult to reach through normal avenues.
Why are young adults absent from so many congregations?
Young adults don't seem to be averse to Christian faith, but they aren't seeing traditional church membership as the primary path for expressing or seeking faith.
They are more likely to
- Sign on with a mission opportunity, whether church-related or not
- Engage in faith-centered interactions on the Internet
- Attend occasional events at non-demanding large churches with little or no denominational overhead
- See faith as something to be addressed later, perhaps when they marry and have children
- See church as an irritating venue where smug people argue
- See mainline churches as tightly controlled by older generations
- Turn away from the growing conservatism of many churches, especially in moral issues such as sexuality and immigration
On the other hand, in a diversity that confuses many older adults, some young adults are flocking to conservative congregations precisely because those congregations seem sure of themselves and offer firm answers in a fluid world. Single-track programs don't address this diversity
Ministry to young adults requires intentionality and priority. It won't be easy.
A serious effort to speak to, listen to, and learn from young adults will take a congregation to places it hasn't gone before, such as heavily web-centered communications and community-building.
The congregation will need to let go of control, and allow ministries to develop that don't resemble local tradition.
Young adults are likely to be more serious about their faith than less. A congregation that has enjoyed good times and easy ministries will need to rethink its approach if it wants to communicate seriousness to young adults. It isn't anything as easy as adding a "hip" service to the Sunday mix.
As with any groiup, it is critical that we try to understand young adults.
Without drifting too deeply into stereotypes, here are some factors worth considering:
- "In-between" status (post-college, pre-parenting) can make them invisible
- As they go from college to first jobs, and from domicile to domicile, young adults can "fall off the radar," as it were. Mailing addresses, employers and other usual identifiers get out of date.
- Because they tend to be work-centered and not yet affiliated with institutions like schools and youth sports, young adults miss the hooks that churches often use.
- Because their schedules are less consistent, young adults might not fit into existing church schedules.
- Because they tend to float among several friendship groups - work, sports, former college friends - they might not be as reachable through "customer evangelism" as they will be later in life.
- With marriage typically happening later, perhaps after 30, if at all, the ways into community life known by earlier generations might not be available. (Schools and play groups, for example)
- A decade of vast changes and high mobility
- The changes of the 20s are substantial and often lead to painful consequences, such as loneliness, over-commitment to work, separation from former friends, even from spouses, and financial stress.
- It can be a time of heightened personal need but reduced openness to expressing need or acting on it. New adults don't want to be put into the "child" position again.
- Former support networks might have been left behind and new networks not yet developed, except possibly on-line.
- Often not a time when faith and church are perceived as need
- Many young adults believe, rightly or wrongly, that they have just this one decade to prove themselves professionally. Other expressions, including church, are put on hold.
- With health still strong and career options open, stresses can feel manageable and not require any "outside assistance," such as a faith community or a God.
- If they grew up in churchgoing families, that familiar activity might seem linked to childhood, not to life itself, and tied to a specific congregation, not something one can seek in a new locale.
Older members tend to resist adapting congregational life to young adults. It would shift the focus from themselves, which is counter-intuitive in today's culture.
Some attitudes that are common among older adults but need to be set aside:
- The young should wait their turn.
- The older know better.
- Those who pay the bills deserve preferential treatment.
- Leaders worry that adapting to young adults will alienate older adults.
- The needs that young adults experience seem trivial to many older adults, who didn't have a 20s experience like this or have forgotten theirs.
- Young adults can be intimidating with their health, physical attractiveness and career zeal.
