Focus on Five Areas
Reaching, welcoming and serving young adults isn't necessarily a continuation of current approaches. Being friendly and sincere won't be encough. Five specific areas need addressing:
1. On-line tools to engage and to build community
The best tools for reaching young adults will depend on your context. Social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook are popular in some areas, whereas in others they are already passing into the hands of older and more business-oriented users. Nevertheless, most young adults have Twitter and Facebook accounts, plus LinkedIn for professional contacts, so using those tools might still reach your constituency.
E-mail is a reliable tool for communicating with young adults. Some also use Instant Messaging, although that is becoming more a business tool and less a personal tool.
An e-mail newsletter targeting young adults is a useful communication vehicle for building group identity. It should be short, visually interesting, not text heavy, focusing on links to the church web site, and providing opportunity to make comments, to engage in transactions, and to forward to friends.
The church web site needs to compete well with other popular web sites. Its young adults section needs to have a unique look and feel, but not be too young (adolescent), too hip or too churchy. These are young professionals ready to be taken seriously as adults.
2. Small-group formations
Small groups are valuable for every age group, but need to have characteristics appropriate to each. Small groups serving young adults need to have a strong social component (Sunday brunch, dancing, theater outings), as well as opportunities to act on idealism (such as helping with a Habitat for Humanity house, or doing a one-time event such as a holiday party for needy children).
Group formation and maintenance need to be handled by staff or key volunteers, not by the young adults themselves. This age group wants involvement but is often too busy with careers to manage organizational commitments. Groups won't have a long life. Nor will they show consistent participation. Groups should be easily accessible and open to friends bringing friends.
Each group will need a trained leader, preferably from among the young adult community. That person will need to take the group's pulse and pursue a format and purpose that reflects the group's identity. Group life should be low pressure, with a focus on invitation and interesting activities.
3. Age-related activities (e.g. athletics)
The decade of the 20s often starts as a continuation of college athletic interests, such as team sports. Hence the value of a church softball team. As the decade proceeds and careers take more time, the focus often shifts to individual sports, such as squash, tennis, working with a personal trainer, running and fitness. Hence the value of a yoga class at church.
Church offerings will need to take this transition into account and not try a one-size-fits-all approach. Be sensitive to whether members of your young adult community prefer single-gender or co-ed athletic activities. Don't require too much time spent planning. Avoid activities requiring consistent attendance.
Depending on your context, cultural activities like theater outings, trips to jazz festivals and blocks of tickets at symphony can be useful. The key is for someone else to take on burdens like making reservations. Don't count on young adults to notice opportunities in the church newsletter or on the church bulletin board. They need to receive an inviting e-mail with an easy reply link embedded in it.
4. Age-appropriate worship
Young adult worship preferences change from era to era and need to be studied carefully. Earlier generations wanted "guitar masses" and "contemporary Christian rock." The word lately is that young adults expect something more traditional. The key is the time it's offered, not the offering itself. But you will need to study your context.
Study what other churches are offering successfully. Be sincere and true to your tradition, but consider the possibility that your regular service needs to be updated, rather than a separate "young adult service" be offered.
Understand that worship's importance varies widely within this age group. For many it is an unfamiliar experience. They will need some guidance on what is being done and why, not in a heavy-handed replicate-tradition manner, but as part of a warm invitation to participate. In brief: don't place high expectations on worship as core of ministry to this age group.
And yet spiritual yearnings can be strong, if quite unfocused. The world these young adults are entering is challenging. Access to jobs and career trajectories are both uncertain. There is a vague sense that the best days for our culture and economy are over. Expectations formed in college and graduate school might not be panning out. The career change that once was made at age 30 might be happening earlier.
5. Mission activities
The current young adults cohort are thought to have a wide streak of idealism. They want their lives to make a difference. Whether this leads to fundamental orientation like Peace Corps or teaching public school remains to be seen. But a church will want to tap into this idealism. For many young adults, mission work is a social opportunity, a way to meet like-minded, like-valued people.
Mission work is also a test of the congregation's overall values and interests. It is a measure of the congregation's integrity. Even if young adults don't turn out in large numbers to assist with mission work, it means a lot to them to know that it is going on.
