If you have attended Shabbat Service at our congregation you probably noticed that the children stay with their parents during the service time. This is because we do not hold Shabbat School or have a nursery. This is one of the unique qualities of our community and one that we have been criticized for. We believe that this is one of the essential elements in keeping our children in the Church once they become young adults.
There's a new book out by the president of the Barna Group, David Kinnaman, called You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church...and Rethinking Faith. For the past five years the Barna Group has been researching young adults who have dropped out of the Church in order to find the reasons why. This book is a summary of what they learned and some suggestions on how not to lose them in the future.
I haven't read the book yet, but I have read a sample chapter, some book reviews and some related articles. From what I've heard and read, it seems it all boils down to building and maintaining relationships with the young people in the Church and helping them to feel like they are part of the community. This is precisely what we are trying to achieve by keeping the children in the entire service and allowing them to participate.
Below is a suggestion from a ministry leader that supports our position. This idea was posted on the Ideas for Finding a Generation page in the youlostmebook.com website.
Share the Youth Ministry Load
Young people need to feel connected in authentic relationship with as many mature Christians as possible. For too long we have been fooled into believing that hiring a cool youth pastor and a dynamic children’s director will be enough to create transformed, life-long disciples in our kids.
Relationships that are built in age-segregated church compartments result in graduating high school students who have no significant relationships to call them back to the Body. Why would they want to come to a place where no one even knows their name? Instead, we need to teach entire congregation how to become a vital part of the ministry to our children and youth so that real, face-to-face, authentic, life-long Christian relationships can grow between the generations. A congregational commitment to do whatever it takes to raise our children in the faith must begin with the senior pastor and flow out to every adult in the body!
What if we started by hanging a mirror in the church entry with “Our Youth Pastor” in large letters printed on the top so that whenever any adult looked in the mirror they would see their own reflection?
Lorraine Frey
Educator, leader and trainer for The LOGOS Ministry
Related Links:
You Lost Me,
By David Kinnaman
Five Myths about Young Adult Church Dropouts,
November 16, 2011, The Barna Group
What Teens Aspire to Do in Life, How Churches Can Help,
June 14, 2011, The Barna Group
New Research Explores How Different Generations View and Use the Bible,
October 19, 2009, The Barna Group
~
No comments:
Post a Comment