Welcome to Christ Episcopal Church

I read an interesting book recently called Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church. What the authors learned is that there are a lot of qualities that churches don’t need to “grow young” – involving and retaining teenagers and young adults.  A big, modern building.  “Contemporary” worship.  Hyper-entertaining ministry programs.  A “big” budget.  The sorts of things we often focus on because 1) they’re “easy” in the sense that they’re one-time changes, and 2) they’re “easy” because we can foist the work off to the “professional Christians” – people (like me) who get paid to talk about Jesus.

 What the authors also learned is that “bright spot” congregations share certain cultural traits that make them effective at inviting everyone – especially young people – into discipleship and mission. 

A church’s ability to offer young people a place to authentically engage each other – and their elders – in faith conversations.  When 500 youth group seniors were asked what they wished they had more of at church, the top answer was “time for deep conversation”.  “Mission trips” and “service projects” were second and third.  In dead last: “games”.  Youth are asking questions about identity, belonging, and the difference they make in the world.  Churches that grow young help them have those life-changing conversations in the context of their faith and core values.

Churches that grow young have a “here and now” faith that takes Jesus’ message seriously.  When asked to express their beliefs, many of the youth the authors interviewed talked about an abstract notion of a distant afterlife, with God as an almost mystical fairy godmother-type figure performing magic upon request.  Youth often spoke about the need to be “kind” or “nice”, but far less often spoke about being transformed by God’s love and grace.

Churches that successfully engage young people allow the Gospel to reorient the way the congregation sees itself as neighbors, parents, and children.  As a result these churches: talk less about abstract beliefs and more about the person and work of Jesus, help young people (and older ones, too!) to use stories to describe God’s redemptive work in the world, and see salvation not just as “going to heaven”, but as a new way of life that Jesus is inviting us into right now.

Churches that grow young prioritize young people and young families everywhere.  And by “everywhere” the authors mean “everywhere in their lives”.  Strong programs and good leaders are important, but when churches support families in building faith outside of “church”, the overall vibrancy and maturity of a congregation’s faith rises even more.  The questions for churches become: how do we partner with parents?  And, how do we cultivate a culture of warmth, acceptance, honesty, and support that allows youth to show up however they are?

Churches that grow young strive to be the best neighbors they can be.  In the course of their research, the authors discovered that the churches that were the best neighbors reflected the Good Samaritan’s mercy toward people outside their congregations.  Unsurprisingly, 60% of interview participants said the service practices, or simply being outwardly focused, made their church effective with young people.  These churches have a culture where they see themselves as partners with God on God’s mission to breathe justice and mercy and peace and compassion and reconciliation into the world.

What I hope this article does is get you to take that next step.  To have that conversation with someone about their hopes, dreams, fears, or what keeps them up at night.  To wonder how God’s stories of redemption are playing out in our own lives.  To wonder how we can make our spaces more inviting more newcomers – young and old alike.

 How can we frame our individual and collective lives so that pursuing the one who lived, died, and rose for us again is our overriding motivation?

Thank you for sharing your worship with us. 

May the peace of God fill your heart and mind, and the Blessing of God Almighty—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—be with you, and remain with you, always.