Today, I wanted to refer you to two new posts about why young adults are not enjoying and sticking with their parents’ churches. Below I have also talked about how I connected as a college student to a local church and my advice to passionate (and disillusioned) people in their 20’s. 
The first post I want to draw your attention to is on Chris Monroe’s Paradoxology "Desert Pastor" blog. Here Chris interviews Sarah Cunningham, author of the brand new book, Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation, (Zondervan, August 2006). (In the comment I asked Sarah about what unique challenges Christian college students face when choosing a church. Look there and see what she says in response. She says she went to Taylor’s leadership conference as a college student!) See also the website for the book at http://www.dearchurch.com/ and her myspace page.
The second post is at Leadership Journal’s Out of Ur blog. Brian McLaren has a post entitled:
Family Faith Feud: Why are young adults not finding their places in their parents’ church?
At Taylor University, our desire is to better and better instill in students a love for the local church.
When I was at Taylor, I was inspired to get involved in a small local church when one of my professors told me: "Be part of a small church. Just showing up and singing loud will be a blessing to them." So I did. I was involved in a little country church of about 30 people. I had the opportunity to give the pastoral prayer weekly, sing loudly, eat lots of good home-cooking, preach a couple of horrible sermons and give lots of hugs to elderly ladies. We had a group of 5-10 of us who would go together: wake each other up, pile in the car, turn up the worship music to "prepare," drive home, and eat meals in the Dining Commons together afterward.
But this isn’t the only way. A large church can be great as well. I think it is fine for students to church hop and shop for 4-5 weeks. (Sleeping in does not count). But then pick one (they all have flaws) and go to it every week and get involved. And it is much more fun if you can get some friends to go with you.
If a young adult is very passionate about their way of "doing church" (and disillusioned with the local churches they find), perhaps they can channel that passion into helping with a youth group, a campus ministry, or a small church. In this way, they can experiment with things they are passionate about like: "excellence," "emerging church movement" ideas, or ancient-future spiritual formation practices. What I am saying is that it is hard as a college student to have a huge impact on the overall functioning of a large church. But you can channel your passions into different venues where you can give them a trial run and make a huge impact for the kingdom.
5 replies on “Why are adults in their 20’s not connecting into local churches?”
Andy,
Bless you, and your prof. who suggested you, “Be part of a small church. Just showing up and singing loud will be a blessing to them.” As a small church pastor I would be elated to have a car-load of college-age people ignite some life.
Also, good blog. My first visit, but not my last.
peace,
dan h.
When I was a student at Taylor I was involved at a different church each year. This was a great learning experience as it helped my think about what I wanted in a church (and a denomination). One of the things I have learned over time is that I fit in better in small churches. If the senior (or better yet only) pastor can’t learn everyone’s name the church is too big for me.
I heard it from a 20-something woman… that this same generation is stalled regarding the dating scene. She even wrote a book on the subject.
Any connection here? What is the larger story?
Like middle school kids going into high school, many college students don’t fit the normal stereotypes and need alternate venues to mature.
I think that a lot of 20somethings are “behind” where their parents were in terms of dating an marriage. On the other hand my son is only a little older than my dad was when he got married and younger than my grandfather was. So there may be cycles.
I think that church is a great place to meet a spouse (that’s where I met my wife) but I’m not sure many churches are set up in a way that supports young singles. They are often more attuned to supporting young married couples.