HOW DO WE KEEP YOUNG ADULTS IN THE CHURCH? by Mary York for Core Christianity
Sometimes you don’t realize you’re drifting away from your faith until you look up and find yourself suddenly far from home. Sometimes you know and you let yourself drift anyway. I think I did a little of both.
Transitioning young Christians from kids-at-church to adults-at-church is a crucial step. This post-college but pre-family period is often without a blueprint for active participation in the family of Christ, and young believers find themselves no longer under the direct supervision of what many in my generation jokingly refer to as “adultier adults.”
In entering the secular world, young Christians are often hit with a wide variety of challenges to their faith. Some are obvious attacks, others are masked, such as potential romantic relationships with non-believers, or exciting job opportunities that will exhaust time and energy that should be put into Sunday worship or Christian fellowship and discipleship.
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Sometimes, there’s just doubt.
I could have used help navigating through my early and mid-twenties, but as I showed no signs of distress, I slipped through a lot of fingers. I think many young Christians do. They fade away quietly rather than face the uncomfortable conversations that require us to challenge our doubts, desires, and priorities, especially when those in our churches meet questions of doubt or confessions of sin with pity or condemnation instead of grace. And when the “adultier adults” aren’t paying attention, fading away is easy to do.
Here are a few suggestions to keep young adults from drifting away:
What Young People Need to Know: Be Aware of the Drift.
Maybe you feel too old to go to your church’s youth group, or your job increased your hours and you don’t have the time to go. Maybe none of your friends go to Sunday service anymore, and you don’t know the older members of your church well. Perhaps no one has pulled you into the Wednesday night adult devotional or the Men’s or Women’s Prayer Breakfast on Saturday mornings yet.
