LifeWay Research:
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Vintage-Faith Picnic 2008
Vintage-Faith Picnic 2008
“Teens who find their pastor’s sermons relevant to everyday life also are more likely to keep attending as young adults, the research indicated. More of those who stayed in church – by a margin of 63 percent to 42 percent – agreed their pastors’ sermons were relevant. A similar margin said the worship style of the church they attended as teens was appealing to them.”
“Attending worship is the basic level of involvement for most who attend church at all. Many never add to or go beyond this as teens,” McConnell said. “If as teens they can’t relate to the sermons at their church or don’t enjoy the worship style, then as young adults they can easily fall away from their only connection to the church.
“While it is a constant challenge for a pastor to communicate biblical truth to multiple generations simultaneously, the importance of targeting teens with the message is clear,” McConnell added.
Stetzer concurred, stating, “It comes as no surprise that the relevance of teaching has a direct impact on a teen’s connectedness to the church. Churches with irrelevant sermons ought not to expect young adults to flock to and connect with their churches.”
“Many teens have parents who are separated or divorced,” he said. “A church’s worship style won’t and can’t appeal to everyone. But this is an exciting study because it shows there are several tangible things parents and churches can do to prepare teens to want to stay in church.”
Written by Mark Kelly
Link directly to the full article by clicking here
The study indicated other factors that make a difference in young lives – ranging from creating a welcoming environment to giving teens responsibilities at church. Stetzer and McConnell discuss this research with student and collegiate ministry leaders in Inside LifeWay (www.lifeway.com/insidelifeway), the official news podcast of LifeWay Christian Resources.
Read more about what these findings mean for church leaders by going online to www.lifewayresearch.com and www.edstetzer.com.
A friend of mine asked me how do i get more young people involed in church. I did not know what ot say because i don’t no myself, so what i am asking you is if you have any idea of doing so can you please share them with me.
Thank you
Yanique Letts
In a word: “community”. We all need a place to “belong to”. Will it be the church? It could be. The local church has to ask itself some questions.
Is the service “youth friendly”? Are there applications in the sermon for youth? Does the sermon engage them? Does some of the music “touch” them? Is there passion there? Are they invited to bring their passion there or are they sent downstairs for Sunday school?
After being a youth pastor for over a decade I learned some things about how churches respond to effective youth ministry. They might like to hear the report about an increase of numbers, but usually, if my numbers increased so did the likely hood of the church’s facility being damaged or disheveled in some way. Did I get in “hot water”?
When Vintage-Faith Community Church is able to hire a youth pastor I hope I remember that. So when building isn’t being damaged or disheveled- “the youth pastor gets a talking to”. But when the facility does take some serious ware, I hope I congradulate him/her.