On his blog: Without Wax, Pete Wilson mentions the work Christianity Today have done on why Young Adults are leaving the Church (Barna President David Kinnaman examines the 6 reasons in a new article in Christianity Today). It's some really good food for thought. But I wanted to offer a response, granted it's limited to my own experience, but I thought it would be good to look at six reasons why Young Adults are coming to Church.
1. Community: Church offers a sense of being able to be known and know others more deeply. Becoming involved in people's lives on an existential level, which is primarily the level of engagement within a Church, given the things and nature of what is spoken about, leads to vulnerable, open and trustworthy relationships. This is what people are hungry for and what the Church can truly offer.
2. Aspirational Standards: We live in an age where the lowest common denominator seems to set the standard. But young adults who live in this world, are equally hungry for challenge that encourages and inspires them to live a more wholesome, healthy and life giving lives. This is what the Gospel, communicated well, offers.
3. Social Justice: Church is a place where a young adult's passion for social justice can be fed and exercised. If a Church is carrying out it's Biblical mandates, then a place is created for a young adult to belong to a community of like minded people wanting to stand up for the lost, last, least and lonely, those who are oppressed.
4. Transcendent Experience: Another hunger of this generation is to know God, or at least a version of him, and this does not necessarily mean the Christian God. But Church can offer a space where people can come and be, and where God (Yahweh) can meet them.
5. Solid Theology: The Gospel is God's invitation through Jesus Christ to be in relationship with him, to follow him toward life, to be apart of God's life and to belong to a kingdom or movement that is slowly but surely taking over the world. This is an attractive thought to a young adult, and although it is understood that a high cost accompanies such an opportunity, there is eagerness to belong to and understand this, as opposed to sitting under a God who is only about you doing the right things, and doing them now! This god is not attractive, or accurate for that matter!
6. Identity: Belonging to a Church, or Christian community offers a young adult something which is rare in most other cultural settings. It offers belonging, identity and stability. These things are born out of the nature and being of God, which ultimately is what we, enjoying the human existence, need.
So there are my six reasons of why I think young adults are actually coming to Church. Love to hear your thoughts!
