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Scott Crostek, pastor of Resurrection Downtown in Kansas City, says environments that are safe and welcoming for emerging generations are characterized not only by hospitality…
Where is community discovered in our time? In their book Fresh Expressions, Ken Carter and Audrey Warren argue that people today are less likely to…
What types of churches attract young people? Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad Griffin, the authors of Growing Young, dispel a number of common myths. Their…
Lee Kricher, pastor of Amplify Church in Pittsburgh, says it’s unlikely that younger adults will be drawn to a service where the people in visible…
Lovett Weems examines the findings of a new report on engaging young adults and shares clues about the types of churches those ages 18–34 are…
Engaging young adults in church, historically a challenge, is even more difficult today. So what should your congregation do? And not do? This brief video…
Lovett Weems examines the findings of a new report on engaging young adults and shares clues for improving ministry with younger people. He notes that…
At an event I was approached by a well-dressed older woman who said, “We are willing to do whatever it takes to get the next…
One of the most important challenges confronting the church today is the rise of the so-called “Nones,” that is, the religiously unaffiliated, those who check…
A group from my church often visits a restaurant right across the parking lot to share a meal after Bible study. One night the server…
We spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get the millennial generation to come to our churches. We think if we…
Churches must become more innovative and diverse on a variety of fronts, but less doctrinaire and institutionally rigid, if they want to reach millennials. This…
Millennials — everybody wants them but no one seems to know how to get them. That’s the major take-away from a newly-released study by Pew…
How can a congregation effectively engage younger adults? The Faith Communities Today (FACT) study provides some clues. As part of the largest ongoing religious research…
Many church leaders bemoan the absence of younger people from their pews without bothering to consider the contextual factors that must define ministry with new…
For many students, campus ministry becomes a community of friends, a home away from home, a kind of extended family. It is a body of…
I work with young adults. That is to say, when I employ them on my staff, my goal is for them to work with me, not…
I have the amazing privilege of working with spiritually sensitive and passionate young adults from across the southeast. I am also charged with understanding why…
Many churches are interested in developing programs for young adults to help their congregations grow. However, there is another equally compelling reason for churches to…
Susan Cox-Johnson shares insights about the the Emerging Church and ways of connecting with postmodern generations. It was only a few years ago that I…
Susan Cox-Johnson encourages church members to seek out and listen to young adults in their communities to learn about their life and faith. As a…
This article is reprinted by permission from Leading Ideas, a free e-newsletter from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary available at churchleadership.com.