george barna | More Than Dodgeball

Geoff StewartMore Posts Weigh In Volume 28: Combining Youth and Young Adults?

Over the past few months I have been wrestling with a few ideas about bridging the gap between youth and life out of high school. Our experience has not been as bleak as what many studies show about the number of students leaving the Church and their faith behind after high school but it is still a concern. Part of my wrestle is that the jump from Youth to Young adults is often pretty substantial in style and values even in the same Church. Over the past few years a trend that has begun to happen in the Vancouver area where I live is combining Youth and Young Adults into the same group encompassing grade 8 to age 23.

At first it seems crazy having that large of a spread of young people in the same room, but I have visited the groups and it is actually a really healthy environment. If you think these are small Churches with limited resources, it is just not the case. One of the Churches is around 1000 people and the other around 2500 and both are thriving with this organization. Students are making the jump more seamlessly after high school, becoming leaders and staying connected to the Church in a meaningful way. They have events outside of their weekly gather for specific age groups throughout the year and one of them breaks their summer camp up into 3 age groups as well. I am no there yet, but could be convinced to combine resources to develop one ministry of HS and College.

It seems to be working really well here, but have you tried it? Seen it done? What do you think?

If you want to check out the groups you can right here:

Relate Church www.relategeneration.ca

CLA Church www.therevolutionmovement.com

-Geoff (Twitter)

6 View Comments October 3, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Taking the Team to the Fam Conference

I’m super excited to take my team up to the Fam Conference at Azusa Pacific University next week. I’m pumped to hear from George Barna, Dave Gibbons and most excited to hear Kara Powell’s Sticky Faith 3-session Deeper Learning Workshop. I’ve got the books and met up with her a little bit at SYMC and am so pumped to learn more:

Session 1: The Sticky Gospel: Teaching That Launches Young People Toward Lifelong Faith
Research from the Fuller Youth Institute revealed that students often leave our ministries carrying a gospel a lot like a jacket: It’s mostly based on behaviors, and students feel like they can put it on or take it off when they want depending on the situation. In this first workshop, we will introduce the research and explore ideas for using relationships and our teaching to move students beyond a “Jesus Jacket” gospel and into lives immersed in God’s grace.

Get Sticky Faith at SYM

Session 2: Sticky Churches and Families: Helping Adults Get Out of Their Seats and Into Kids’ Lives
One of the most powerful things we can do in youth ministry is connect teenagers to adults: their own parents and caring adults in the faith community. Sadly, few youth ministries truly embrace the power of intergenerational relationships or harness that power to disciple students. In this Sticky Faith track workshop, you will leave with a host of practical ideas from churches engaging parents and the intergenerational church family to holistically surround kids.

Session 3: A Sticky Youth Ministry: Small Ministry Changes that Deliver Big Results
Graduation. Change. Transition. Unfortunately, more and more youth workers are finding that close to half of high school seniors’ journeys after youth group are filled with twists and turns that leaves their faith stranded. What can we do NOW that will help our kids develop a faith that sticks? This seminar in the Sticky Faith track will look at ways to structure the youth ministry environment to facilitate growth in middle school and high school students and will explore everyday ideas to prepare seniors for the transition out of high school.

If you’re going – we’ll see you up there, too. Gonna be great!

JG