Why Does Quality Youth Ministry Matter?
From Monday Morning Insight…
Seventy percent of people, 23 to 30 years old, are nowhere to be found in church on a regular basis for at least a year. They become church dropouts, according to a 2007 study from LifeWay Research.
“The most frequent reason for leaving church is, in fact, a self-imposed change, ‘I simply wanted a break from church’ (27%),†according to a LifeWay report summarizing the study. “The path toward college and the workforce are also strong reasons for young people to leave church: ‘I moved to college and stopped attending church’ (25%) and ‘work responsibilities prevented me from attending’ (23%).â€
Following are some similar findings cited by the Youth Transition Network (YTN), a coalition of some of the nation’s largest denominations and ministries that are working together to help reduce the dramatic loss of youth from the church:
“An Assemblies of God study showed a loss of 66% of their students within one year of high school graduation.â€
“A Southern Baptist transition project estimates an 82% loss of youth within one year of high school graduation.â€
“Fifty to eighty percent of high school students walk away†from the church.
April 30th, 2008 at 9:46 am
We have had miserable experiences with Church over the past several years (had been VERY connected at two different places in the 14 years prior to that). It has been so important to me to be "connected in" because I have a teenage daughter (17), and I think that time is critical for her to have Christian friends and a place to connect to God and His word (since at this age they tend to listen to more outside the home).
My frustration is that we go to churches and their teen program is separate from normal church. I don't think my teen is unusual in not relating to "adult" sermons no matter how scintillating we think they are! =0) She's shy and busy with school, and less inclined to go to a new youth group meeting…unless invited in by a "friend". The dilemma is getting her to meet "friends" and feel invited in. The few times she has stuck her neck out and tried have been disastrous and she always feels like the outsider (which are normal feelings at this age anyway).
Would love for churches to find a way to connect to teens DURING the times when their parents are dragging them to church with them. Maybe let them enjoy corporate worship with their parents, but then have something to connect them together on topics of interest to them during the adult sermon? To me that would be ideal. If I can connect her to people at that time, she will be more likely to connect into the youth group at other times. It's the breaking-the-ice thing that is SO hard at this age.