Bob's Blog

In less than a week, I'll be in Winona Lake, Indiana meeting with about 15 pastors from around the country to discuss and share new ministries to 18-25 year old. We'll be gathering together to talk about the different ministries we are doing with this age group, and to hear more about the uniqueness of this generations known by many names such as Millennials, Net Gen, and Mosaics.

One of CE Nationals goals is to discuss ways in which it can assist churches to minister to this age group. Research continues to show that this generation is leaving the Church with no desire to return in the near future. CE Nationals goal of finding out some of those reasons why twenty-somethings are leaving the Church and to help churches keep and reach this age group is a major focus for this day.

The Summit on Emerging Adults will take place at CE Nationals Russell Center on October 29th. Chuck Bomar, from Cornerstone in Simi Valley, California, will be our guest speaker. Remember us in your prayers that our Lord will guide through the day and to reveal His vision and thoughts to us. I'll share more on the event of the Summit in next week's blog. You'll be able to read the accounts of the Summit by going to CE Nationals web site.

Life on the road is not very glamorous. I've been traveling a lot of late and use to find it exciting but now I can't wait to get home. Over the past six months, I've been flying out to the Midwest at least once a month for the duration of about a week . Recently I've been contracted by Grace College to do some recruiting for the school on the west coast. Not a whole lot of traveling, and I know spending a few days in San Diego sounds like a vacation, but all this living in hotels and passing through airports has made me appreciate my little house in Whittier. Enough said.

One thing I gained from so much traveling is the opportunity to see churches from across the country. Whenever I get the chance, I like to check out a church's ministry program, especially with young people. Do they have a paid pastor overseeing their ministry to youth? Is it led by a volunteer staff that they train? What do they do for their post high school ministry? I'm always looking to see what's going on across the country with junior high through college age.

When was the last time you researched other ministries? I've talked with pastors who want to start a college ministry or attract twenty-somethings to their church but haven't investigated the subject much. Sometimes they tell me they are starting a church service for young people, but when I ask if they found a "young church" model they like, most reply that they only talked to a few churches. They felt they "got the jest" of how to do it.

Some church leaders think that "one size fits all." They read some articles or a book on Millennials and immediately start to implement what the read. It doesn't work that way. It takes time to investigate what is going on with today's younger generation. I do a lot of reading, researching, and interviews to find out what the landscape is like with those that are in their late twenties and younger. I've racked up countless of hours on the phone and hundreds of emails talking with leaders who work with this age group. I've done a number of face to face interviews with men and women from around the country. My bedroom is stacked with numerous books looking at this millennial generation, some from Christian perspective and some from outside the Church.

The bottom line is this: if you want to understand what God is doing today with this younger generation then you have to investigate. You have to take the time to go where they go. Talk to them. Ask questions and listen. Read, research, and ponder what you are seeing. Talk to the "experts" who really aren't experts at all but people who have done what it takes to see where we are going as a Church. The older I get the more the future of the Church comes running up behind me. Someday that "future" will pass me and establish its own church. I hope I had an influence on what the future Church looks like here in America. I think I have. At least I've done my homework.

Last night I attended a church service that was geared towards twenty-somethings. It was opened to all ages and did attract a number of older people to the evening, but the night was intended to draw in younger people that the church had been missing. It was a good start. There were some technical problems with sound but overall a good first start with over 100 in attendance. The focus of the teaching will be on apologetics. You might think that's a heavy topic for young people to handle but they were not only very attentive but taking notes. There were even high school students who came to find out more on how to know and defend their faith. I enjoyed myself and the conversations after the service was informal and relaxing.

I do that a lot out here. Next week I'll be attending another service that is geared towards 18-25 year old. At last nights service, I saw a friend of mine who leads a college ministry at another church. He won't be attending the service on a regular basis but was there because he wanted to get some insights on how to lead this age group. I am finding out that he is not the only one. Many established churches are starting to reach out to this generation if only because they see the need for their church to grow younger. I meet with a few pastors that ask questions about how to start a college ministry or how to keep twenty-somethings in their church from leaving. Those are good questions and hard to always answer them in the way that they might want to hear it. Here's what I'm finding in what churches are doing across the country.

• Some churches have decided not to try. They feel they are too old to change and since they have no one young in their church, they are just going to minister to the ones that are attending today.
• Some do try but don't know how to reach this generation. Also, they find it hard to mix multiple generations together. Not everyone agrees on worship music. Some like to sit and be taught on Sunday mornings, while others prefer a more interactive service. It's a hit and miss from week to week and no one is satisfied.
• There are other churches that decide to plant new younger churches. This works out well for the new church but can devastate the existing church. Families might be spilt up (mom & dad stay at the established church while their kids attend the new church), resources are stretched, and eventually the congregation that planted the new church finds itself back to where it started.
• Finally, some churches have started an alternative church to their "regular" service, but this to has draw backs as well. Most of these alternative churches are lead by a charismatic leader and eventually leaves the church that gave it their start.

There are no easy answers but there are some core characteristics that can help churches transition from one generation to another. I'll share about this on my next blog.