Relating to Young People

This weekend the staff of the conference hosted an event to talk about the various ministries that we can offer to local churches. One of the workshops that I hosted was on dealing with how to engage ministry with Young People (youth and young adults). Two questions that kept coming up in the workshop I was leading were, how can we relate to young people?; and how can we get young people to be a part of our congregation? Both of these questions were good questions for congregations to ask.

To the first question, how we can relate to young people?;  My first response is that you need to get to know the young people of your community. You'll be unsuccessful in relating to any demographic if you don't first understand what they like and the struggles that they face day-to-day. With young people this can be widely varied , and it might be hard to center on one or two things. The most obvious answer is ask young people in your community what they like and what they need? After you discover those two things, you need to practice radical hospitality to young people. A great example of how to do this can be found in the Scriptures as to how Jesus offered radical hospitality to the people he interacted with. That is, loving people for who and what they are just as they are. In story after story in the Bible we see Jesus relating to people of all walks of life without casting judgment on who they were or what their past might be like. If more churches did that with young people, they might begin to see more young people as the children of God that they are.

The second question of how do we get young people to be a part of our congregation?; That may be a little more straightforward. The first thing not to do is to demand young people to conform to the traditions and worship practices that older generations hold dear. Some young people may like that, but most do not. You need to incorporate worship styles that appeal to young people and engage young people in ministries that they would be interested in, primarily missions. Young people live out their faith by "doing ministry." Inviting young people in your congregation and in your community to participate in local, national, and international mission trips is probably the fastest way that you can get young people involved in the ministries of your local church. Once they have participated in a trip, make a special time for the whole congregation to learn about what their experience was and make a big deal out of it.

If you put some of these suggestions into practice, you might just be surprised that young people want to be a part of your congregation.