Next Gen?

My Experience  Youth group growing up (Volunteer)  Uni Christian groups (Volunteer)  Café Gen Y (Volunteer)  Gold Coast North (Part time)  Bardon (Part time)

What is a Young Adult?  Age  Psychologist Erik Erison states 20 to 40  Some studies 18 to 21  Others 18 to 24  Others 18 to 30  What do you think?  For this use NCLS Y.A. ages 18 to 30

What is a Young Adult?  Interests?  Music  Sport  Interweb (Memes, Youtube, etc.)  Own business  Many forms of Technology  What do you think?

Next Gen Y?  D. Kinnaman 43% drop “teens to “adulthood”  ABoS “no religion” rise from 0.4% in 1901 to 15.5% in 2001 to 22.3% in 2011  Less than 10% Aus. pop attend church  NCLS Study states 80% leave by 30  NCLS Study 25,000 young adults left last 10 yrs  29% of Aus Pop only 3% of Churches  Feelings?

Reasons  Have been hurt  Adult life doesn’t mix  Distractions  Sceptical  Exhausted/Time is limited  I don’t get it  Doesn’t understand needs

St Hilary’s Study  The Power of Legacy  Staffing  Community  Small Groups  Training  Involvement  Focus on Transitions

What Can We Do?  Have a meal as a group (Fellowship)  Teach them creatively about the Bible (Study)  Socials/Activities that engage (Evangelism)

Church Service  Analyse current service  Make service current and always changing with trends and needs  Focus every aspect on the non-churched  Focused gifting

What Can We Do?  Have a meal as a group (Fellowship)  Teach them creatively about the Bible (Study)  Socials/Activities that engage (Evangelism) The biggest need is this:  Get to know them one on one (Discipleship)

Discipleship  Do not try and mass produce believers  Do not play the number game  Do not play the comparison game  Give them a reason to believe  Time = Impact  "These relationships would not be solely focused on spiritual growth, but should integrate the pursuit of faith with the whole life."

Discipleship cont...  Take Jesus example  Choose three potential (Peter, John and James)  Pray  1 hour per week/fortnight  Spend approx. 1 hour preparing  Preferably same gender

Choose someone Write on piece of paper Commit to yourself, to God and to this person that you will input into their life and help them grow

Volunteer advice  1 hour/week dedicated  Current groups/events/activities  Camps/Mountain top experiences  Payment

Other Ideas?  Alpha  Emmaus, Ichthus, SU Camps, Other camps  Uni Christian groups  Other denominations

Don’t Give Up  Discouragement is a large part of youth ministry  But don’t confuse with over doing it

Conclusion  Church seems hopeless  Keep striving  Discipleship/bible study/social

Resources  You Lost Me by David Kinnaman  unchristian by David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons  Deep and Wide by Andy Stanley  LCA Study by Tom Schmidt

Resources  for-the-church-young-people-saying-you-lost- me-75613/ for-the-church-young-people-saying-you-lost- me-75613/  blogs.christianpost.com/guest-views/seven- reasons-why-young-adults-quit-church-8997/ blogs.christianpost.com/guest-views/seven- reasons-why-young-adults-quit-church-8997/  markconner.typepad.com/catch_the_wind/2 012/11/religious-belief-in-australia census-results.html markconner.typepad.com/catch_the_wind/2 012/11/religious-belief-in-australia census-results.html 