News / Education
Churches can keep, attract young adults
The Rainers offer churches four concrete solutions for making worship community essential
This question was examined and answered during the Essential Church conference Feb. 26-28 at LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center.
The conference was based on research published in Essential Church, cowritten by Thom S. Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, and his son, Sam Rainer III, campus pastor at Sarasota (Fla.) Baptist Church and president and CEO of Rainer Research. The two men served as conference speakers.
Essential Church is based on a study of 1,000 "church dropouts" who were interviewed about why they left the church. Their answers, according to the Rainers, were unexpected, having less to do with "losing their religion" and more to do with the desire for a community that isn’t made stale by simply maintaining the status quo.
The Rainers said their research indicated there are 10 primary reasons individuals stop attending church. These reasons include simply wanting a break from church, feeling disconnected from people at the church, moving too far away to continue attending the same church, and taking on work responsibilities that prevent attendance.
"Of the young adults who left the church, 97 percent did so because of some sort of life change," Sam Rainer said. "That says that the church isn’t a change agent."
The Rainers did, however, offer churches four concrete solutions for making their worship community an essential part of these young people’s lives again:
1. Simplify: Develop the right structure.
2. Deepen: Develop the right content.
3. Expect: Develop the right attitude.
4. Multiply: Develop the right action.
"I’m an obnoxious optimist about the church," said Thom Rainer. "If you look at the New Testament churches, you’ll see there have always been challenges."
Thom Rainer, who along with Eric Geiger wrote Simple Church, used information from that book to define what it means to simplify by starting with a clear, simple mission statement for the church.
"When a young adult comes in your office and asks, ‘How do I become a better disciple of Christ through the ministry of this church?’ you better be able to articulate this clearly," Thom Rainer said.
"The 18- to 22-year-olds want to do things that make sense," he continued, "and they want to know a clear process for becoming a disciple of Christ. Young adults don’t want a watered down Gospel. They want truth."
Sam Rainer said there are four basic components to a simple church:
1. Clarity: articulating a clear, concise mission statement that says what your church is about.
2. Movement: removing the congestion so people can move between ministry and relationships.
3. Alignment: maximizing the energy of everyone by making sure all ministries line up around the same discipleship process.
4. Focus: saying ‘No’ to almost everything, even if that means eliminating some good ministries; looking to see if every ministry or program lines up with your mission statement.
"A church that does not have a clear ministry concept is not simple," said Thom Rainer. "Young adults will not be satisfied with shallow teaching and shallow preaching."
Depth involves three primary components: the pastor-preaching, small groups/Sunday school and personal devotion/Bible study.
"The churches that are keeping these young adults are the churches that have a systematic way of moving people through discipleship toward spiritual growth," Thom Rainer said.
David Boyd, minister of music and youth at First Baptist Church of Waterloo, Ill., said he believes intentionality is key to gaining depth.
"In dealing with young adults, you have to have high expectations and be intentional in involving them in ministry, both inside and outside the church walls," he said.
"Churches that are nonchalant about worship are nonessential churches," Sam Rainer said. "Young adults expect meat and passion in their worship services. Don’t talk down to them."
The Rainers said there was a bright spot in their research: Not all young adults leave. The study found seven primary reasons young adults stay in church. The reasons include viewing church as a vital part of their relationship with God, being committed to the purpose and work of the church, and wanting the church to help guide daily decisions.
Something young adults – and other church members – expect is that their churches will serve as the catalyst for relationships. But, that doesn’t happen automatically and it almost never happens for those who only attend a worship service, the Rainers said.
"Most people who only attend a worship service are unlikely to connect relationally, but in small groups they do," Thom Rainer said. Additionally, in small groups, a person is more likely to be studying the Word of God every week.
"Five years after joining a church, 85 percent of new members who became involved in an ongoing open group upon joining, were still involved in the life of the church,"
Thom Rainer said. "Of those who did not get involved in a small group, only 16 percent were still involved in the church.
"One thing I’d do differently as a pastor is shout it from the mountaintop and tell the people to get involved in a small group."
Churches who kept their young adults exhibited an expectation that they would be involved in some sort of ministry action outside the walls of the church.
"If you aren’t a church reaching beyond your church, you won’t be a church who stops its members from going out the back door," Thom Rainer said. Sam Rainer added, "Friends and family are key to keeping young adults in church and [the key] to bringing them back if they’ve already gone. When we asked them, about half said they returned to church simply because of the encouragement of a friend or family member. It may take as many as 20 invitations, but 80 percent of the young adults we surveyed said they would be open to coming back to the church.
"The church must reclaim its place as the locus, as the focus, of the community; it must once again become the main point of culture," he said.
The flash point for churches seems to be the "unsweet 16," according to Sam Rainer.
"The church begins to see a percentage decline about the time students turn 16," he said. "We have to be intentional at ages 15 and below. We need to target junior high and elementary students."
"We have been called Builders, Boomers, Gen-Xers, Gen-Yers, modern and postmodern, yet what I saw at the Essential Church conference were servants representing many generations who were serious about their churches’ ministries," said Ernest Baylor, a staff member from Pilgrim Valley Missionary Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. "I find it encouraging that God’s remnant remains on the offensive front line of our culture, reclaiming it for Christ through His church."
Sam Newman, minister of education and discipleship at First Baptist Church, Richmond, Ky., said, "It was affirming to me to see that what I have felt led to do over the past several years lines up with what Simple Church and Essential Church research tells us. This information is in line with what God is saying to churches all across the United States. The Rainers have spelled that out for us and have given us a picture of what the church can look like.
"The question that I have heard asked here still haunts me: If my church ceased to exist, would our community miss us? I pray the answer is yes," he said.
While the LifeWay sponsored Essential Church conference at Ridgecrest was the only multi-day event, church leaders who were unable to attend have another opportunity, said Neal Eller, senior consultant for congregational services with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
The convention is sponsoring a one-day Essential Church conference with the Rainers on April 28, 2009, at Apex Baptist Church, in suburban Raleigh, N.C. The conference fee is $49 per person. Go to www.ncbaptist.org and type "Essential Church" in the search box to access the Webpage. For more information, contact Sheryl Shankles at (800) 395-5102 ext. 5651 or e-mail sshankles@ncbaptist.org or neller@ncbaptist.org.
