Last week USA Today published an article about the fact that many young adults leave church. This is nothing new; young adults have left churches in droves for a long time. What is new in the last few decades is that more and more of these young adults are not coming back when the get married and have kids.
In fact this article may be good news, in the way that the bad news being less bad than expected can be good news. 35% of young adult church drop-outs return to their church attendance by the age of 30, and an additional 30% attend sporadically.
What I really want to discuss however is a quote in the article by Ed Stetzer. The article quotes him as saying “Too many youth groups are holding tanks with pizza. There’s no life transformation taking place. People are looking for a faith that can change them and to be a part of changing the world.”
I realize that not all youth groups are like that; however there does seem to be a large number of youth groups that are more intent on entertaining their teens than developing them spiritually. I believe a part of this is most churches’ focus on numbers. Churches are happy to be able to say they have a large youth group. If the group is doing the teens any good is often a lesser concern (or it’s simply assumed that it is having a beneficial impact on the teens), and admittedly, is not as easy to know.
I also think that churches often expect to little from their teens. All that many churches expect from their teens is that they show up to church and/or youth group and that they avoid certain things such as drinking alcohol and having pre-marital sex. I wonder what would happen if we expected more than that from our teens.
I also wonder just how much this phenomenon is true for the not-so-young adults as well. For this age group, are churches merely holding tanks with singing and preacher-watching?
“All that many churches expect from their teens is that they avoid certain things such as having pre-martial sex.”
Pre-martial sex? Is that when a soldier has intercourse prior to going off to war?
Geez, switch two lousy letters around…
Looks like your editor didn’t do a very good job!
I understand why teens leave church never to return, even if it breaks their parents’ hearts.
I don’t understand why young adults go to church if they really don’t want to.
Too many youth groups are holding tanks with pizza…
there does seem to be a large number of youth groups that are more intent on entertaining their teens than developing them spiritually.
Maybe the church needs to get rid of the idea of “youth group”, instead of trying to reform it. The church could demonstrate that it expects a lot more out of its teens by not secluding them away into their own peer group. If they grow up participating with the church body as a whole, they might be less likely to leave as young adults.
Our church is trying to do something akin to what Sharon suggests, though not exactly with the teen group. The idea is to get rid of the affinity groups (like “parents with small children”) and the age groups (the Southern Baptists are crazy into this one)and try instead for “community” groups. The idea is to organize medium-sized groups (read: Sunday School classes) based on geography, not on age or other factors. My opinion is that this idea has met with some success, but not outstanding success. One problem is the “young adult” group (that is, out of high school, maybe out of college, not married) group more than any other demographic didn’t like joining up with the “old” people (read: my age group). Another problem is that in some cases geography works well–like when there are enough people who live close to each other–but in other cases, it doesn’t really work since people are too spread out anyway.
But back to the idea of teen youth groups. I like the idea in many ways, but so much depends on the leadership of such a group. If the groups are just holding tanks, there probably is some value even there especially with kids who have a hard time making friends. But how much better it is if the teens are challenged spiritually and shown how to grow both socially and spiritually. I’ve seen it both ways in churches I’ve attended.
Good point, Sharon. I’ve always wondered why the need for segregating teenagers from adults in the church setting. I understand it with 5 year olds, but 15 year olds???
Maybe the church needs to get rid of the idea of “youth group”, instead of trying to reform it.
I couldn’t agree more. I spent my 16-18 years in the adult service for lack of a Sunday morning youth group and was all the better for it.
Do you understand it with 5 year olds, Darius? Then you’re doing better than me!
Colin said “I couldn’t agree more. I spent my 16-18 years in the adult service for lack of a Sunday morning youth group and was all the better for it.”
By adult service do you mean the regular church service, or do you mean a Sunday school class? In our church the teens have their own Sunday School class in the hour prior to the regular church service. All ages above 1st grade attend the regular church service.
I assumed the article was talking about a youth group that met on a time other than the regular Sunday service, that is, in addition to the regular service.
I just think that 5 year olds don’t have the ability to appreciate or understand most of a regular church service. Perhaps that’s a faulty assumption, but it is one taken by most churches and their members.
Darius, you’re right that 5 year olds may not understand much of it, but then little babies don’t understand much of what’s spoken to them for a while. Without that exposure, they’d be much slower to pick it up.
I assumed the article was talking about a youth group that met on a time other than the regular Sunday service, that is, in addition to the regular service.
Thainamu, I think you’re right and that that’s how we’ve also been thinking of it. I personally think the less age segregation, the better; but even having at least two “groups” share the Sunday School time (such as the teens and adults, in Colin’s example) would seem to provide more interaction, more sense of community, and hopefully fewer “dropouts”.
Sharon, I am thinking that 5 year olds are better served by the “milk” of preschool SS classes than the “meat” of adult SS classes or services. For example, if you throw a 18-year-old high school student straight into graduate-level engineering work, you will find a student that has no idea what he’s doing and no way to catch up because he doesn’t have the foundational calculus, physics, and engineering education. Likewise, a preschool child can not grasp deep theology if they have not first had the chance to learn the elementary parts of the Bible and Gospel.
Yes, that’s called parents instructing their children.
By adult service do you mean the regular church service, or do you mean a Sunday school class? In our church the teens have their own Sunday School class in the hour prior to the regular church service. All ages above 1st grade attend the regular church service.
There’s a couple things there. As for the direct topic - yes, the regular service - my church only has one (no “Sunday school” beforehand).
I like the way your church ran their services, a lot. I think it is a good model. Obviously there is a benefit to both segregated time and together time (as there is a clear biblical mandate for the old to instruct the young and the young to inspire the old). I think the “Sunday school” model is a really great way to achieve that. However, I can see how this can easily be abused to provide Sunday school for the “real Christians” and a watered-down feel-good message for everyone else.
Ideally, a regular service would entail worship, communion (occasional or weekly), other administrative stuff/announcements if necessary, and a sermon. Due to the time limitations and the fact that there are non-believers in the crowd, a service doesn’t usually allow for the following two things: good fellowship and deeper theology/doctrine. Doesn’t mean that the message has to be “watered-down,” but it does necessarily have to be at such a level that someone unfamiliar with the gospel can understand it. A Sunday School environment allows for the “deeper things of God” to be discussed and for Christians to better fellowship with each other.
Sharon said, “Yes, that’s called parents instructing their children.”
Sharon’s comment as well as others brings us right back to the old question: what’s the point of church and who is it for?
There are churches, especially those in bigger cities, where parents don’t attend at all but send their children (maybe for free babysitting). It wouldn’t do much good to have those kids sitting through a 30 minute sermon on predestination v. free will.
Colin said “I can see how this can easily be abused to provide Sunday school for the “real Christians” and a watered-down feel-good message for everyone else.”
The whole point of the Sunday School movement was to provide Christian education so Sunday school is normally aimed at Christians and this is the case at our church too. But sometimes it goes from strictly Christian education to topics and exercises that would fit more into an intimate home group and would be inappropriate for any non-believers who happened to be visiting.
Yes, that’s called parents instructing their children.
Most parents don’t know enough about the Bible or about teaching to instruct their children well. The whole point of Sunday school is to provide a chance for Christians to learn things they would not otherwise have a chance to learn.
Personally, I learned more from my college Bible courses than I ever have in Sunday school, but that’s because a college course is perforce more rigorous than a Sunday school class which is open to all.
I’m not a fan of age segregation after about age 14, though. Once kids enter high school they’re smart enough to learn with the adults.
Let’s define terms. The following definitions are pretty standard among churches in America.
Service - The main attraction on Sunday mornings. The congregation comes together, sings some songs, and the pastor preaches a sermon.
Sunday school - An hour of Bible instruction immediately before or after the morning service. In all but the smallest churches, the congregation splits up into classroom-sized groups during Sunday school. The children are usually placed in Sunday school classes according to their age. Often the adults are grouped by age as well, although this varies according to the church. If your church has Sunday School for the children to attend while the adults are in the regular service, that is what most churches call Children’s Church.
Children’s Church - Because young children generally cannot sit still during the sermon, many churches hold a separate Children’s Church for them during the regular morning worship service. Usually, everyone starts out together for announcements and a few songs. The children are dismissed and sent to Children’s Church before the sermon. Children’s Church (in my experience) is limited to children in the 4th grade and below; others are expected to remain in the regular service. Some churches have Children’s Church only for 2nd grade and under.
Youth Group - The kids in grades 6 through 12 are involved in something called a Youth Group. The Youth Group meets during Sunday school and usually on Wednesday nights too. A youth pastor leads the group. They go to church camp every summer, take an occasional short-term missions trip, and have fun activities like pizza parties. Kids in the Youth Group attend the regular worship service along with the adults.
Due to the time limitations and the fact that there are non-believers in the crowd, a service doesn’t usually allow for the following two things: good fellowship and deeper theology/doctrine. Doesn’t mean that the message has to be “watered-down,” but it does necessarily have to be at such a level that someone unfamiliar with the gospel can understand it. A Sunday School environment allows for the “deeper things of God” to be discussed and for Christians to better fellowship with each other.
This sentiment has given me a lot of thought over the past few years. I am really leaning towards the idea that church services should not be for non-believers at all. The gospel needs to be presented by Christians in work, school and the marketplace in general and church needs to be for believers. Non-believers should do not go to the gospel - the gospel should come to them. This has caused two problems in the church: 1) the believer begins to get watered down (seeker-friendly) teaching and 2) the believer does not get adequate training in evangelism and abandons it or marginalizes it with rare bouts of “friendship” evangelism.
But sometimes it goes from strictly Christian education to topics and exercises that would fit more into an intimate home group and would be inappropriate for any non-believers who happened to be visiting.
I like this use of Sunday school much better. There are many other good reasons to have it as well such as adult or mature content and even teaching on things that are “deeper” topics - such as biblical prophecy or church history (thanks Bryan).