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I had the opportunity to
meet and chat with 15 younger adults from our congregation in January. Joanne
Morganthall and helpers provided a wonderful dinner and it was a nice evening of
sharing! There was also a great bingo game for the children provided by
Children’s Ministry! I provided 7 questions that shared ideas being used by
our growing churches that are attracting younger adults. The average age of this
group was 41 years. Here is a summary
of the evening discussion:
~ We need to begin a
mid-morning contemporary worship service. This ministry will offer us the best
outreach potential. It needs to be high quality and advertised well. We need to
continue to offer the highest quality children’s ministry along with this
worship.
~ Our church needs to
invest more in high quality, contemporary, and attractive
advertising both inside and outside the church.
~ We need to increase our
local sense of mission, and offer more opportunities for the community to be
inside our building for non-church related needs. Recreation Ministry is a
significant attraction for younger adults today and is growing.
~ We need to be sensitive
to the reality that younger adults think differently than older adults, their
needs are different. We need to offer ministries that touch these needs.
~ A younger adult
shepherding or caring ministry needs to be started so that our many
inactive younger adults can be contacted and invited to provide us
feedback .
~ Committee meetings need
to focused and limited. There needs to be a sense that meetings are productive.
Meetings should be held only as necessary with small issues and communication
handled via e-mail and other net-working. A focused church night with many
activities happening on one night often helps, especially if child care is
provided.
~ A fellowship supper needs
to offered once a month just as an opportunity to get
together.
~ A small group experience
needs to be offered for younger adults.
~ It would be good for us
to visit ministries that are attracting younger adults to see and experience
what is working and why.
This summarizes the chat
and I share feedback from these active younger people in our congregation.
Will you help us make these suggestions a reality?
Your
Pastor,
Pastor
Mark
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