Pastor's Blog: "Growing Young"

 |   |  Dr. Wayne Splawn

I read a book titled Growing Young recently. The authors of the book studied churches around the country that are doing an effective job of reaching young adults and young families in a day when most churches are shrinking and growing older. They identified six characteristics common to churches that are outperforming other churches in their ministries to people ages 18-29 years old. The characteristics are:

  1. Keychain Leadership – Young people are given meaningful leadership roles in the church.
  2. Empathy Today – Church staff and church members take the time to better appreciate the challenges young people face.
  3. Jesus’ Message – The church does not shy away from Jesus’ hard teachings on discipleship.
  4. Warm Relationships – People of different generations seek to invest in the lives of young people in the church.
  5. Prioritize Young People Everywhere – The church considers how every decision made will impact younger generations.
  6. Best Neighbors – The church is serious about proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed so that people who live around the church see their good deeds and glorify their Father in heaven.

I am thinking a lot these days about ways our church might embrace these principles as we seek to reach the next generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This Sunday, you will see many of our young people taking leadership roles. On Student Ministry Sunday, members of our youth group will provide worship leadership in our Traditional and Contemporary Worship Services and fan out across the church to teach adult Sunday School classes. Additionally, our Minister to Students, Ben Winder, will be preaching in our contemporary service.

I am excited about this important day in the life of our church, and I hope you are as well. I invite you to be in prayer for our students as they prepare to lead in worship and teach the Bible. As you can imagine, some of our students will be nervous as they lead us in a worship service or teach a Bible study to a room full of adults. Pray that they will experience the Lord’s peace and joy as they serve him. In addition to praying, I also encourage you to be warm and gracious hosts when they arrive to your Sunday School class. Take the time to learn about their faith and what God is doing in their lives. Be quick to answer their questions and engage in the lesson. Should the lesson be a short one, be prepared to engage them in conversation and let them know of how grateful we are for their presence in our church. Ask the Lord to help our entire church consider ways that we can build on the momentum of Student Ministry Sunday so that our young people will have opportunities to lead our congregation all throughout the year.