This life is about living in community - authentic, trusting, loving, challenging community. Young adults understand this concept of community better than most other groups. In that regard, you have something to teach others. Actually, all people have something to teach and more things to learn. Healthy communities nurture this relationship. In the context of the Christian church, faith passes from generation to generation in order to seek change in this world, serve others and be living witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. YOU have something to offer.
YOU matter.
The Partnership for Youth & Family Ministry includes ministry with young adults - an age group practically missing from our congregations. The least likely people to sit in the pew are making their way into adulthood with quite a bit of success. As the Partnership connects with this population by:
1.
The Missing young adult ministry which serves young adults age 18-25 in the areas of service, vocational discernment, networking and spirituality
2. Shifting the focus of the
Lutheran Youth Organization to continue to include young adults in leadership and service after they complete high school
3. Supporting
Lutherhill Ministries which calls young adults to serve on summer staff and work with retreats year-round
4. Creating a network for those who work with
Young Adults in congregations
5. Being a public witness by creating a culture which is committed to
Servant Life
Young adults represent a broad age group, diverse ethnicities and cultural communities along with varying socio-economic and educational backgrounds. Between 2000 and 2025 the percentage of 25 year olds who are minority (other than "non-Hispanic white") is expected to increase from 39 percent to nearly one-half (49 percent) of the population.
These groups of people want to make a difference in the world. In this stage of life, many have limited time to give so they are making choices in ways past generations did not and finding community in new ways through the use of technology.
Every congregation has the capacity to be in ministry with young adults. Guiding questions in this ministry should be:
• How are we walking alongside young adults as they experience transition?
• What gifts do these individuals have to offer?
• What can we learn from the creativity and enthusiasm of this group?
• How is our congregation faithfully engaging the issues of this world and how are we living out our faith through acts of service?
• How do we create safe environments for conversation, prayer and worship to happen in a way that honors the gifts of all people?
The Partnership for Youth & Family Ministry is here to support, resource and network congregations as we strive to be a culture which nurtures vital active living faith in every child, youth, YOUNG ADULT and adult!
A Note to Congregations
According to Rodger Nishioka, Associate Professor of Christian Education at Columbia Presbyterian Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia, congregations doing significant young adult ministry exhibit 7 characteristics:
1. The church invites responsibility, gives it and shares power with young adults
2. The congregation focuses on a faith that delivers relevance over and over, Sunday after Sunday. It makes central the questions, "What does this text have to do with me?"
3. The congregation creates meaningful opportunities for belonging through specific groups for just young adults, labeled for the age group
4. The church is linked to the larger community in tangible ways
5. The congregation is sensitive to outsiders and avoids coded language and interprets its codes when used, not assuming newcomers know the meaning of liturgical terms, for example
6. The congregation provides imagery for practicing faith and ways to live, images of a positive self, of what "cannot be allowed" (what harms people and creation) and images that evoke wonder, mystery and awe
7. The church worships with passion and excitement and delivers compelling, even costly messages of Jesus Christ
For some helpful resources about young adult ministry, we recommend
