I need your input?

[rodimus321]

I'm new here and I could use your help.
God has really put it on my heart lately that the church is failing to reach the 20- 30 something (20-39 the baby busters!) age group . Today I checked the statistics at Barna and sure enough they support this idea. The associate pastor at my church has also felt that there is a need here that needs to be filled. We have turned this into our own little research project. We desire to start a Saturday night service at our church and our target group is the 20-30 something age group. So I need all your input. We are trying to find out why church does not appeal to this age group, only 30% claim to go to church and only 31% claim to be born again. Please answer these questions.Your answers would be greatly appreciated.


What kind of sermon appeals to you? (ex. object lesson, story)
What kind of worship appeals to you? (ex. contemporary, mixed)
What kind of atmosphere? (relaxed, busy, comfortable)

 

[fishstix]

What kind of sermon appeals to you? (ex. object lesson, story)

One that is short, to the point, applies to me, and isn't based on an email forward. It's also best if it doesn't insult my intelligence and isn't excessively repetitive. The occasional sermon on relationships/singleness/marriage/family is fine, but they shouldn't all be about that topic. There are plenty of other subjects to explore.

What kind of worship appeals to you? (ex. contemporary, mixed)

Contemporary. Faster songs, then some slower ones. But not the really old stuff that sounds like funeral music.

What kind of atmosphere? (relaxed, busy, comfortable)

Relaxed and comfortable. Jeans and t-shirt sort of atmosphere. Also, an atmosphere that allows for different styles of worship rather than pressuring everyone to do exactly the same thing (eg - people can feel comfortable whether they choose to clap or not clap or even to sing or not sing). And lastly, I don't take notes and wouldn't want to be expected to.

 

[renaistre]

What kind of sermon appeals to you? (ex. object lesson, story)

I prefer straight expository sermons. In other words, pick a book of the bible and teach it from beginning to end. The topics can come from the text.

What kind of worship appeals to you? (ex. contemporary, mixed)

I prefer mixed. I like contemporary worship music, but I also like hymns played in the original chord structure so that the parts can be sung straight from the hymnal.

What kind of atmosphere? (relaxed, busy, comfortable)

I haven't really thought about this one. I guess comfortable would be the closest of the three.

 

[Saucy]

well, I can help here from experience after watching my group for a year. My group perfers faster, contemporary music, the kind of Christian music you hear on the radio. A live band is better, but we play CDs for now. Young adults also like a relaxed atmosphere. They just like to "hang-out" and fellowship with each other. I preach from the bible. It doesn't matter what they want to hear. You preach and talk about what God puts on your heart.

 

[JSG]

What kind of sermon appeals to you? (ex. object lesson, story)

I like abstract stuff. Theories and deductions. Unfortunately, I seem to be in the minority on that one. Putting that aside, I'd definately prefer to hear more scriptures than personal stories, and I want opinions on what texts mean and how they relate to eachother. Varied opinions. An actual discussion. I'd really like to stress a point made above: we are not exclusively interested in relationships. I'd leave any group that went on about that sort of thing in more than about one in five lessons.

What kind of worship appeals to you? (ex. contemporary, mixed)

Assuming (like everyone else) that you mean music here, I always felt a bit odd hearing non-classical (pop, rock, etc.) music in church.

What kind of atmosphere? (relaxed, busy, comfortable)

Informal. All good things in life are informal. I don't want to be anywhere that I can't go in jeans and the first shirt I pull out of the laundry.

 

[Cooter]

I think that sermons should include topics from all aspects of daily life. And not in a monotoned, droning fashion. Young people these days get bored very quickly. The all-about-me, I-deserve-it, instant-gratification generation does not what to go to church week after week if they're going to hear the same sermon for hours each time.
The music should expand with, but not be replaced by, quicker tempos and not sound like a brother just passed away.
Lastly, I think the atmosphere should be a relaxed, comfortable one. Not everyone has to where the same suit and Sunday dress. But I also don't think it is very appropriate to show up 25 minutes late in a dirty, oil-stained t-shirt and holey jeans. I also don't think that someone should be forced to clap and sing, or be chastised for not doing so. I do not believe that the Lord looks down on such non-participation, and I don't think that a good pastor or fellow members should either. That's my two cents worth.
Kory

 

[rodimus321]

Thannks for your help. Anyone else? Please feel free to share.

 

[Holdinfourth]

What kind of sermon appeals to you? (ex. object lesson, story)

The church I attend is going through a seris on shceduling. This has been great, especially for YA's. As YA's tend to overschedule everything. I am the YA ministry leader at my church, and the best lesson plans I have found are something that get the group involved. The purpose driven series books are very good for this.

[/QUOTE]What kind of worship appeals to you? (ex. contemporary, mixed)[/QUOTE] It is always nice to have someone leading the worship. It is even nocer to have someone that can play guitar, as well as some people on stage to sing along.

[/QUOTE]What kind of atmosphere? (relaxed, busy, comfortable)[/QUOTE]
I think a combo of the the atmosepheres you have listed all need to be in place.


Remeber, yuo ccan not please veryone, so do what God is leading you to do.

I posted on another thread somewhere the following statistics about YA's. Thought you might like to see:


Did you know that Americans in their twenties are significantly less likely than any other age group….

-to attend church services

-to donate to churches,

-to be absolutely commited to Christianity,

-to read the Bible,

-to serve as a volunteer or lay leader in churches

From high school graduation to age 25 there is a 42% drop in weekly church attendance and a 58% decline from ages 18 to 29.

One of the reasons that many young adults struggle to find their place in churches is that many young people may feel overlooked as potential leaders.

This was very siturbing to me the first time I saw it.

 

[Sketcher]

Sermons should be topical, as different passages throughout Scripture will give you a balanced view on a topic. Leaving one out could leave out something critical (ie if you teach about the Holy Spirit using Acts 19 but leave out 1 Corinthians 12). I would rather have a longer, complete sermon than a shorter one with loose ends leftfor the devil to take advantage of.

Worship - contemporary, but well done. However, 15 minutes of silent prayer time will do me a lot more good than 30 minutes of singing.

Dress - comfortable.

 

[white dove]

I'm new here and I could use your help.
God has really put it on my heart lately that the church is failing to reach the 20- 30 something (20-39 the baby busters!) age group . Today I checked the statistics at Barna and sure enough they support this idea. The associate pastor at my church has also felt that there is a need here that needs to be filled. We have turned this into our own little research project. We desire to start a Saturday night service at our church and our target group is the 20-30 something age group. So I need all your input. We are trying to find out why church does not appeal to this age group, only 30% claim to go to church and only 31% claim to be born again. Please answer these questions.Your answers would be greatly appreciated.

I'm so glad you posted on this topic; it's very important to sift through some issues/ideas which may be the cause of declining figures within 20/30-something age demographic within the christian church. I've talked about this topic with other 20-somethings as I started getting involved with our own 20-something ministry. It gets a bit difficult for this particular age bracket to not only get involved but to stay involved within the ministry. Sometimes, it has to do with other priorities; as we age, our priorities tend to shift, from perhaps predominantly peers to our own families (aging parents, spouses or children)...so b/c of these changes, we might be less likely to have more time to dedicate to functions centered around just a particular age group & we might shift over to one whose primary focus is the family/couples, something like that. Another reason might be b/c we work so much at this point in our lives. If one is like a vast majority of 20-somethings out there, it is not uncommon to be a full-time college student/full-time worker combo. Those things are huge investments of time. Another thing might just be the fact that we are in that annoying visa/mastercard/instant gratification/spoiled brat (not italian sausage) generation & that our sense of prioritization lacks so much. So, it takes work for us to get back to where we need to be, in realizing that God comes first, family/friends/gf's/bf's/etc all follow....

in getting back to your questions, though:

What kind of sermon appeals to you? (ex. object lesson, story)

I like sermons that blend common thought or man's philosophy with God/Christ-centered, biblical Truth, but ones that make that clear distinction between the two & ones that focus on God's Truth. I enjoy when pastors do that b/c we don't always hear God's Truth/God's Word in our everyday lives & it's nice to hear some answers to questions or problematic statements that we may hear day in & day out (sort of like having an apologetics course, "official" sermon & worship service all rolled into one, I s'pose). I stress my fondness & extreme appreciation for when pastors go really in-depth in the Bible; I know that due to time constraints, they can't really make it an all-out Bible study, but I pause with some hesitation to go to a church that does not crack open the Word of God at all ~ or if they only mention a Bible verse here and there & leave it at that. Also, I don't really like when sermons consist solely of stories & that's it. That seems scary to me ~ I'm not a child & don't need to be told stories, when what I need to hear are convicting messages which have nothing to do with the Brothers Grimm nor anything of the like. I know that not everyone is in the same place within their walk, so that makes it imperative that pastors prayerfully strike a balance between messages that are appropriate for those of a more mature faith with those whose faith have just begun.

What kind of worship appeals to you? (ex. contemporary, mixed)

I guess contemporary songs appeal more to me, with some older songs mixed in for, you know....old time's sake...

What kind of atmosphere? (relaxed, busy, comfortable)

Hmm....I don't really know what you're referring to here. I guess....relaxed but not overly-relaxed?.. I start having issues when people pay too much heed to what I'm wearing ~ I try, it's not that I'm a slacker; sometimes, Sunday just happens to be wash day for me so I might wear my dark jeans & a nice (?) t-shirt.....I think if you're considering a Saturday night service, it's gonna be casual anyway. At my church, it is (I think I only went once on a Saturday, but the Saturday night services typically have that "casual" reputation about them). Anyway...hope that helped a little bit!!...

 

[peanutbutter12]

We desire to start a Saturday night service at our church and our target group is the 20-30 something age group.

Personally, I would go with sometime durring the week. Ours use to be Tuesday nights which worked very well for people, especially those in college. You figure, it's the weekend, people want to do things. On a Tuesday, it's not exactly the beginning of the week, not quite to the middle. It works well because people are still in that "I gotta do this" mode from Monday. Just a thought. I just know weekends, especially Friday/Saturday are a bad time.

What kind of sermon appeals to you? (ex. object lesson, story)

Me personally, it has to be somewhat entertaining. It has to be directed at younger people and energetic. Down to earth and really comparing the stories with our own lives. I try my best to implement this into my own teachings. I find that the more people can laugh or compare something to themselves, the more they will be genuinely interested and listen. If people don't feel that it's a personal message being given, it's harder for them to pay attention. It's even more difficult for the college crowd because their mind is filled with issues from the day, so to get their minds focused is a bit more of a task. This is where the worship also comes in.

What kind of worship appeals to you? (ex. contemporary, mixed)

GOOD Worship. I cannot stress this enough to all the churches I have been to and preached at. I believe that worship is the single, most important key to getting people in the needed frame of mind for a message because if you cannot worship, then you cannot open yourself to hear the word. And I'm not just speaking about musically. Worship goes much deeper than just music. It's just the most common form of worship we are use to, and that is ok. But if we cannot worship God, then or focus throughout the rest of the night will be on life issues and problems instead of the word.

As far as the worship itself, as I said before, GOOD worship. Get together people who know their instruments and who are really fired up about worshiping through music. It takes real dedication to have a good worship team. I've been to too many churches where they have had a great message, but a horrible worship team. There are 3 main reasons for this that I have noticed: 1. They don't practice enough. Especially when starting out, they need to practice together. A lot of churches think that 1 time a week is enough to do a good worship, but the end results usually show that to be false. Any musician will tell you that the main key is practice. 2. They need to work well together. They need to understand it's not about them, it's about God. And that they need to work as a group in agreement. Some of the best bands in the world were the ones that constanly fought with each other. Bryan May of Queen said that it's hard only having 25% say of what goes on. But in the end, the music they had was amazing. 3. You need a sound guy who knows what he's doing. Take a great band and give them a crappy sound guy and you will get exactly that. If you need to, bring in a sound tech from a sound company to train whoever needs trained. It will be worth it in the long run. Hope that helped.

What kind of atmosphere? (relaxed, busy, comfortable)

Relaxed. If I can't show up in my torn jeans and t-shirt, I won't show up. A lot of people feel that church has to be a certain way. Granted, some people like dressing up for church, but others don't. I like the atmosphere that it's a fun place to be. We had a seperate building for our college age group. We had everything from a stage for the band, to videogame systems, to a pool table, couches, coffee and snack stand, arcade room, a basketball cage, even an indoor halfpipe. Now a lot of churches couldn't afford a budget like that. Maybe it would take a bit of time to put something like that together. I guess it would all depend on how big you would like to see your college group get. But make it comfortable for them. Give them a chance to hang out and talk before and after.

Hope this helped a bit.

CJ

 

[tashibana27]

Hm..

Have you read "Fresh Wind Fresh Fire"? It's the story of a pastor who knew nothing about leading a church, and how he simply decided to dedicate church into a house of prayer - not into a house of music, good sermons, or fellowship. The church, with its new foundation on prayer in seeking God, exploded from like 10 members to the several thousands it has today.


Yeah, I guess it helps to be culturally relevant. But I mean ... church has to be a house of prayer, first and foremost, right? If people can't find God at church, then where can they find Him? Things shouldn't be done for people, but for God .. we shouldn't be asking if people are having better worship experiences, but if God is pleased with our actions.

Let's give people what they need, not what they want.

 

[rodimus321]

Have you read "Fresh Wind Fresh Fire"? It's the story of a pastor who knew nothing about leading a church, and how he simply decided to dedicate church into a house of prayer - not into a house of music, good sermons, or fellowship. The church, with its new foundation on prayer in seeking God, exploded from like 10 members to the several thousands it has today.


Yeah, I guess it helps to be culturally relevant. But I mean ... church has to be a house of prayer, first and foremost, right? If people can't find God at church, then where can they find Him? Things shouldn't be done for people, but for God .. we shouldn't be asking if people are having better worship experiences, but if God is pleased with our actions.

Let's give people what they need, not what they want.

I understand your concern, and we are trying to avoid being people pleasers. I think there is a fine line between people pleasing and morphing Gods word into something that a culture can relate too. My goal here is not to become a people pleaser but to find out what makes Gods word relate to these age groups.
I think the church is losing sight of God and Truth, our Sunday morings are packed full of things that don't always need to be there. My last church was busy, busy, busy on Sundays. At my new church we worship for a half hour, have about 5 minutes of annoucements and the rest is preaching and my wife and I love it, because they stay focused on whats important, God.
The three questions I asked are pretty basic, I didn't have time to go into detail. I am seraching for what really allows people to experience God through preaching, worship, and atmosphere.

 

[tashibana27]

rodiumus,

I see. Yeah, I'm kinda struggling a little with that issue right now. Currently, I play electric guitar on the praise band, and I honestly thought that I was totally unnecessary. I thought, "Why try to embellish worship music? Keep it simple, so as to not become a distraction."

I'm still not sure where I stand on that. I still feel like half of my band could quit, and we'd still have awesome worship. Lately, I was told that the pastor is considering getting lighting for worship. I dunno - to me, that just crossed the line - they said it was for having an atmosphere better suited for worship, but it sure sounded like it was making it more of a performance and show!

So yeah, I guess that makes me a minimalist. The less talking during worship and prayer, the better for me. I like my sermons straight to the point =P

 

[Matt.9:22]

I like story sermons that let me learn from the mistakes or success of others, but there has to be biblical support. Not just a random story. I like contemporary worship music. I like a relaxed atmosphere where there's not a lot emphasis on how you're dressed. As a college student I cant afford a bunch of dressy clothes. If church doesn't want me coming if I have on jeans or dress pants rather than a dress and heels, then I'm not interested in attending that church

 

[fishstix]

Keep it simple, so as to not become a distraction.

Distraction is a good point. Personally, the one thing that I find most distracting at church (and in classes) is boredom. I'm not saying that I need to have constant entertainment or anything, but if a sermon or a lecture or even a worship song is really long or monotone or repetitive, I can't keep my mind on it. I'll find myself studying the pattern in the carpet or watching the fans in the ceiling or thinking about something else, no matter how hard I'm trying to pay attention. If it were a tv show, I'd be channel surfing at that point. I might hear what is being said, but I'll forget it 2 seconds later if I'm being distracted by boredom.

The other think I find distracting is when the pastor is constantly making the congregation repeat something after him or has a habit of shouting a few different favorite phrases at random points. I think it reminds me too much of tv commercials that try too hard to get my attention. People who have grown up watching tv tend to have some kind of filter in their minds that blocks out advertising - and anything that reminds them of advertising.

 

[tashibana27]

"making the congregation repeat something after him"
Wow, I've never heard of that before - unless it was the Apostle's Creed or something =P

"or has a habit of shouting a few different favorite phrases at random points"
Hahahaha... my pastor ALWAYS says these few phrases:
1) Brothers and sisters, ...
2) Listen carefully when I say, ...
3) Simply, ...
And he has a bad habit of not making grammatical sense =P Case in point:
When you are zeal for the Lord...

Yeah, I don't really have any solutions against boredom myself. My pastor can get really repetitive, and can jump a lot of logical steps in one leap without explaining anything. So .. at any one sermon he'll touch on 5 different topics, most of which are not related. If I can stay awake, that's a victory in itself =P

But you know what? I love my church and my pastor, and the thought has never crossed my mind to leave. Yeah sometimes the worship team is out of tune, and the sermons are boring, and we're still having service in an elementary school. Yeah I could go to Redeemer, listen to the renowned Tim Keller with some of the best musicians in a huge ampitheater. But when I come to my church, I more often than not meet God - and I think that's why a lot of the other people in my church come too. The praise and worship is transparent, and the times of prayer are passionate. The community is warm and loving, and the small groups are awesome =)

 

[MaddiesDad]

I prefer a relaxed atmosphere and my sermon to be straight,theological,example driven.
Music wise I'm sure I'd like things more modern but it's church,I go with traditional.

 

[ChildOfGod20]

i like stories w/ biblical support so i can have something to relate to. but if it doesnt have biblical support i get doubtful. i also like contemporary worship and a comfortable atmosphere.

 

[spinningwheelgirl]

I personally like sermons that are exegetical, although I know this is not for everyone. I like learning what the Bible has to say about things within the context of a specific passage. I don't like it when the pastor takes one short passage/verse from the Bible and takes away the orginal meaning from it.

Something that might help you is there is a chuch in Toronto that is specifically geared to young adults. You may like to look at there website http://www.freedomize.com/ for ideas. I have only been to the church once, so I can not comment on it too much. I know other people who go to my school love it.