Millions of young adults between the ages of 18 and 30 in the U.S. are filled with energy, ideas, creativity, and passion. It must be the priority of the Church to empower this generation to use their gifts for the benefit of people and the purposes of God. We believe there is a dynamic opportunity for young adult ministry in your area, regardless of time or location. It is our goal to provide the resource necessary to unlock the potential in your life and in your community.

Why should a church minister to College & Career-age young adults?

  • Over 85% of young people backslide after age of 18
  • Least evangelized generation
  • Only adult segment in US which has more non-Christians than Christians
  • They make some of the most important decisions during this period
    • Spiritual
    • Marriage / Family
    • Career
    • Education
    • Life style
    • Finance
    • Promoting spiritual maturity and identity through pushing them into a different group
    • The foundation of the early church was built by young adults in 20s and 30s
    • 63% of today’s Christians attend college
    • Baby Busters (born 1965-1983) have proven to be the most gospel-resistant generation the Church has seen in many years (http://www.agts.edu/rapport/2005winter/pentecostal_potential.html)
    • Baby Busters (born 1965-1983) are more likely than the other generations to be searching for meaning in life
    • Only 43% of Baby Busters (born 1965-1983), attend church on a given Sunday.
    • When adults are asked their religious preference in opinion polls, the fastest growing response is “none” (http://www.agts.edu/rapport/2005winter/pentecostal_potential.html)
    • Be more effective
    • Address age-specific needs, topics and issues
    • Make people accountable to the church
    • Drive people to grow and mature spiritually
    • Help the church fulfill purposes of the church in a bite size
    • Train them to connect with their peers to grow together in Christ

Common myths about young adults ministry

Myth #1 – We do not have a large enough group

There is not anything too small to minister.  Generally, if you have 5 people in you group, it is big enough to have own ministry and be effective.  Often, it’s more effective to have smaller ministry.

Myth #2 – Let’s lump them into teen youth ministry

Stop and think!  Are you trying to say that 12 years old and 23 years old are on same spiritual level?  If so, something is seriously wrong.  Young adults face totally different issues than teenagers do.

Also, by separating your ministry from teenage ministry, young adults will drive to be spiritually more mature.  If their identity is still associated with teenagers, their spiritual maturity will also be same level as teenagers.  By driving them out to another ministry, you facilitate and drive your young adults to step up in more mature spiritual walk with God.

Think: Do you continue to give babyfood to 5 years old?  Feed them and expect them like they are “big boys/girls.”  That’s the concept we use to drive our children to mature.  It still works even they are in 20s.

Remember they are in totally different time in their life facing different issues

Myth #3 – We don’t know what to do with that age group

Unfortunately, many churches do not have an age-specific ministry for 18+.  But do you realize the power, energy, creativity, extra time that these people have?  Remember these great men who made an impact in their College & Career age.

  • David
  • Thomas Jefferson
  • Alexander the Great
  • Bill Gates
  • Michael Dell
  • Yahoo: David Flio and Jerry Yang

Your young adults should be the core of your church ministry.  By having a special ministry for this age group, you can effectively utilize them to reach souls and get things done for your church.  Utilize them to build up the Kingdom of God

Myth #4 – They are too busy and not interested in the church

According to the research by Collen Carroll, they are not interested in religion and tradition.  However, they have a hunger for enrichment in spiritual life.

Myth #5 – Young Adults ministry is not essential for a local church

Facts:

  • Over 85% of young people backslide after age of 18
  • Least evangelized generation
  • Only adult segment in US which has more non-Christians than Christians
  • They make some of the most important decisions during this period

Ø       Spiritual

Ø       Marriage / Family

Ø       Career

Ø       Education

Ø       Life style

Ø       Finance

  • Promoting spiritual maturity and identity through pushing them into a different group
  • The foundation of the early church was built by young adults in 20s and 30s
  • 63% of today’s Christians attend college
  • Baby Busters (born 1965-1983) have proven to be the most gospel-resistant generation the Church has seen in many years (http://www.agts.edu/rapport/2005winter/pentecostal_potential.html)
  • Baby Busters (born 1965-1983) are more likely than the other generations to be searching for meaning in life
  • Only 43% of Baby Busters (born 1965-1983), attend church on a given Sunday.
  • When adults are asked their religious preference in opinion polls, the fastest growing response is “none” (http://www.agts.edu/rapport/2005winter/pentecostal_potential.html)
  • Be more effective
  • Address age-specific needs, topics and issues
  • Make people accountable to the church
  • Drive people to grow and mature spiritually
  • Help the church fulfill purposes of the church in a bite size
  • Train them to connect with their peers to grow together in Christ

Steps to develop young adults ministry

In this section, we will discuss some proven ways to develop young adults ministry.

Step 1: Receive a vision from God: Begin to talk to your pastor and get him excited about the opportunity and the need.   Lead him to dream an exciting vision from God.  Remember – “Where there is no vision, people perish…” (Proverbs 29:18)

Step 2: Develop a team: One of the success factors for young adults ministry is to develop a good team.  (recommended reading: THE 17 ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF A TEAM PLAYER by John C. Maxwell. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2002)

§         Identify key players

Pastor:

Ministry leader(s)

Core members:

Possible participants:

§         Discuss with pastor about the structure

§         Train them to understand important concepts

Step 3: Analyze your current situation:

Identifying problems/opportunities/threats (SWOT analysis):

Strength

Weakness

Opportunity

Threat

Step 4: Help youself to find the right strategy and create an implementation plan: As you review your vision and analyze yourcurrent situation, it will probably become obvious how youneed to accomplish the vision.

§         Consider the overall local church’s vision – where does the ministry fit in? (The local church and the ministry should compliment each other)

§   Decide core activities and finalize the team building process

§         Identify effective communication methods within the team

§         Map out this entire implementation plan on a piece of paper and simulate (including objectives and core activities-must be consistennt and periodic)

core activities example:

  • weekly Sunday School class
  • cell group / home friendship group
  • periodic fellowship gathering (weekly or monthly)
  • weekly prayer meeting
  • periodic young adults service

Step 5: Launch a public ministry: Are you ready?

  1. Do you have a set of core committed group?
  2. Is your core group praying for this ministry and willing to continue to do so?
  3. Are you fully committed?
  4. Do you have a well-established vision?  Have you communicated this to the core group clearly?
  5. Does the group have a well-defined (not highly structured) organization?
  6. Are you physically ready to launch a public ministry? (meeting space, preparation of core programs, curriculum to teach, etc)
  7. Do you clearly sense that it is a right time to launch it?  Don’t let the ministry birth out prematurely
  1. Do you have a set of core committed group?
  2. Is your core group praying for this ministry and willing to continue to do so?
  3. Are you fully committed?
  4. Do you have a well-established vision?  Have you communicated this to the core group clearly?
  5. Does the group have a well-defined (not highly structured) organization?
  6. Are you physically ready to launch a public ministry? (meeting space, preparation of core programs, curriculum to teach, etc)
  7. Do you clearly sense that it is a right time to launch it?  Don’t let the ministry birth out prematurely
  1. Do you have a set of core committed group?
  2. Is your core group praying for this ministry and willing to continue to do so?
  3. Are you fully committed?
  4. Do you have a well-established vision?  Have you communicated this to the core group clearly?
  5. Does the group have a well-defined (not highly structured) organization?
  6. Are you physically ready to launch a public ministry? (meeting space, preparation of core programs, curriculum to teach, etc)
  7. Do you clearly sense that it is a right time to launch it?  Don’t let the ministry birth out prematurely

Team Approach: Why a team?

Leadership: The Team Approach is a powerful and efficient structure type. Individuals in the College & Career age group are hungry for leadership opportunity. The Team Approach lends itself well to this particular need because they can test out their leadership potential without being left completely on their own. A team is responsible for developing, organizing, and communicating an activity or event.

Ownership: The Team Approach is powerful because it provides members of the group with a sense of ownership. A favorite quote that I like to use is “It’s their baby.” They get to conceive the idea, organize the idea, and communicate the idea. They handle every little detail associated with their activity/event. “It’s their baby!”

Increased Participation: So, what’s the big deal with ownership and leadership? Have you ever noticed how much more interested you are in something that directly and immediately affects you? Have you ever noticed how much more likely it is that you will attend something if you have a part in that something? This brings me to my third point: the Team Approach is great for increasing numbers and participation. Instead of one individual trying to encourage a group to come to an event/activity, you now have a team of individuals encouraging the group to come to that event/activity and pulling for its success—it’s a beautiful thing!

Time Saver: Last, but certainly not least, is time. The Team Approach is a fantastic time saver. As mentioned earlier, the College & Career Director is no longer responsible for conceiving, organizing, and communicating all the details about a specific event. Now, you have three or four different groups working on their respective activities/events all at the same time. Control freaks beware! If you want to grow, sometimes you have to let go! If it helps you, just imagine that there are now several little “Yous” running around taking care of everything.

Conclusion: God has blessed us with a fantastic group of intelligent and energetic Planning Team Members. They always do an incredible job of planning and executing each event. Several of our members were involved in various ministries before we started this ministry, but not to the extent that the Team Approach now allows. I have been surprised to see how individuals on each of our teams have developed and are continuing to develop into leaders simply because they were given an opportunity. I know the same thing can and will happen for you!

Let me take you through a quick example of how one might determine and organize their Young Adults Planning Teams.

First, determine what you want your Young Adults group to do. Ask yourself: will my Young Adults group be involved in outreach? Will we have activities? Will we somehow participate in Community Service or fundraising? You might need to stretch your mind a little if you’ve never had a College & Career group before, but that’s okay, everything that you see around you began with a single thought. This is no different.

Next, divide these activities/events up into categories. Using the examples above, one might create such categories as Activities, Outreach, Community Service, and Fundraising.

Next, meet with the members, or potential members, of your Young Adults group and ask, “Who would like to be involved in the (Your Group Name Here) planning committee/team?” Finally, ask, “Who would like to be involved in planning activities for the group, etc.?”

That’s it. Now you have your teams and you’re ready to roll.  Next, we need to start planning.

As with most things of the bureaucratic nature, there will come the inevitable meeting. We’ve all been there. Hours of droning about mind numbing minutia that force you to do things like count ceiling tiles or fantasize about setting the conference room table on fire just to see if anyone else in the room would ever really notice. That is the way it was, but this is not for you!

Planning Meeting Tips

You are a proactive Young Adults Director! With the following simple planning meeting tips, you can organize a quick and productive planning meeting:

  • Schedule –  Determine the number of planning meetings that is right for you. If you have only one activity a month, a quarterly planning meeting would be great for you and, more importantly, great for your team. Too many meetings can suck the life right out of you! Just plan to plan the upcoming quarter in that meeting. The best way to do that is by using the next meeting tip:
  • Front-Load Your Meetings – At the risk of sounding a little negative, don’t just show up with a calendar and say “Let’s plan things!” Try to get as much information as possible out to your teams before the meeting. Let them know what you’re going to talk about, what dates the teams will be planning, and which team is responsible for which dates. This allows everyone to come to the meeting knowing what they and their teams are responsible for.
  • Take a Plane Ride – Okay, this is a little bit cheesy, but it gets to point across and it works. The Plane Ride is a simple concept that helps the teams understand what level of detail is needed at each meeting. In the Plane Ride, you have three different views out your window.

1.     30,000 Foot View – You can see that there’s land down there, but not much more detail than that. The 30,000 Foot View is simply the team brain-storming time. The team discusses what they want to do for their respective activity/events. The 30,000 Foot View should take place sometime before the planning meeting, not during the planning meeting.

2.     2,000 Foot View – Now you’re starting to actually see houses, streets, buildings, etc. The 2,000 Foot View is what happens in your planning meetings. You nail a specific activity/event down to a specific date on your group calendar. That’s it!

3.     100 Foot View – Finally, you can see the runway! It’s almost time to land this puppy! The 100 Foot View is quite simply ALL the details. The “5 W’s and 1 H.” Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How Much. The 100 Foot View for each activity/event is also handled by each specific activity/event team.

§         The teams are responsible for getting the 100 Foot View Details to the C&C Director by the 15thof each month preceding the activity. For example, if your C&C group has a trip to the moon planned on August 28th, you need to have the 100 Foot View by July 15th.  It may be a little neurotic, but it works!

These few methods can make a big difference in how people feel about going to another planning meeting. Hopefully, you can use some, if not all, of these tips to organize your next planning meeting.

How should I equip myself to be effective in ministering to this age group?

PASSION and DESIRE

A vibrant relationship with Christ and a willing heart are the only qualification you need to be an effective young adults minister.

These are some ways you can equip yourself.

v      Pray everyday

v      Work on people skills

v      Study Christian counseling

v      Try to put yourself in their shoes

v      Keep up with current cultural trend in that age group

v      Attend seminars and workshops

v      Read related books and articles

v      Be there to listen to them rather than talking to them

Tips

v      Get them involved and delegate the work

v      Provide members the sense of ownership

v      Have some goals – what are you trying to accomplish?

v      Where does this ministry fit in your church?

v      Have regular meetings (preferably least once a week)

v      Have a good time (fellowship)

v      Network with other churches (they love to meet new people)

v      Plan ahead

v      Give them their own space (physically and spiritually)

v      Market your events and activities

v      Drive them to get involved in the ministries

v      Provide the opportunities to minister to others

v      Don’t be a social club!  It’s a ministry!

v      Get involved in outreach programs (such as campus ministry)

v      Connect! Relate! Communicate! Minister! Reach Out!

v      Take weekly attendance and check up on absentees

v      Utilize online groups (MSN, yahoo, etc)

v      Have small group Bible studies or Sunday school classes

v      Treat them like adults

v      Cherish the one-on-one moment

v      Have a move of God in your meetings

v      Consistency

v      Minister to people rather preaching

v      Get involved with communities

v      Use their energy

v      Coffee house

v      Casual

v      Create the atmosphere / environment that is easy for your people to invite their friends to come

v      Let people discuss thought-provoking issues

§         holiness

§         sexuality

§         Finding the will of God

§         forgiveness

§         human relationship

§         dealing with parents

§         current events/issues

§         What does it mean to be a mature adult?

§         Philosophy (humanism, relativism, etc)

§         Cultural influence

§         What is success?