Ed Stetzer is President of Lifeway Research and a well-respected author and observer of the church scene in North America.
This is an interview with him reviewing some of his research findings in a new book,
Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them.
This research supports something we see intuitively at The Church at Argyle about 20-somethings
- They are turned off by people or things things that are not genuine
- They highly value close personal ties
- They are spiritually open but skeptical
- They seek cross-generational relationships but resist being dominated or talked down to
- They seek truth but won't take things for granted- they want to explore their beliefs in depth
What does this mean? It means that we can't assume that the disconnection from the church of large numbers of our young people is a "phase" they will grow out of in their 30's and 40's. It means that we need to spend time and energy nurturing relationships with them, to model Christ for them, to earn their attention to the message of the Gospel. It means seeing them as equals, if not as peers, in our lives and communities.
No comments:
Post a Comment