Where Have All The Millennials Gone?

The Legacy of Second or Third Priority Youth Ministry

              Among the mainline churches, the cry echoes through their increasingly vacuous buildings “Where have all the millennials gone?”  The question that often follows is “Why are they down the street in the more evangelical churches?”  The answer to these is not as complex as we may think.  The mainline churches have placed ministry to youth and young adults as a secondary priority while many evangelical churches have infused substantial resources of treasure and time into their ministry to the “future” generation.

              I began my ministry as an associate pastor to children and youth with other “senior minister” duties as assigned – once a month preaching, occasional general pastoral care to the membership, and committee coverage – by the REAL minister.  Well something happened in my career progression.  The “real” minister retired and by some workings of the Holy Spirit, I was called to be the SENIOR minister at 27 years of age to a 1,000-member church.  And the reason for the call was a significant portion of the congregation felt youth ministry should be the trade mark of their church.  Yes, my preaching and pastoral duties increased but the church believed they were making a statement by affirming that our senior minister is our youth minister.  And, oh yes, the compensation reflected their commitment to their new senior minister!

              My story is shared humbly but is a parable about what most mainline churches, their judicatories and their seminaries have not done – make youth and young adult ministry a TOP PRIORITY.  And what does making youth and young adult a priority look like?

·       Compensate those who are called to it with a fair and livable wage so that youth ministry is not seen as a stepping stone to becoming a real minister.  With low salaries and a perceived secondary from many lay leader stoo many with youth ministry gifts and aspirations must move on to “real” jobs with better compensation.

·       Seminaries increase the scope and scale of their Y and YA ministry offerings.  Seminary curriculums currently attest to the low priority given to ministry with youth and young adults.  After a recent review of seminary curriculums those with a more evangelical theology clearly offer more substantive courses in Y and YA ministry.  The reality is that most seminarians will end up in smaller church where there will be expectations of youth ministry leadership or coordination on their job descriptions.

·       Judicatories review their staffing patterns and challenge all staff members to devise programing in their particular sphere of ministry that focuses on youth and young adults.  Judicatories often relegate youth to a part-time ministry.  Often they have delegated much of this ministry to their summer camping programs.  However, the feeders for those programs are the places which continue to struggle with Y and YA ministry.  Thus decreasing registrations in summer programs.

·       In smaller local churches, leadership should select either volunteer or part-time youth ministry leaders who have gifts for youth ministry as well as the “connections” to youth programs in the community and the respect of both youth and their parents.  The basic theological training can be easily acquired.  Some community educators are often looking for supplementary income.

·       The national and regional judicatories should create model on-line (You Tube / Webinars) youth ministry training courses for gifted lay youth leaders.

·       Local churches should be encouraged through grant money from judicatories and foundation funding to create Y and YA ministries in light of the increasing competition of school system and community youth programming.

·       Placement resources should be written that include insightful ways of ascertaining a pastoral candidate’s interest in and gifts for Y and YA ministry.

·       Local churches should be encouraged to do self-studies that would indicate their willingness to bring about the necessary changes that would be a catalyst for youth, young adult and a new generation of young families to become involved in the life of the church.

·       Local churches should strongly consider partnering with community need, local educational entities, and social service agencies in a shared ministry with youth.

·       Y and YA programs should be built on the gifts and interests of the potential participants rather than on a preconceived agenda of the church.  We need to start where they are!  Successful youth ministry should not be judged by youth group attendance only but rather through the participation of Y and YA in all facets of ministry.

With the mainline church’s relegating youth and youth adult ministry to a second class ministry of the church for so many years I hope we have not lost the present and future generation’s interest in following in the footsteps of Christ through the ministry of a local church.  Enough excuses – sports, community activities, etc., etc.!  It’s time to put youth and young adult ministry as a priority!  THE FUTURE OF THE LOCAL CHURCH DEPENDS ON IT!