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Chuck on May 11th, 2010
In a book I co-authored called, The Slow Fade I wrote an appendix where I articulate 5 characteristics of churches that embrace college age people. I didn’t intend on this being an exhaustive list, but simply 5 things churches who are effective in reaching college age people are embracing. So, I thought I’d include a very brief outline here:
- They define success by relational connections. Churches that focus on relational connections with people in their church as a whole, and specifically between younger and older believers, versus numbers of people attending (or even participating in a weekly gathering) are effective in having a long-term ministry to college age people.
- They hold older believers accountable to embracing their responsibility to invest in younger people. And the extent they can do this is the extent they consider themselves successful. See 2 Timothy 2:2 for men and Titus 2 for woman.
- They seek to minister to the family as a whole. Churches that embrace family ministry, in it’s purest sense, tend to be more effective long-term with college age people.
- They place a healthy value on difference. Churches that promote the beauty of differences between people are more effective in bridging inter-generational relationships….and thus are more effective long-term with college age people. These churches value differences of personality, giftedness, and age stages of life. Giving all a voice in their churches – which means they don’t just say this is a value, they actually embrace it.
- They give college age people a voice. Churches that actually listen to college age people are usually very effective in their long term ministry to them.
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