Effective Young Adult Ministry Depends on Small Groups
In this feature of the Stewardship Journal, we have focused on the decline in giving across all generations. In our interview with Ron Sellers, he mentioned how important small group engagement was. Scott McConnell, the executive director of Lifeway Research, graciously agreed to allowing our re-post of his recent article on how four churches engaged young adults.
No matter your church size or context, there are things your ministry can do to engage the young adult population in your community.
Lifeway Research recently interviewed four churches that have been effective at reaching and discipling young adults. As they described what’s working in their ministries, they focused on how young adults are connected to the church as a whole, especially through small groups. Each actively invests in and celebrates their small groups of young adults. No matter your church size or context, there are things your ministry can do to engage the young adult population in your community.
Connect young adults to small groups
Liquid Church in Parsippany, New Jersey, has a gathering for young adults the first Tuesday of each month as well as additional social events to meet new young adults. “We found creating space for [young adults] to come together and connect is important,” said Cory Daniels, young adult pastor. “For some reason, they won’t go out of their way to do that in the church context unless it’s within a small group or within their niche or clique.”
When a new young adult comes, the church is proactive in connecting them to a small group. “Connected to our lead team, we have some people who are insanely social and incredibly good at being that connector piece,” said Daniels. “We’re consistently asking the question, ‘How can we get you connected to a small group?’”
This opens up a conversation in which they cast a vision for what small groups can be. The leader then takes them to a small group leader and introduces them in person. “We find that provides a lot more success than saying, ‘Here, check out this part of the website, or scan the QR code,” said Daniels.
Rich Nibbe, executive pastor of ministry and discipleship at NPHX Church in Phoenix, Arizona, says young adults get involved in their connect groups organically as other church members use their gifts. “There are a few people here who are galvanizers. It’s like a magnetic attraction for other young adults,” said Nibbe.
As these people hang out in the lobby, they naturally have conversations with young adults. These magnetic personalities have helped people get into groups. But the organic movement to groups is also ingrained in their culture. And the strong connections among people in groups means group members are quick to invite others in.
Foster discipleship within groups
When young adults are in small groups, the church has the opportunity to get to know them on a more personal level, allowing the church to minister to specific needs and foster discipleship growth. “Our community groups are the main thing that enables us to minster to, care for, and mobilize the young professionals in our church,” said Spencer Martin, the missions and college pastor at Two Cities Church in Winston-Salam, North Carolina. “We are not a church with community groups, we are a church of community groups. If you are a part of our church, you are going to be in a community group.”
These groups not only provide space for friendships to flourish but also a place for spiritual depth. “People experience discipleship by opening their Bibles and opening their lives. We try to create environments where young professionals can open their Bibles and open their lives together,” said Martin. “In the community group setting, they gather in someone’s home. They often eat a meal together before the group, which would be described as open life. Then they’re opening their Bibles together, reading it, talking about God’s Word, praying together, encouraging one another, and breaking out into groups of men and women toward the end.”
Pointing young adults to the church as a whole
Jordain Thrash, young adults and connections pastor at 3Circle Church, describes their metric for success in ministry to young adults. “Our model is connecting people to the church as a whole rather than trying to silo them. The goal is to point them to church. We highlight church involvement and church attendance.”
And this requires holding young adults with open hands. “We help equip our small group leaders for their exit,” said Thrash. “The goal for all of our small groups is that one day they stop being called a young adult small group and they are labeled as a 3Circle small group.”
At 3Circle Church, small groups don’t end after the young adult ministry years. “We don’t want two-thirds of our young adults leaving our ministry when they age out. The only way we see to do that is by not creating its own silo,” Thrash said. “Everything we’re equipping these leaders to do is to point them to the church as a whole: serving in the church, doing missions with the church, and attending the church,” said Thrash.
3Circle Church doesn’t categorize groups by age or stage. Instead, they allow young adults to naturally migrate to the group most like them. “We offer three basic groupings: male-only, female-only, or co-ed,” said Thrash. “We focus on smaller-sized groups. And we focus on intentional time spent, intentional community, and intentional discipleship, because that’s what young adults need. They’re looking for authenticity.”
The church must welcome young adults
In the same way healthy young adult ministry encourages young adults to be engaged in the whole church, the whole church has a role in reaching young adults.
Daniels shared the story of a couple that grew up in a church but hadn’t consistently been in church since school. But their friend’s parents began consistently inviting them to church. “It took about six months of that constant inviting to get them to come out,” Daniels said. Finally, they visited on a Sunday morning and were hooked. “They then came to a young adult gathering and joined a small group. Over the course of about two weeks, they went from wanting almost nothing to do with God to being full engaged.”
And it all began will a simple, but persistent, invitation. “It’s not the splashiest of stories,” said Daniels, “but it’s what you’re looking for.” It started with people who are not young adults inviting young adults they knew. Now as their lives are transformed, these young adults are bringing friends and new people to come with them.
The preceding post was used with permission and can be found at: https://research.lifeway.com/2024/09/24/effective-young-adult-ministry-depends-on-small-groups/?omhide=true&emid=om:em:240924|sub|na|research|insights|2007745|tuesday:20240924:na&ecid=PDM280948&bid=-721542685