Before Christmas began, a few brave souls and I began a journey into a book study called “Growing Young: 6 Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church”, published by the Fuller Institute. While it was only 8 chapters long, it took us some time to digest all of it and ponder some of the things the authors suggest. On January 21, 2025, we finished our study and looked over everything we had learned.
Unlock Keychain Leadership: This means get more people involved than just the people on the church council. In fact, actively look at the younger people who attend church here and involve them in ministry – give them the same authority as our older members. And, the responsibility of being someone with a key to the church so that they have the same level of access as some of the seasoned members of the congregation. The book says to; ‘share power with the right people at the right time.’
Empathize with Today’s Young People: We need to understand and accept that things have changed. Younger people today really are more mature than we were when we were that age. Just looking into what is being taught in the grade and high schools boggles my mind. They are doing and learning things I would only have dreamed of when I was in the same grade. As the book says; “25 is the new 15 (years old) and 15 is the new 25”, which means that even at 15, youth are able to understand and act like adults if we just let them.
Take Jesus’ Message Seriously: Those who are younger don’t necessarily want or need to hear a sanitized message because we think they cannot grasp everything. Just as it was said just before, 15 is the new 25 and 25 is the new 15. If we give, not just young people, but everyone a chance to understand and ask questions – even if they seem weird or out of place – we all benefit. John Wesley, the founder of our faith tradition, used what is now known as the Quadrilateral to drill down, not only biblical authority, but to understand scripture. It is all based on the scripture itself and what it says; tradition and how something is understood in the past; reason – does this really make sense (should I really saw a child in half so that both parents can share)?; and … wait for it … experience! Sure, there are things older people can teach to younger people. But there is far more we can learn from both youth AND those youthful to participation (read: new to the) in church.
Fuel A Warm Community: Church is a whole lot more than just listening to me preach on Sundays or in a class. Church is about life; a life shared with each other. It is the way we make ourselves vulnerable and willing to show each other not only our strengths, but our weaknesses as well. When someone can come through the doors of the church and find out that we are not a room filled with perfect people living perfect lives, we become human. One of the hardest things for anyone new to coming to a church is coming through the doors. Because, more often than not, they are at a place in their lives that they finally feel the need for something beyond themselves. We can let them understand that we are just as messed up as they are.
Prioritize Young People and Families Everywhere: Basically, what would we be willing to give up, as a church, for the sake of younger and/or new families to visit and worship with us. I can say that we have already provisioned for a bit of a change. Even though we do not have children in the nursery during worship services, we will be hiring someone, hopefully, this month. We identified this one thing when we were working on the church budget and made it a priority to have the funds to get this position covered. It may not sound like a lot, but just being able to offer this one thing could be the difference between someone choosing to worship with us or going somewhere else. There are more things we can do, so we all need to ask ourselves, ‘what would I give up so someone would feel welcome here?’
Be the Best Neighbors: It may sound counterintuitive, but for us as a church to be our very best, we need to look well beyond just filling the pews. We do things already to work towards this goal with clothing for every child in Starke County that needs clothing through the Kid’s Closet. We make sure children have adequate school supplies in the fall and I am sure, throughout the year. Children have coats and boots – if they want/need them. We even feed children on the weekends with the ‘backpack’ program. Coming as soon as we can, we will also be making simple food items and meals available through what I am calling a “Blessing Box”. It was a vision Linda Lewandowski had and we are working on putting all the pieces together so that anybody, any time – day or night, can access a cupboard with food that will help them through a rough patch.
These are all of the things we focused on these last few weeks. And now, we get to the point where we involve you in this learning process!
During the month of February, we will be asking everyone to take a survey. You can do it at home, either with a pen and paper or on the computer. But we would like you to answer some important questions for us. A printed copy of the survey will be placed in the bulletin during the month of February. The online survey is open now (the link is below and will be posted to the website and on Facebook). With your answers, we can look at what we are doing well and where we can improve. PLUS! You can use these questions when you talk to anyone who you see in the church, to get to know them a little better and become the eyes and ears for your church council as we begin working to secure the future of the North Judson United Methodist Church for the next 100 years.
Call (574) 896-5927