Ministry with Young Adults (persons in their 20s and 30s)

1. Ministry with Young Adults (persons in their 20s and 30s) • Souls in Transition - The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults in America • Christian Smith with Patricia Snell • New York: Oxford University Press, 2009

3. First wave of research: 3,290 13-17 year-old American young people interviewed 2002-2003. Indepth interviews with 267. • Second wave of research: interviews with same sampling (97 percent) 2005. Indepth interviews with 122. • Third wave of research: interviews with same sampling (93 percent) 2007-2008. Indepth interviews with 111.

4. Emerging Adulthood • Dramatic growth in higher education opportunities. • Delay of marriage (1950 – 20.3 for women and 22.8 for men, 1980 – 26.9 for women and 28.5 for men). • Global economy undermines stable, lifelong careers. • Parents needing to extend financial support to their children into their 20s and 30s. Average of $38,340 from 18 to 34 years old.

5. Emerging Adulthood hermeneutics • Transitions, transitions, transitions • Standing on one’s own • A lot to figure out. • Don’t have enough money. • Optimism for personal future. • Few regrets. • Relationships with parents improving. • Hard to see reality beyond self.

6. Emerging Adulthood Hermeneutics • Right and wrong are pretty easy. • Karma will catch you. • Everybody’s different. • Education is of instrumental value. • Drugs are pervasive but getting boring. • Settling down is for later. • Relationships are amorphous. • Devastating breakups happen.

7. Emerging Adulthood Hermeneutics • Helping others is an ideal. • Consumerism is good stuff.

8. Implications for faith? • 4-D: Disruptions, Distractions, Differentiation, Diversity. • Postponed family formation and childrearing. • Self-confident self-sufficiency. • Religion as later resource for stability and recovery.

9. What about moralistic, therapeutic deism? • Shared principles of religions are basically good. • Largely indifferent to religious life. • Religious particularities are peripheral. • Congregations are elementary schools of morals. • Congregations not places of real belonging. • Friends hardly talk about religion and faith. • What seems right to me is the authority.

10. Source: American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) 2008

11. Of the 15 % who self-identified as none or no religion.... • 40% had no childhood religious initiation ceremony. • 55% of those who are or were married had no religious marriage ceremony. • 76% anticipated no religious funeral.

12. Six religious typologies • 1. Committed Traditionalists (strong faith, well articulated belief system expressed in consistent practice, focus on inner piety, moral integrity. “I am deeply committed.”) 15 percent. • 2. Selective Adherents (solid religious upbringing but are more open, compartmentalize belief and practice. Some guilt. “I do some of what I can.” ) 30 percent.

13. 3. Spiritually Open (not especially committed to any faith but open and receptive to spiritual and religious matters. Perhaps skeptical and critical. “There’s probably something more out there.” ) 15 percent. • 4. Religiously Indifferent (neither care to practice religion nor oppose it. “It just doesn’t matter much.” ) 25 percent.

14. 5. Religiously Disconnected (little to no exposure or connection to faith and religious communities or persons. Not opposed. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” ) 5 percent. • 6. Irreligious (skeptical and rejecting of personal faith. Some are angry toward religion, others mystified that thinking persons could even invest in this. “Religion just makes no sense.”) 10 percent

15. 1. Committed Traditionalists. “I am deeply committed.”15 percent. • 2. Selective Adherents. “I do some of what I can.” 30 percent. • 3. Spiritually Open. “There’s probably something more out there.” 15 percent. • 4. Religiously Indifferent. “It just doesn’t matter much.” 25 percent. • 5. Religiously Disconnected. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” 5 percent. • 6. Irreligious. “Religion just makes no sense.” 10 percent

16. High parental religious service attendance & importance of faith Teen had many adults in congregation to turn to for support and help Teen had many personal religious experiences Teen frequently prayed and read scripture Teen had few doubts about religious beliefs High teen importance of faith

17. When the young person claimed any four of these six factors in their years growing up in the church, five years later, they were most likely to be committed traditionalists or selective adherents.

18. Teen had many adults in congregation to turn to for support and help Teen had many personal religious experiences High parental religious service attendance & importance of faith Teen had few doubts about religious beliefs Teen frequently prayed and read scripture High teen importance of faith

19. What are some emerging strategies for ministry with young adults?

20. Wary of being too formulaic… • Pray. Ask individuals and groups to pray for this ministry. • Meet away from the church building, preferably in a home setting. • Work at building relationships. • Have good food and good coffee. • Avoid the “singles” label. • Focus on the Bible. • Communicate regularly, frequently.

21. What about worship? • Narrative theology. E.g. Stanley Grenz. • Passion. • Meaningful music. • Self-disclosure. • Experience = engaging more than one sense. • Authenticity = spontaneity. • Wonder, awe, mystery.

22. Shift from contemporary worship to emerging worship • Aesthetic matters (art, lighting, symbols). • Community matters (worship and fellowship blend – connection to others). • Passion matters (thoughtful, reflective, engaging, meaningful, even demanding - less hype and performance, consumerism). • Ancient future faith (connection to the transcendent through recovery and enactment of ancient practices and rituals).

23. What might be a way to frame all this for our future ministry • Sharon Daloz Parks writes in her book on young adults, Big Questions, Worthy Dreams, that the church is to be a place of hearth, table, and commons.

24. Hearth

25. Hearth • Places that draw us and hold us. • Places of balance and sustenance. • We are warmed in body and soul. • Places of nurture, learning, reflection. • The story of God’s people is told here again and again.

26. Table

27. Table • Where a place is set for you and you are welcomed. • A place of sharing what is on the table. • Where you will be placed under obligation (e.g. sharing, waiting, thanksgiving, accommodating). • A place of ritual and commitment. • Persons are fed here. • The story becomes part of us here.

28. Commons

29. Commons • Where we meet and engage others and the world. • We bring together disparate elements of the community. • We confirm a common, connected life even in the midst of conflict and disagreement. • A center of shared faith and grounded hope. • The story is enacted here.