From Washington Post – To attract young people to your church, you’ve got to be warm. Not cool.

I am thankful for the work and research that is happening at Fuller Youth Institute.  Here is an article promoting their up-coming book – Growing Young.  It is written by Kara Powell, Jake Mulder and Brad Griffin.

For our book “Growing Young,” we researched more than 250 congregations. When we spoke to more than 1,300 young churchgoers, ages 15 to 29, they told us what they want: authenticity and connection.

When we analyzed the terms that young adults used to describe the churches or parishes that they chose, we noticed repeated words:welcoming, accepting, belonging, authentic, hospitable and caring. We began to call this the “warmth cluster.”

Read the entire article here.

Young people sing and pray at Together 2016, a Christian revival in July on the Mall in Washington. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

 

If you have a heart for ministering to the needs of emerging adults, you should stay connected to what is happening at the Fuller Youth Institute.

I only have one comment about the article, and it is the picture which I assume was not picked by the authors.  Large Christian events are not what I would classify as the “Warm” sought out by the authors, but from my perspective would fall under the “Cool” method of doing ministry.

Essential Website Resources for those Ministering to Emerging Adults

Lgroup of eaast week, I shared some free on-line resources for parents of emerging adults.  If you missed it, you can find it – HERE!

While there are not many free on-line resources for those seeking to help emerging adults, here are a few that I have found essential.

  •  FullerYouthInstitute.   I appreciate all the work done by Dr. Kara Powell and her team.  The link above provides many free resources to churches.
  • SSEA.org – The Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood is an organization launched by Jeffrey Arnett.  They provide a listing of free resources for those interested in studying young adults.
  • Chuck Bomar’s Blog.  Chuck has written several books about college ministry and the changing world of emerging adult faith.
  • CollegeLeader.org.  An organization that has spun off from Chuck Bomar.  The blog is not regularly up-dated, but contains articles that apply directly towards those doing college ministry.
  • EA Resources – Emerging Adult Resources is my favorite – of course!  Our desire is to design and publish resources for churches, parents, and emerging adults.   Click here, if you want to join our team to make this happen.

If you would like to recommend a website to this list, please contact Dr. G. David Boyd at gdavid@earesources.org.