Doctrine and Young Adults
Over at Christianity Today, Collin Hansen has written about a recent Pew study “on Religion and Public Life.” Hansen focuses in on the study’s look at young adults.
Hansen writes:
“the data begins to alarm when you examine other key doctrines. Pluralism in particular has ravaged young evangelicals’ confidence in Jesus Christ’s claims that he alone shows the way to the Father in heaven. Asked whether many religions can lead to eternal life, 52 percent of evangelicals from the so-called millennial generation agreed. Only 43 percent said Christianity is the one true faith that leads to eternal life. It doesn’t help that barely more than half of these young evangelicals read the Bible weekly.”
Hansen goes on to say, “It might appear, then, that doctrine has no pull in this age that shuns indoctrination….No matter how hard we may try, no one can avoid doctrine. So no matter how bad its reputation, doctrine is a necessary component of Christian discipleship. The March Christianity Today cover story by Darren Meeks notes that Christians today prefer spiritual disciplines and works of mercy to discussing doctrine. Yet however valuable those acts may be, they cannot replace doctrine for spiritual formation.”
The full story can be found here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/marchweb-only/20-11.0.html?start=2
Beliefs of College Grads
An interesting study came out regarding the religious beliefs of college graduates. Now the study does not indicate if college was a contributing factor, but it does cause one to take pause.
For example, it states:
“College graduates are more likely to consider the Ten Commandments irrelevant, and reject the Bible as the word of God, than those with no college degree, according to a recent study.”
The full story from Ethicsdaily can be found here:
Passion Conference
The next Passion Conference, “2010″, will take place early next year, so be sure to follow developments (including sign-up info) at its website: http://www.268generation.com/2.0/splash5.htm
For those not familiar with the Passion Conferences, it is aimed at young adults, namely college students, and brings in speakers (John Piper, of course Louie Giglio, and this next one will have Andy Stanley), and music (Chris Tomlin, Matt Redmon, etc…). As one can imagine, these conferences have large audiences, so register early!
You can also link to music and Louie Giglio’s Passion Podcasts.
College Ministry Blog
Benson Hines has a college ministry, written on the topic, and has a helpful blog.
Be sure to check the blog out!
Megachurches and Young Adults
How do young adults (those in their 20’s) like megachurches? Scot McKnight (Jesus Creed) points to a study that indicates that megachurches have a positive impact on the attendance of those in that age group (and college-aged young adults as well).
“According to some studies….your best chance of finding them is in a megachurch”
http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/2009/07/the-church-for-20somethings.html
Potential Models of Youth Ministry
Michael Spencer, aka the “Internet Monk”, writes some thoughts about the current state of youth ministry, namely in Evangelical churches. He is a longtime chaplain (and teacher) for a school in Kentucky, so has years of observation and experience to draw upon. I have mentioned before his focus on youth seeing their “identity in Christ”, rather than focusing on behavior management.
In this current post, he mentions that his views have changed over time on how to best deal with youth ministry.
His concerns are in the areas of shallow entertainment and the packaging of Jesus. He does give a shout out to “The “Family Led Youth Ministry” idea”. However, he does state, “I am not impressed with those I’ve heard who advocate it. Show me this model, in a church producing risk-taking, independent minded disciples and not dependent, controlled, tied to parents, afraid of the world inhabitants of a ghetto mentality, and I’ll be more impressed.”
He gives a great goal for all those involved: “Impact kids so they want more of Jesus. Make that your mission.”
http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/what-are-your-thoughts-on-a-biblical-model-for-youth-ministry
Francis Chan regarding College Students
A recent Catalyst podcast has an interview with Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California. Chan is asked about what he sees in college students. He responds that he is encouraged how some have a deep understanding of “The Word” (Scripture), and even seems “radical” (in a healthy sense). He also thinks it is important to not only live out the Gospel, but also know it.
The interview can be found here: http://www.catalystspace.com/content/podcast/catalyst_podcast_episode_67/
Dan Kimball, Part II
In addition to his Out of Ur post, he also has written a post at his own blog about a comment Scot McKnight made about reaching 20 year-olds with the message of Christ.
McKnight stated:
“My heart is with 20-somethings…..I preach the gospel and I see between 10 and 20 kids (college-age) become Christians and give their life to Christ every year…. I preach the gospel and I preach orthodoxy and I believe it is important to defend orthodoxy….I believe that we have to speak the gospel to 20-somethings with an urgency today that we have never seen in American history.”
Kimball comments:
“This is people’s lives he is passionate about and those who do not know Jesus yet. Those for whom we must get beyond all the trivial things and move ahead on mission to. While we debate and talk, people are experiencing life without knowing Jesus. We must “urgently” remember those who don’t know Jesus and as so much is at stake. ”
The full post can be found here: http://www.dankimball.com/vintage_faith/2009/04/scot-mcknights-words-made-me-want-to-cry-in-a-good-way-.html
Young Adults and Worship
Dan Kimball, pastor of Vintage Faith Church in California, writes at the Out of Ur blog about worship for young adults. He found that a deeper liturgy is appreciated in this group, yet with a sense of the new as well.
He concludes:
“We have found that the goal shouldn’t be to maintain the past or to always be on the cutting edge. Our goal is to worship in a way that represents our community to God and God to our community. That means contextualizing worship for today, but not forgetting the family of God throughout history to which we belong.”
The full post can be found here: http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2009/04/discovering_and.html
Kevin DeYoung on College Students
In an interview with editor Rick Alcantor, Pastor DeYoung comments on what Christian resources he recommends for college students:
“I think college students want meat. We do them a disservice by expecting so little of them, intellectually and spiritually. We try to point our students to classics from people like C.S. Lewis, John Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards. Our college group also does a nice job of emphasizing biographies of great Christian thinkers, preachers, and missionaries. I try to mention good books from the pulpit and put good books on our book table. Basically, we don’t have a uniform approach. We’re pretty convinced, however, that reading the Bible is the best thing for every college student..”
Pastor DeYoung’s church is across the street from Michigan State University (a Final Four team!).
The full post can be found here: http://www.thisisnext.org/webzine#spotlight2
HT: Justin Taylor