What does a young person need in their faith community? by Alex

There are three big areas that I see that a young person will look for in a faith community, 1) there is no judgment for who they are, 2) they can be part of the decision making process, and 3) that we reach out to them were they are and not where we think they should be.  How can we take all three of these things and make our church look more inviting to a young person?

Young people need somewhere they can feel safe and not judged for being who they are.  Our faith community needs to be open to everyone and what they bring to the table.  The faith communities that are most welcoming to young people are not judging for their sexual identity, what they look like and how they speak or how what they are doing with their life.  Recently the judgment of a young person’s sexual identity has been a major concern.  Some church people like to make this look like a big deal, but in the eyes of a young person, it is not because we are all made by God.  I know that people think it is a choice, but I wonder why anyone would choose to be treated like this if it is not how they were made. Why is it that we think that it is our place to judge? Why would a young person want to have a faith community that does not want them to be who they really are?  How can we make everyone feel welcome and find a true faith community?  The church needs to show young people that we are in a stage of evolution in order for them to feel secure enough to be who they are without judgment.

Many young people struggle with the way in which the church portrays itself as open, but is still closed minded in many ways.  How can we feel free to be ourselves, if we are supposed to conform to what they think we should be?  Our churches should be very diverse, but often they are not as diverse as the environment in which young people grow up in.  How can we change people’s minds when they have grown up in a certain mindset and do not know how to fight for their true beliefs?  What else can we do to make a young person feel secure in their faith community? Is a faith community supposed to stay the same forever or should it evolve as the world does?

We need to make sure that each of the young people have a voice in our congregations and to make sure that they have opportunities to be a part of making decisions. The church can have a young person that helps with the worship team to help bring new ideas, for example that may draw new people in.  What about having a young adult or youth on council?  Where else in your church can a young person come in handy with making decisions that affect your whole congregation?

How can technology play a role in a young person’s faith community?  What type of technology does your church use now and how can you step that up?  Today’s generation is attached to their electronic devices, whether it be a phone or a tablet, and pay more attention to that then most other things.  Do you know of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or Snap Chat?  These are all things that a young person uses hourly if not more.   When I wake up the first thing I do is check my news feeds, if something catches my eye, then I look into it.  More often than not, young people will see your church more if it is on their news feeds.  Many young people will use these forms of communication as a way to learn new things or to communicate cool new things they have learned.  With all this technology around us and the use of it daily we should be learning from our young people about how to use it effectively to communicate the Word. Are you willing to bring technology into your church for young people?  Would you be willing to let them use their technology during worship?  What about letting them tweet during the sermon to get the word out?  All of these are great ways to reach them at their levels.  We cannot expect everyone to absorb information in the same methods.  The technology is a way to let others see what is happening at your church.  Young people would rather use technology at their faith community than just sit and listen.  Instead of shutting down how young people communicate, why not harness this power to do good in the world? How can we as a church use what the young people are doing to expand out faith communities?  Let’s have the young people reach to their communities and share God’s Word while still being engaged in worship. We should have the young people taking the technology to a new level and having them reach to new, interested individuals.

When I was attending the Disciple Project I was able to see all three of these things put into action.  Everyone in attendance was able to look at things the way they felt called to.  We were all pushed to be who we really are and to express ourselves and how our thought process was.  We can all help our church be really great.