Growing Young - Day 3

Unleashing the passion of young people in your church is possible!

 

This track from the Catalyst App, features Kara Powell, Jake Mulder and Brad Griffin’s new book, Growing Young.

 

When you complete each daily assignment from the track, you will be entered in to win a copy of this book! There are 5 available!

 

Churches need young people and young people need churches. But do you wonder whether a watered-down gospel would help you attract young people to your congregation? You're not alone. But there's good news.

Young people are drawn to churches that take Jesus' message seriously-- not just churches that try to be cool.

 

Based on groundbreaking research with over 250 of the nation's leading congregations, the book Growing Young provides a strategy any church can use to involve and retain teenagers and young adults.

This track will touch on some of the book’s ideas for promoting church growth--spiritually, emotionally, missionary, and numerically.

 

Get ready to start growing young!

 

Day 3 – Sit Down and Listen

 

“Empathy is the essence of what it means to be a pastor. It’s the willingness to go to hard places with people. Even if people in my church disagree with me, I hope they know I care about them.” — Eugene Cho, senior pastor at Quest Church

 

Young people who swim in the deep end of challenging cultural and developmental questions often view the church as merely splashing around in the shallow end. Or worse yet, they perceive us standing on the pool deck, wagging our finger and blowing a whistle at them in condemnation of who they are and what they do.

 

Instead of staying on the deck, churches and parishes that grow young dive into the deep waters of teenagers’ and young adults’ lives.

 

Both in young people’s descriptions of their churches and in our observations during site visits, empathizing with today’s young people bubbled to the surface as a core commitment of growing young.

 

It’s sitting on the curb of a young person’s life, celebrating their dreams and grieving over their despair.

 

Reflect: In what practical ways is your congregation already empathizing with this generation of young people? What gets in the way of your empathizing with this generation?

 

Don’t forget to tell us your response to each daily reflection on Twitter (via @catalystleader) and be entered into WIN a copy of the book, Growing Young. 

Check out additional tracks, podcast downloads, and more on the Catalyst App.