Growing Young - Day 4

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 his 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 4 – Faithing

 

“I think many churches have fallen into a consumer mindset as a default mode. Churches have tried to appeal to people’s desire to feel good. But the problem is, if you’re just trying to make people feel good, church isn’t going to measure up to that.” —Terry, age 29

 

Our team was struck by how the commitment to take Jesus’ message seriously is both a demonstrated action and an overall spirit or ethos in churches growing young. Of course, Jesus’ message is not contained in just one core commitment; rather, the Good News of Jesus permeates and indeed animates all other commitments. Just as Jesus is “before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17), pursuing Jesus—not just pursuing young people—is the heart of churches growing young.

 

If faith is a noun, then we might say faithing is an appropriate verb to describe this process of formation and meaning-making. It is how we ask, reach, and doubt our way toward a mature faith identity. If we commit to bear with young people on a journey of faithing, perhaps churching is how we can talk about doing this together, following Jesus as a community discovering faith in our particular context day by day.

 

When we “faith” and “church” together, we teach young people not just what to believe but how to believe—and live out—the Good News. And we refuse to leave them alone in the process. Which sounds a lot like taking Jesus’ message seriously.

 

Reflect: What are you already doing to help your congregation take Jesus seriously? What words and phrases does your congregation use to talk about Jesus, the gospel, and evangelism?

 

 

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.