Young Adults Play 'Brain Tennis'
Young adult leaders in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) met late last week to engage in “Brain Tennis,” an event in which they served up and sorted through reasons why they think numbers of young people remain low in the CRC.
Gathered on Friday, August 24, by the CRC's YALT (Young Adult Leadership Taskforce), the leaders also came up with list of approaches that are working and suggestions on how to resolve some of the challenges.
“We batted ideas back and forth, pondering what the CRC is doing well, what isn’t so great, what needs to stop, what needs to start, and what needs to happen more,” writes Amy Vander Vliet on YALT’s blog.
YALT is a ministry of the Christian Reformed Church and formerly part of the Leadership Exchange. It seeks to encourage conversation, action and shared experience between church leaders and young adults at local, classical and denominational levels.
The YALT team is made up of young adult volunteers who consult with churches and plan events to further engagement of the topic.
The “Brain Tennis” event, held in conjunction with YALT’s annual planning meeting, included young leaders from Calvin Theological Seminary, Calvin College, the Facing Your Future program, The Banner, Christian Reformed Home Missions, World Renew, Office of Social Justice and more.
The young adult leaders spoke passionately about the core and presenting issues that are part of the CRC's growing problem of struggling to engage young adults.
Young adults are leaving or are not joining the Christian Reformed Church for several reasons, said the leaders, including:
- A lack of transparency and insecurity on the part of church leaders, which leads to a sense of isolation among young adults.
- A lack of explanation and openness to young adults, making them feel like outsiders even when they have been part of a church for months.
- Most CRC congregations are shaped by older generations, creating a disconnect.
- There is no clear path to young adult involvement at the denominational level.
- Churches play to what young adults think they want, not what they need.
- There is a lack of concern about young adults disappearing from the pews, often based on the assumption that young adults will come back after they get married and have kids.
- Churches have a difficult time encouraging young adults to engage in tough theological conversations, as well as fully engaging when young adults try to initiate those conversations.
But by being stand-offish, minimally-engaged and overly-critical, young adults have a role to play as well, according to the young adult leaders.
As a result, the leaders identified areas in which young adults are being brought into and encouraged to be involved in the church. For instance, the CRC’s Faith Formation Committee has adopted a comprehensive perspective that includes young adults.
The CRC also provides a strong theology with an emphasis on Christian service and engagement that is attractive to young adults.
In addition, the CRC and has created such programs as Facing Your Future that work to help young adults chart a future course for themselves in the church.
Organized and coordinated by Calvin Theological Seminary (CTS), Facing Your Future is a program that brings high school students to the CTS campus to meet with seminary professors and others as they start to discern what the future might hold for them.
Suggestions on how to resolve some of the difficulties include asking congregations to facilitate mentoring relationships between young adults and church leaders and working with the CRC’s Faith Formation Committee and the Task Force Reviewing Structure and Culture to develop a comprehensive inter-generational approach to ministry.
Another suggestion is to create more opportunities for service work, worship and outreach in which young people and older members of a congregation can work together.
Especially important, say the young adult leaders: Celebrate things that have gone well, not only dwelling on fears.
