Faith among Emerging Adults

The graying of the church. A crisis among the youth. The rise of the nones. Concern about the next generation’s morality and religious commitment (or lack thereof) is common fare. We commonly see news articles on millennials or Generation Z, highlighting the differences between these generational groups and those of older adults. Often these articles take a “kids these days” approach that is ultimately unhelpful. There are, of course, distinctive features for people raised in different eras and social contexts. And those distinctions merit attention. At the same time, however, imagining those differences as fundamental can lead to imagining that older and emerging adults don’t quite share the same faith or participate in the same church.

The generational stratification of church life can contribute to this distance. While church members and leaders rightly call for more intergenerational ministry, structures organized around life stage remain very common. How often do younger adults and older adults get the chance to listen well to one another? What are emerging adults like, and what are their biggest concerns, questions, and the issues they care about most?

Perhaps one of the first steps we can take as a church is to stop considering young adults as the objects of observation, whether as objects of worry or as objects of hope, who are somehow categorically different or distant from us. Toward that end, at Summit we hosted a series of conversations about faith among emerging adults. [1] Across our day-long pathway, several themes emerged:

• Young people want to be engaged as individuals and they want to be known.

• Young people are concerned about those who are on the margins and those who have encountered boundaries to using their gifts and living the fullest life they can.

• Young adults who claim Christian identity report wide and varied participation in traditional Christian practices at rates that don’t dramatically differ from older adults.

• Young people also have opportunities to grow as members of the body of Christ.

The first session focused on current research on Christian college students. These young adults reported wide and varied participation in Christian practices at rates that do not differ dramatically from those of the older adults attending the session who took the same survey. On that count, the differences between the young and older adults who took the survey may be overestimated. As one participant in the session noted, “According to this survey, I look a lot like a college freshman!” This first session invited participants to think of themselves as alongside young adults people instead of as distant observers of them.

While the first session considered college students who claim Christian affiliation, the second session investigated reasons young adults dis-affiliate from Churches of Christ. Perhaps the most striking finding from their presentation and study is that the most prominent reason for people who left is a lack of movement towards inclusiveness of spiritually gifted women. As one of the researchers commented, if we think we can wait for the next generation to answer this question, we’re wrong. The data shows there won’t be a next generation if church leaders do not start paying attention to the gifts women bring. In other words, emerging adults care about women being able to live their full giftedness in the church.

For our third session, we listened in on conversations among ministers currently working with young adults of a variety of ages. These practitioners shared that they have observed young people holding a sincere faith that cares deeply about the lives of others. They want and imagine their faith to be a fundamental part of their identity, permeating each area of their lives. Young adults are also hungry for connection and belonging. These ministers encouraged us to recognize that young people love God as much as anyone and are searching for the best ways to be faithful, just as we are.

Finally, we heard from a panel of current ACU students in a session co-sponsored with the Racial Reconciliation pathway. These students’ reflections echoed much of what the ministers had observed: young people care deeply for matters of justice and how Christian faith affects others as their faith permeates their entire identity. They crave connection. When they feel they belong, it is often because others invest time in getting to know them for who they are, not assuming we know something about them on the front end. They believe in the power of Christianity and they hold their faith deeply.

Given all of this, we believe that there are powerful opportunities for ministry with and among young adults, and that ministry requires the development of communities of mutual care and concern. In your context of ministry, what practical steps can you take to engage in mutual conversation with those who occupy a different generation than you?

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[1] We define emerging adults as high school age, college age, and young professional age, roughly 13 or 14-25 or 26.

Listen to the the Faith among Emerging Adults recordings from ACU Summit 2019.