response to "when they graduate"

Thanks for the question... Tracey!

I am certain that I am not the most qualified person in the virtual room to answer this question due to a trend I have been witnessing for many years now. Our students are leaving the church organization when they graduate, which seems like a normal "right of passage", but they are not returning to any type of denominational church organization.

If you haven't already read the book, You Lost Me by David Kinnaman, President of the Barna Group, then you really need to put down your current book and read this one. (www.youlostmebook.org)

In the past... 5 years ago... after students graduated high school, we stayed in touch via Facebook and other then, newly created social media outlets. In many instances, the ministries I was part of were primed and ready to launch a "young adult" ministry, and we piloted the ministry with students who were graduating. But, in more recent years, this is not working effectively.

Our reality, and you can read this in the book, is that our young adults are not finding value, meaning or connection in our local churches. And these are the kids who grew up in our churches... they are simply disappearing and wandering the spiritual landscape with no real desire or need to plug-in to the local church. As Kinnaman discusses, we have made following Jesus too safe and the issues we deal with in the church setting seem to lack connection to real life. We have abandoned the teachings of the Bible and forgot how to read it, study it and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us how to apply it to our lives.

If nothing else, Kinnaman's book should wake us up to our current reality which in turn could help us change course in our youth and young adult ministries; hopefully, more so in our churches. I wish I had some better answers! I am committed to reaching this next generation of followers, whatever it takes! Be Blessed during this Lenten season.