In every church I’ve been to on this journey, the question eventually comes up.  “What do we do about the young people?”  Like many churches in America, some of the churches I have visited have started to look around and notice that their youngest members are over 40 and the core of their membership is not getting any younger.  Even in the two churches I visited that were almost entirely filled with people in the 18-35 demographic, the question still remained... “What do we do about the young people?”

I’ve been doing a fair amount of reading over the last few years about the shifts that have been happening in the church.  You may have heard the terms post-modern or post-Christendom.  Postmodernism is a shift happening in our culture where the modern claims about the existence of absolute truth are beginning to hold less credence for the coming generations.  There’s more to it than that, but for the sake of time and space, I’m going to move on.  (If you haven’t heard this term before, you should really read up on it).  Post-Christendom is the idea that a shift is also happening (or I should say has happened) in the role of the church in our culture.  In Christendom, the church had a central role and it could be assumed that most people were somehow a member of one church or another and saw the church as an authority on matters of religion, God, and spirituality.  In post-Christendom, this assumption no longer holds water.  It cannot be assumed that people want, need, or value the church as a central role in society.

So, not only are there a lot of young people today who aren’t in church because it isn’t something they value or find relevant... There are also a lot of young people who ARE in church whose needs, expectations, and visions for the church are significantly different than generations before.  So, we’re back to the question, “What do we do about the young people?” 

At each church I’ve been to, I’ve purposefully sought out a young person or two or seven to talk with and to hear their perspectives about the church.  This included some who had left or never entered the church.  I’m going to suggest an answer to the question.  “What do we do about the young people?”  I think we mentor them. 

Let me say a little more about that.  In every conversation I’ve had, there has been an explicit desire on the part of the young person to be in community with people who are older, wiser, and/or more experienced than them.  This was almost a universal desire named by nearly every person under 30 who I spoke with.  One 22 year old said, “I just need someone who has been there to walk with me.”  Another 27 year old commented, “I have been searching for a mentor, someone who can really listen and help me think through all of these doubts and questions.  I think the absence of finding one over the last six years has been a contributing factor for me leaving the faith.”  In fact, the desire to be mentored is so strong that one group of young people in one of the churches I visited has been meeting for the past few months to create an organized structure within their church so that they can learn from, be mentored by, and carry on the vision of the elders in the church.  They are demanding that the older generation meet with them and pay attention to them and share their stories with them and encourage them on the next leg of the journey. 

Now, let me be even more clear. That doesn’t mean that young people just want to be handed the stuff that was done 50 years ago and be sent off with a blessing.  What would be most helpful would be mentors who would be willing to sit down with us, listen to us, encourage us, share wisdom with us, and then partner with us as we seek to do something new... together.  When I talk about this with others, they often tell me that I’m being overly idealistic.  But, yesterday, I realized that this is exactly what has been happening in my life for the last 5 years.  I would not even have been able to do this sabbatical if I wasn’t being encouraged by people who have mentored me and listened to me... and given me the freedom to dream big and explore.  In fact, this entire sabbatical was the idea of my ordination mentor who is a retired pastor!  Yesterday, I had a conversation with the senior pastor of my church about some of the ideas I had about leading worship when I return from this experience.  His experience and ability to listen were exactly what I needed to save me from the hair-brained scheme I was thinking about.  Instead, we’ll spend the next week or so dreaming together about what the next step will be.  That’s the kind of mentor that all of these young people are crying out for.

So, my question is now (especially if you are reading this and you are over 35)...  What will YOU do with the young people?  How can we as a church give space to the energy and creativity of young people and give them encouragement, advice, but also freedom on this journey?  How can we partner together to imagine something new?  The church IS going to change (whether we like it or not).  I think it will work so much better if we can work on that change together - with an open mind on both sides.  I have a lot of ideas, but I need the experience of those who have gone ahead of me to talk through it and to imagine what the next steps are... together.