THE URGENCY OF YOUTH MINISTRY IN THE 2020s

In these forty years since I reached adulthood, both the world and the church have changed vastly. Among the changes:

• The majority of two generations of young people (raised in church) has left organized Christianity, creating an aging church that is decidedly less engaging for teens than the church I knew in the 1970s. It's not only the kids that are missing in most Protestant churches, but their parents. 
• Youth ministry in American churches has virtually collapsed. I was part of vibrant youth ministry in three different churches during my middle school and high school years, with music groups, Bible studies, recreational programming, camping/retreat experiences and mission trips.  In each of these churches, Sunday nights were hopping with activities for all ages, especially for youth. The recent collapse is in part related to the loss of adults with kids from most churches - but also to the extreme busy-ness which has descended upon the lives of most young people.

CULTIVATING AN INVITATIONAL CHURCH CULTURE

Across the decades of working with churches, I have concluded that there is a direct correlation between how long a person has been attending church and the likelihood they might invite somebody to church.  Essentially, the longer you hang around at church the less likely you are to invite - and life-time church attendees often treat their church life as if it were involvement in a secret society.  They say they don't want to be pushy with religion, or that they don't know anybody who would be interested, or that religion is personal...

AN INVITATION TO JOIN US IN THE DESERT NEXT FALL (March 20, 2020 Update: Event CANCELLED due to Covid-19)

March 20, 2020 Update: Event CANCELLED due to Covid-19

You are invited to spend five days in the desert with scores of other church leaders, lay and clergy, who long to be midwives in the birthing of God's new things.   This is a professional development/renewal event unlike any other.

HOPE FOR A POLARIZED CULTURE

Back in the first century, the church of Jesus Christ was born out of the Pentecost reality.  It drew together the most diverse and eclectic group of human beings that the Roman Empire (and probably the world) had ever seen. 

WHAT PLAYING 4 SQUARE TAUGHT ME

I looked out the window of my hotel room into the open plaza in front of the Kansas City Convention Center, and I saw four square courts. I had not thought of four square in years. This game dominated recess in my elementary years at Alcott Elementary in Riverside, California.

The first thing I remembered is that I was competitive.  But then I thought about it more, and realized I wasn't very good at it.  Competitive but not very good. Often I would work my way up from square 4 to square 1, even though my coordination was abysmal. Why?

PRIDE MONTH AND THE UNITED METHODIST BROUHAHA

A Washington Post story, published on DC Pride weekend, told about an evangelical family whose college freshman son came home one weekend, and came out as gay.  The parents went into panic mode and convinced the young man to do sexual orientation reparative therapy for a year.  But beyond that year of panic, these folks proved their mettle. They began to invite his friends to their home, and to hear the stories of others in the LGBTQ+ zoological garden. Eventually, the healing of their family required them to leave their megachurch and join a local United Methodist congregation.  Now they could have found any number of churches in which they might have worked out their faith in light of their changing life experience - but like untold thousands before them, they picked the Methodists.

WHEN MERGERS WORK

Some of the most rewarding work that I have done in the last few years is to coach churches that are going through a process of merger, property divestment and re-launch as a fresh church in their community. Dirk Elliott discovered a decade ago in Ohio that mergers work best when:

HOW MUCH SHOULD IT COST TO PLANT A NEW CHURCH?

Recent data in my denomination (UMC) showed a typical range of between $300,000 and $500,000 in denominational subsidy per new church plant, depending on the region and how deep its pockets. And roughly 2/3 of the projects survived the first five years. However, this measures only the denominational monetary contribution - typically in the first three years. The real cost of a church plant also includes donations by members and participants, sponsoring churches and other friends of the church. And it sometimes includes a donated building!

TAKING THE JESUS CHALLENGE

Today, on two different coaching calls, the conversation focused on the process of individual spiritual development within a faith community context - both calls with new communities that exist within the framework of larger, long-existing ministries.

WHAT TO SAY ON SUNDAY

The events of the UMC Special General Conference earlier this week have the American press abuzz, alarming our parishioners and our children (most of whom pay little attention to denominational drama most of the time).

WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO, MAKE DINNER!

During the month of January, churches throughout the DC area have been organizing to offer free evening meals to federal workers and their families. It is a very small thing in the grand scheme of things. It doesn't pay the mortgage or keep Volkswagen from coming to take away the family car.   But it is something. And it says, "We see your situation." It says, "We want to be community with you in this situation." It says, "You are not alone in this." It says, "We love you."