Sunday Night Excitement

Sunday evening, October 11, was an exciting time at Garden Oaks Baptist Church. It was exciting for several reasons. One, the smell of fajitas was drifting in the hallway. Two, those who were gathering for dinner were members of the church who, for the most part, were under forty years of age. Three, following dinner, some exciting conversation and dialogue took place as the young adults who gathered discussed the future of their church and its ministry to people who generally fall in their age group.

In their recent book Essential Church, the father-son team of Tom and Sam Rainer (Tom is the President of Lifeway Christian Resources, Sam is a discipleship minister at a church in Florida) tell us that in recent years, the church is losing young adults between 18 and 40 years of age. They report on research which shows that about 70% of those who are involved in church during their high school years drop out between age 18 and 22 due to some kind of life change, and only about half of them will return. Along with that, few people in that age category make decisions to follow Christ and become a part of a church during that span of time. Yet, a fairly high percentage of those who responded to research indicated a willingness to give consideration to spiritual matters related to the Christian faith.

The potential for effective ministry, including outreach, evangelism and discipleship, among people in this age bracket, exists. The fact that 26 people, most of them in this same age group, who are connected with Garden Oaks showed up for the purpose of discussing the church's young adult ministry potential was very exciting. The discussion itself, which involved virtually every young adult in the room at some point, was a hopeful sign that we are moving in the right direction. So is the fact that any one of those in this group could have gone somewhere else during this pastorless period, to make things easier on themselves, yet they have chosen to remain here and express optimism and confidence in the future of GOBC.

The Development Team now has a whole list of ideas and suggestions for building an active, effective ministry which will reach into the surrounding community to baptize new believers, develop them into disciples of Jesus, and build community for them in the church. The suggestions made reflected some prayerful consideration and deep thinking, along with personal experience. The experts who write the books tell us that it takes young adults to reach young adults because of shared issues and concerns, and similar patterns of thinking. If that's the case, then GOBC is well equipped to reach the young adults who live in our community.

In the coming weeks, the ideas and suggestions for specific strategies involved will be shared in the forums where they can be implemented. Several issues need to be given top billing. One is that the church, as a body, needs to be careful not to cause its members, including its young adult members, to become burned out through overwork. The need to simplify the structure of the congregation, and to give people opportunities to exercise their specific spiritual gifts, was a top concern. Creating an environment that is comfortable and friendly for those who do not understand the "church insider culture" was also a concern. Relevant Bible study that includes practical application (how it works) and an atmosphere that includes meaningful worship were also part of the discussion. To be frank, the church needs to work to avoid being perceived as irrelevant and boring. That shouldn't be difficult, considering the material we have to work with, as well as its writer.

There's the discussion. Now comes the more difficult part. Implementing anything like this involves cooperation, participation, and support. The bottom line will depend on how sincere our church is when it expresses a strong desire to reach the young adults who make up such a significant part of the population of the surrounding community. As always, it will involve setting aside our own preferences in favor of those whose needs require us to apply the Bible teaching and ministry we have received in abundance. That's how God wants to use us. That's the job we've prepared for from the moment we received God's grace and Christ's salvation. There are plenty of examples out there to show us that it can be done, and there are churches who are doing it in a setting very similar to ours. We can do it too, by following the Spirit's leadership and depending on his power.

It's showtime.