Download Five Fixes for Young Adult Groups (PDF)

Is your young adult group feeling "meh?" Here are 5 ideas to reverse decline and bring back the energy!

Permanent Summer Vacation

Things were going great when you stopped meeting regularly in June, but now that you’re back in September the energy seems gone. It’s hard to get folks excited about new meetings or activities. What happened to all the good momentum you built up over the coming year?

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Just because your congregation may go on summer hiatus doesn’t mean you have to. Explore summer events! Plan a great activity for the fall when the church year starts.

Same Old Story

Attendance is regular, but people seem disinterested. The group feels a little bored with itself, stuck in a rut, and like the members aren’t getting much out of their interactions. Where do you go from here?

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Mix it up! If you have some dependable regular members, experiment with more structured activities that allow you to bring in spiritual elements, like a small group ministry program or religious education class. Consult your ministers, religious educators or worship leaders for ideas.

Leadership Burnout

The same people have been planning every event for a while now and they’re getting a little tired. Will the group be able to continue without its current leaders?

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Personal requests from current leaders are often how new leaders rise to take on responsibility. Don’t wait until current leaders get burned out, however; ask people to take on discrete projects, like managing the Facebook page, to get them ready to take on more leadership in the future.

The Clique Trap

It seems like the young adults in your group only talk to one another. Few have contact in the broader congregation and new young adults in your church don’t feel welcome in the young adult group! Meaningful bonds are great, but how can you avoid excluding other people?

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Intentionality is key for healthy relationships between group members and with the wider congregation. Create a mission statement and a covenant, refer back to it, revise it, and keep it alive. Make sure you aren’t talking about a party at your regular group meeting that only a few of people attended. Join all-church activities, get to know other people in the church, and find new ways to contribute to congregational life.

Church Conflict

Despite your good intentions, the congregational leaders seem to have a beef with your young adult group. They may be worried about any number of things, including space usage, membership, or participation. What went wrong?

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Communication, communication, communication! Meet with congregational leaders to tell them what you are up to and talk about any concerns you or they have. Often problems are simple miscommunications. Be mindful that leadership transitions like getting a new minister or board president, can be especially prone to communication breakdowns.