In the Fall of 2024 Jennica Davis-Hockett sent a survey to New England Region congregations as a means for starting a conversation about the ways youth and emerging adults are engaging in our congregations. Please read the summary of results and her analysis as Youth and Emerging Adult Ministry NER Liaison in Lifespan Faith Engagement.

There were 53 respondents (23% of NERs 235 congregations). The majority of respondents have paid staff who filled out the survey.

Staff and Volunteers in Congregation

Current and Potential Engagement of Young People

60% of respondents know there are more young people associated with their church community than are currently engaged in the church. This was more true for emerging adults than youth.

Youth

Emerging Adults

Trends of Engagement

Youth and emerging adults engage in congregational life in a wide variety of ways! The most common engagement trends for youth were: consistent (weekly or bi monthly) youth group that includes social activities (games, karaoke, role playing games, and field trips) or curriculum (OWL, COA); serving as paid volunteers (for younger RE classes, nursery, AV, etc.); service projects; participating in worship creation (choir, intergenerational worship). The most common engagement trends for emerging adults were: worship participation, especially around the holidays (attendance, choir, readings); serving as paid volunteers (for RE classes, AV, nursery, etc.); leadership opportunities, though better support is needed.

Insights into Youth Engagement

1. Overwhelmed and Over-scheduled Lives 

Youth are highly engaged in school activities, sports, theater, and jobs, making it difficult for them to prioritize church. Many congregations report that youth are “very busy” and struggle to find time to meet consistently. Scheduling flexibility is key, with non-Sunday gatherings often proving more successful.

2. Desire for Connection and Fun

Social activities are consistently highlighted as a primary driver of youth engagement, with games, karaoke, Dungeons and Dragons and community-building being popular. Youth are also motivated by service projects and opportunities to earn volunteer hours, although these require consistent adult leadership to succeed.

3. Critical Mass is Essential

The importance of achieving a “critical mass” in youth groups is noted repeatedly. Smaller numbers make it difficult to sustain momentum, as youth are less likely to engage without a thriving, active group.

4. Mental Health

Many youth continue to experience mental health struggles exacerbated by the pandemic, including stress, anxiety, and trauma.

Key Insights into Emerging Adult Engagement

1. Post-High School Drop-Off

The narrative persists that people do not return to church after high school graduation or during/after college. Congregations don’t often have programming tailored to this age group, citing both a shortage of volunteers and a lack of interest from emerging adults themselves.

2. Lingering Connection

Some emerging adults find comfort in their home congregations when returning to town, but this is often limited to holiday visits and special events. Sustained engagement often requires tailored efforts, like leadership opportunities or relevant programming, which many congregations lack resources to offer.

3. Desire for Leadership but Structural Challenges

Emerging adults express interest in leadership roles but often feel disempowered or unsupported by older leaders in the congregation. Some congregations have asked for training for intergenerational collaboration that could address this disconnect.

4. Struggles to Build Community

College students and young adults often express interest in church but rarely “stick around” Congregations struggle to connect with newcomers in this age group due to transient lifestyles, lack of clear outreach strategies, or insufficient programs.

Analysis

The trend of young people having busy schedules points to two needs:

1. Professionals and lay leaders invested in faith formation and meaning-making must create offerings that are so responsive, relevant, and nourishing to young people’s lives that they are worth their most precious resources: time, attention, and energy.
2. Congregations must find adaptive ways to engage young people that don’t always require them to be in the same place at the same time, whether that be in person or virtually. This looks like meeting young people where they already are spending their time whether that be at a soccer match, robotics competition, their job or school and with their families and friends.

The strong desire for connection and fun reveals a need to support the foundations of community building. On theCommunity Building Map to Deeper Joy that means visiting the Bonding Harbor, Opening Up Beach, and Forest of Affirmations and getting out of the Tepid Bay. With those foundations established it becomes more likely that the shyness to venture deeper into community life might be replaced with the willingness to visit the Stretching River, Canyons of Deeper Sharing, and Healing Springs, and preempt the Cliffs of Exclusivity).

Critical mass beyond an individual congregation can be achieved in creative ways that don’t require intensive or immersive experiences. I’m available as a dream and scheme partner to come up with low lift gatherings that bring young folks together across congregations. Feel free tofind a time to chat with me.

As the mental health epidemic rages on, it’s important that congregations be informed about their important role in supporting young people’s mental wellbeing and helping them expand their “circle of support” i.e. the number and variety of people and organizations that they can turn to for care. There are many ways toskill up to support youth mental health.

Some respondents noted that emerging adults in their area were no longer engaged in their congregation because they were assumed to be getting their spiritual needs met elsewhere. This leaves me curious about whether that assumption is accurate or if this is a way to deflect responsibility for this age group by outsourcing belonging to other organisations. I encourage congregations to pay attention to what is uniquely theirs to offer emerging adults and strategize on how to offer it.