Pre-assembly event encourages “Growing Young”

The 2018 NC Synod Pre-Assembly kicked off Thursday, May 31, with a full-day’s focus on the topic of churches Growing Young: Helping young people discover and love your church. Throughout the session, Jake Mulder of Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) addressed many myths around this topic and helped to define our present reality based on the cutting-edge findings of FYI’s comprehensive study of Churches Growing Young.

Before unpacking the secrets to Growing Young, Mulder highlighted several concepts which were reiterated throughout the session:
• While Growing Young is largely focused on young people, it should be noted that it is not exclusive to young people—defined in this context as ages 15-29.
• In fact, Growing Young findings exhibit overwhelming evidence that everyone rises when we focus on young people.
• The Growing Young research did not call out anything brand new but, rather, recalls some essential ancient truths that may have gotten buried along the way.

To start, Mulder laid out some sobering statistics on the current state of the church, in general, which led to the realization that no major Christian tradition in the U.S. is growing today. Once that reality sank in, the session then shifted to a hopeful perspective as Mulder unpacked several of the six core commitments of Churches Growing Young.

By definition, a church that is growing young is a church that isn’t just shrinking and aging, but is growing in involving and retaining young people, which brings overall vitality to the whole church. In the unique context of such a Jesus-centered community, the following six core commitments were found to be the strongest influencers of the overall Growing Young church culture: Keychain Leadership, Empathy Today, Jesus’ Message, Warm Relationships, Prioritize Everywhere, and Best Neighbors. Of these commitments, the hinge point of the effort to grow young was found to rest on the intentional prioritization of young people everywhere.

To that end, we are challenged to consider this game-changing question in every context within the church: “How will young people be involved?” If we aren’t intentionally asking this question, then we are missing out on valuable cross-generational connections with the ability to greatly impact our church culture for better or worse.

Additional Resources: Further insight is expanded on in the book, Growing Young, which was co-authored by Mulder. The Growing Young Assessment may also be a helpful resource for churches and can be accessed at fulleryouthinstitute.org/assessment. As a certified presenter for Growing Young, Tammy Jones West is also available to host a Growing Young presentation for your church community. In addition, the NC Synod will host a Growing Young Cohort based in Raleigh beginning in January 2019. Contact Tammy Jones West for more information on any of these resources.

Story: Carissa Abraham. Carissa is the Director of Faith Formation & Engagement Ministries at St. Mark’s, Mooresville.
Photo: Catherine Fink, synod staff