By Mike North www.auroratraining.org.uk

1. Module Three:
Managing the Ministry

2. Young People
in the Church

3. The research
Youth and Children’s Growth research paper (2022)
Churches with more than 25 young people were
predominately:
 Large – 44%
 Employed youth or children’s workers – 56%
 Have strong links with local schools – 40%
 From an evangelical tradition - 55%
 Urban - 82%
 Wealthy (£200K budget) – 55%
On the portal and also: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2022-
07/Youth%20and%20Childrens%20Growth%20-%20research%20paper.pdf
Young people in the church

4. Rooted in the Church
• Churches should aim to build a culture of intergenerational
relationships
• Churches should be inclusive of all ages in both leadership
and worship
• Church should recognise young people… as equal members
of the Body of Christ
• Church should be become unconditionally welcoming places
for young people
• Churches need to do more to support their youth workers
and leaders.
Available on the website
Young people in the church

5. Young people in the church

6. What are the options?
For the church that is struggling to
keep or attract young people…
what are the options?
You decide.
Think pros and cons of your
options…
Young people in the church

7. Opportunities
National focus
• Younger and more diverse
• Doubling the numbers of
children and young active
disciples by 2030
• Project 30K
• MES
• Growing Faith
Young people in the church

8. Young people in the church
https://cofe.io/doublecyp
Praying for the doubling
of the number of
children and young
active disciples in our
churches.
Tuesdays
1 - 1:20pm

9. What is Church?
7 marks of church (Martin Luther, 1539)
1. The Word
2. Baptism
3. Lord’s Supper
4. Forgiveness
5. Service
6. Prayer / worship
7. The Cross / discipleship in suffering
Young people in the church

10. What does the Bible say?
Multigenerational (Matt 18: 5, 10; Mark 10: 14; Luke 9: 47)
Body of Christ (1 Cor 12: 12)
Bear with one another (Eph 4: 2)
Unity - agreement (1 Cor 1: 10)
Build up (1 Thess 5: 11)
Worship (1 Chron 16: 23)
Confess (1 John 1: 9)
Encourage (Heb 10: 24-25)
Young people in the church

11. How should we work together?
1. Participation / Involvement (service involvement,
leading etc)
2. Activity (mission, serving the community, food banks,
activity groups)
3. Relationships (openness, bearing with each other,
creating opportunities for others – preferring others’
needs)
4. Unity & Diversity (Value these, but focus on
relationship)
5. Decision-making – all-age? Seek the views of children
and young people. Young people on PCC / church
councils etc.
Young people in the church

12. Can we afford to wait for the
church to change?
What are the barriers to
growth in this area?
Have we developed new
ways of engaging young
people from the community
in the last 5 years?
How committed to young
people is the church
leadership?
Young people in the church

13. Think of creative ways of including
young people in church-life
Young people in the church

14. Young people in the church
You Lost Me: Why Young
Christians are Leaving Church …
and Rethinking Faith
(Excerpt on the website)
by David Kinnaman

15. 1. First, Be Honest
2. Confess
3. Increase Your Expectations
4. Preach a Better Gospel
5. Hand-Craft Disciples
6. Recover Imagination
7. Recognise Giftedness
8. Invite Participation
9. Take Risks
10. Re-center on Jesus
11. Don’t Overreact
12. Be a Rebel–Get Married
13. Take a Gap Year
14. Take Education Seriously
15. Interpret Culture
16. Find the Family of God
17. Find Calling in the Marketplace
18. Strengthen Family Ties
19. Think Christianly about Media
20. Avoid “Proxy Wars”
21. Refuse a Religious Veneer
22. Travel as a Family
23. Be Present
24. Be Intentionally Intergenerational
25. Disciple Like Jesus
26. Make Connections
27. Release Your Successors
28. Meet a Need
29. Reclaim Hope
30. Seek Diversity
31. Use Time Wisely
32. Be Nonpartisan but Not Apolitical
33. Tell On Yourself
34. Be Like Jesus
35. Embrace the Radical Gospel
36. Don’t Condescend
37. Have Faith in the Next Generation
38. Support a Young Person
39. Give Them What They Want
40. Be the Right Kind of Mentor
41. Catalyse Innovation
42. Un-market the Gospel
43. Lift Up the God of Justice
44. Take a Note from the Amish
45. Reason Clearly
46. Avoid False Ultimatums
47. Make Distinctions That Matter
48. Give Honest Answers to Honest
Questions
49. Don’t Fear Doubt
50. Share Power
Young people in the church

16. Module Three:
Managing the Ministry