Should Young-Adult Ministry Use "Better-Than-Nothing" Model?

"What people in the past may have gotten from church, I get from the Internet and Facebook. That is our religion."
That's what one young adult told Hannah Seligson, the author of a new book, Mission Adulthood. And a recent "U.S Religious Landscape Survey" from the Pew Forum found that "among Americans ages 18-29, one in four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion."
That lack of religious affiliation among many young adults has caused some religious groups to look for new ways to relate to this age group.
In Washington, D.C., for example, the local Jewish Federation and an organization called NEXT DC work together to get young adults to try a new synagogue each month -- an idea they call "Shabbat-hop." (Shabbat is Hebrew for "rest" or "cessation" and refers to the Jewish Sabbath.)
At a recent Shabbat-hop, more than 300 people, mostly young adults, visited Adas Israel, a conservative synagogue in Washington. And the synagogue was ready for the influx. They had set up extra chairs and planned a lively service, at which the whole group swayed, clapped and sang. Most of the young adults stayed for the buffet dinner afterward and many lingered until nearly 10 p.m.
The success of the event doesn't mean that Adas Israel will necessarily gain any new members or even attendees from among the visitors, for the next month, the Shabbat-hop is to take place at another synagogue. But the young adults experience Jewish worship and fellowship, regardless of what long-term gains the synagogue realizes.
Another month, the hop takes place at the nondenominational Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, which works hard to make the young crowd feel welcome by offering a variety of worship experiences. Other synagogues bring in special music, offer Shabbat meals and even open bars.
Despite these measures, few of the young adults express interest in joining a congregation. For many, the visits to different places and the meeting of new people is the way they are expressing whatever religious impulse they feel.
Some of the synagogues are getting comfortable with that. Sixth & I, for example, has a "nonmembership model" in which the congregation focuses ministry on young adults without worrying about them jumping from one place to another. Another synagogue, the Washington Hebrew Congregation, sponsors what it calls "Metro Minyan" (minyan refers to a meeting of Jews for worship), where they rent space for Shabbat services and dinners in churches near metro stops. By using a different location each week, they hope to create "neutral territory" where young adults feel comfortable.
Writing about Shabbat-hopping in the Wall Street Journal, Naomi Schaeffer Riley concluded, "So maybe Shabbat-hopping is the best that religious leaders can hope for with Generation Y. Giving young adults regular exposure to some Jewish experience is better than nothing at all."
Many Christian young adults demonstrate a similar unwillingness to follow the church-participation patterns of older generations. The article, "Best Practices in Young Adult Faith Formation," mentions a study by Robert Wuthnow that describes the young-adult approach to religion and spirituality as "spiritual tinkering." Wuthnow defines a tinkerer as a person who "puts together a life form whatever skills, ideas and resources that are readily at hand ... improvising, by piecing together an idea from here, a skill from there and a contact from somewhere else."
The article goes on to say, "Tinkering is evident among the large number of young adults who believe in God, life after death and the divinity of Jesus, for instance, but who seldom attend religious services. Their beliefs lend continuity with the past -- with the Bible stories they probably learned as children -- and their behavior lets them adapt to the demands of the present. Spending a weekend with friends, buying groceries and doing the laundry, or getting ready for a hectic week at work takes precedence over spending yet another Sunday morning at worship. Tinkering is equally evident in the quest to update one's beliefs about spirituality. The core holds steady, persuading one that the Bible is still a valuable source of moral insight, for example, but the core is amended almost continuously through conversations with friends, reflections about unusual experiences on vacation or at work, or from a popular song."
The article challenges churches when it says, "There are plentiful opportunities for young adults to reconnect with the church. Yet utilizing these opportunities requires an understanding that the disconnect stems from several different sources, including an expectation of immediate gratification, high mobility, the demands of the world eclipsing those of spiritual needs and a failure to capitalize on young adults' moments of return to the church (marriage, a child's baptism or death of a parent)."
More on this story can be found at these links:
Synagogue-Hopping With Generation Y. Wall Street Journal
U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Pew Forum
Best Practices in Young Adult Faith Formation. Lifelong Faith
The Big Questions
1. Do you agree that many young adults are "religious tinkerers"? Why or why not? To what degree is your own faith and practice the result of religious tinkering?
2. Should we be alarmed by the reluctance among some young adults to participate regularly with one congregation? Does this spell problems for institutional religion? for faith in general? for neither? for both? Why? Is this reluctance more a reaction to the organized church than to Christianity itself? Why?
3. If we paraphrase Naomi Riley's comment as, "So maybe church-hopping is the best that religious leaders can hope for with Generation Y. Giving young adults regular exposure to some Christian experience is better than nothing at all," do you agree or disagree? Why?
4. What biblical models are there for sharing the faith without expecting a "return on investment"? How, if at all, is "sharing the faith" different from "recruiting new members"? How willing would you be to support your church in an expensive and time-consuming program where it was unlikely that your congregation would gain any new attendees or that the program would contribute to your congregation's survival? Why?
5. One of the possibilities with the Shabbat-hop is that eventually, some participants will visit a synagogue where they feel a connection and will become regular attendees. In the church, we often use the term "church-hoppers" to refer to people who attend one congregation until something happens there that they don't like. They then move on and try another congregation, and continue "hopping" until they find one where they are most comfortable. (Some chronic church-hoppers never do find a congregation where they stick.) What do you think of church-hopping? What negative and positive things can you say about it?
Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:
Psalm 148:12-13
Young men and women alike, old and young together! Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven. (For context, read 148:1-14.)
The final five psalms (146-150) in the book of Psalms are all intended as acts of praise. In fact, each of the five is framed by the opening and closing refrain "Praise the LORD!" These two verses in Psalm 148 invite us to picture a group of worshipers consisting of "Young men and women alike, old and young together," which suggests that congregations today do -- or at least SHOULD -- include such age diversity.
Questions: To what degree is it the responsibility of older worshipers to fan the fires of faith in younger people? Is some Christian equivalent of the Shabbat-hop an acceptable way to fan those fires if young adults are not readily participating in Christian worship? Why or why not? How much is it the responsibility of younger people to seek out and serve God?
Ecclesiastes 12:1
Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no pleasure in them" ... (For context, read 12:1-8.)
Many studies have shown that people are more likely to remain in or return to religious faith and practice if they are first exposed to it while they are still children and teens. But young adulthood is often a period of questioning earlier learnings and finding one's own way. During that time, the church's task is often to help young adults reconnect with the faith more than exposing them to it for the first time.
Questions: What challenge for your congregation do you hear in the last paragraph of the "In the News" section above (the paragraph that begins "The article challenges churches when it says ...")? How much are you willing to accept change regarding the elements of worship you find most comforting and inspiring? Should you have to make accommodations? Did the previous generation make accommodations for you?

Matthew 28:19-20
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. (For context, read 28:16-20.)
Jesus spoke these words, often referred to as "the Great Commission," to his 11 disciples, but the church has long understood them as a directive to the whole church as well. As the cultural environment changes, the ways in which we go about the disciple-making process may need to change as well.
Questions: Do you see the idea of a "nonmembership model" as a faithful way to carry out the Great Commission today? Why or why not? What do you think the membership model looked like for the earliest church? How does "membership" differ from "discipleship"?
2 Timothy 4:2
... proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. (For context, read 3:14--4:5.)
In this passage, Paul was speaking to Timothy as a church leader and evangelist. Notice that Paul tells his coworker to be persistent in proclaiming the message, regardless of "whether the time is favorable or unfavorable."
Questions: In terms of ministry to young adults, is the current time favorable or unfavorable? How might that affect our expectations about the results of such ministry? How should it affect our determination to carry out such ministry?
Acts 6:8-9
Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. (For context, read 6:8-15.)
This particular Jewish house of worship was commonly called "the synagogue of the Freedmen" because some members of the congregation were former slaves. The existence of a synagogue so identified suggests that there were other synagogues composed of people who had never been enslaved, or were perhaps even slave owners. Those who had formerly been slaves or were children of slaves might want no association with people in their former state but were probably also not fully welcome in synagogues of free people. In other words, congregations differed based on the status, class and cultural background of their members and other demographic factors. Thus, even in the the time of Christ, people could conceivably "hop" until they found a synagogue where the members were most like themselves.
Questions: What are the spiritual advantages of worshiping side by side with people who are similar to you in race, class, station in life, etc.? What are the spiritual disadvantages?
For Further Discussion
1. What opportunities do you hear in this comment from one young adult: "What people in the past may have gotten from church, I get from the Internet and Facebook. That is our religion"?
2. Comment on this, cited in the "Best Practices in Young Adult Faith Formation" article:
[Research from LifeWay research affirms that] [y]oung adults are longing for community and fellowship with peers, looking for ways to reach people in need, and circling the church but not always finding a home in it.
• Connection is the key. Community with other young adults is extremely important in their lives.
• Young adults seek authentic answers in the Bible and Christian tradition, best learned through participation in small group meetings.
• Making a difference is essential by having the opportunity to meet the needs of others on a regular basis. Social action is cited as the major reason uninvolved young adults would consider being part of a church.
3. Respond to this: Regarding church hopping, there's an old story about a man who was stranded on an island for 10 years. When he was finally rescued, outsiders were amazed to discover he had built a whole town out of palm branches. There was a movie theater (no movies, of course), a grocery store (empty shelves), a tavern, a club and, at each end of his forlorn Main Street, a church. Why two churches? he was asked. "Well," he replied, "that church over there was the place where I drew spiritual comfort during my long exile. I sang hymns I remembered from childhood. I recited those scraps of scripture I could recall and even occasionally delivered a halting sermon. Always I imagined myself surrounded by the people of Christ, among the fellowship of believers, and in a mystical way I believed that during my hours of worship I was truly back among you, with Jesus." And the other church? he was asked. "Oh, that's the church I wouldn't be caught dead in."
4. What events or strategies does your church plan or employ to draw in younger people? Would it be better for people of different ages to have different services and only get together for occasional events? Is this true to the biblical model? Would this be a sign of success or failure? Does your church have self-segregated services?
5. Ask young adults in your TWW group or congregation to respond to this:  How do you, as a younger person, find your place within a congregation? Were you welcomed? Marginalized? Were you willing to put up with having to jump through hoops or over hurdles to become more involved?
Responding to the News
This is a good time to consider what opportunities your congregation may be overlooking to help young adults connect with the Christian faith, and then to decide how you can better take advantage of such opportunities.

Closing Prayer
Help our church, O Lord, to find and employ effective means to connect people of all ages to the life-sustaining power of the Christian faith. In Jesus' name. Amen.