Moving From Non-Essential to Essential...

If you have been in student ministry long enough, you know the recurring statistic that two-thirds of church going teenagers drop out of church between the ages of 18 and 22...that's 70% who leave and only 30% who remain.  Why?

 -Simply wanted a break from church. 

 -Church members seemed judgmental or hypocritical. 

 -Moved to college and stopped attending church. 

 -Work responsibilities prevented me from attending. 

 -Moved too far away from the church to continue attending. 

 -Became too busy though still wanted to attend. 

 -Didn’t feel connected to the people in my church. 

 -Disagreed with the church’s stance on political or social 

issues.

-Chose to spend more time with friends outside the church. 

-Was only going to church to please others.

In short, the main reason you see so many churchgoing students dropout of church is because it is not ESSENTIAL to their lives.  Students are more likely to stay in church if they see it as ESSENTIAL to their lives.  While this may seem incredibly obvious, the reality is that most churches in America are doing little to become essential to the lives of their members.  Church shouldn't be looked at as ONE option of many in the lives of our students.  

So how do we become essential?  One way is to SIMPLIFY. Get the structure right.  I believe this initially starts with the core values.  Everything should stem from our values.

What are we doing to create ENVIRONMENTS that relate to the needs of our students?  Are we challenging our students to reach their full God given POTENTIAL?  Are we encouraging students constantly to be in COMMUNITY with one another? Are students being challenged to step outside of themselves, and INFLUENCE the world around them? Is MOVEMENT toward their next steps towards and with Christ constantly being communicated into their life?  

These are all ESSENTIAL values to our church (the people, not the building).  What are we doing to inject these values into the lives of our students?