Many churches are struggling to reach the subsequent generation. A diversity of programs might be operated in such a situation as a way to reach out to young adults. But such programs come and go. Often what works in one context does not work in another. Possibly instead of offering formal programs aimed at the subsequent generation, churches might think about how they can build a sense of community for that generation.
Westside Family Church is committed to sharing the eternal truth of the Bible in a ethnically applicable and practical manner. Their electric guitar-driven worship style is edgy and draws hundreds of young relations. Westside’s weekend teaching style is applicable to real life, authentic, and creatively vibrant in presentation. They are innovating breakthrough approaches to help their members take their next steps of maturity and faith.
Today’s young adults are often wanting a sense of community. The American family has been in trouble for more than a generation with a divorce rate hovering at 50%. The young community who have grown up in those families have had to shift back and forth from one parent’s home to the other. They frequently have to deal with step families and the families of the girlfriends or boyfriends of their parents. Though some of these relationships last for a life span, many of them are in flux and it is hard for an young individual to know where they fit in this ever shifting family context. That leaves many young individuals looking for a sense of community outside their nuclear family.
Churches can help conquer this lack of community by trying to create a sense of belonging for young individuals. Though every church has its own unique traits, churches that roll out the red carpet for young people and help them feel accepted and wanted will soon find their seats filled with the persons from the next generation. As young people naturally attract other young people through their interpersonal set-up, once a church begins to draw in a few people in the next generation, others will tag along. Westside Family Church Lenexa KS is focused on Jesus and remains powerfully anchored to biblical truth.
Some individuals might be wondering what all this community building has to do with reaching the next generation with the Gospel. The reason building community is significant is because most of today’s young individuals want to belong before they believe. That does not essentially mean they want to join the church organizationally. It means they want to join the church sensitively. They want to fit in and feel like it is a family. Once that take place, then they begin to hear what is being said from the podium, in small group Bible studies and in one on one mentoring relations. When they see the Gospel lived out, then they are prepared to hear it spoken out. Many members of the next generation will embrace that theology if they feel embraced by the ones who adopt it. The rest will look after itself as the Holy Spirit begins to do His work of building community.