While many U.S. churches are losing members and vitality, others are bucking that trend by attracting and engaging young people. Instead of aging, these churches are “growing young.”
Based on groundbreaking research that involved over 250 congregations, Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church profiles innovative churches that are engaging 15- to 29-year-olds. These churches—reflecting the denominational spectrum, varying in size, and located all over the country—are growing spiritually, emotionally, missionally, and numerically.
Authors Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad Griffin show that reaching young people doesn’t boil down to hyper-entertaining programs, trendy locations, or other attractions. What matter most are relationships, empathy, community, and Jesus. “Thanks to these remarkable congregations, tens of thousands of young people can’t stop talking about how ‘known’ they feel in their church and how, no matter what happens, their church feels like ‘home,’” the authors say.
Youth pastor and doctoral candidate, Filip Milosavljevic, interviewed the Growing Young authors for Relevant Magazine, to explore what keeps Millennials engaged with the church.
Growing Together 