Young adults are individuals who are between 18 and 35 years of age. Situated beyond the youth group, but not yet fully comfortable with the mainstream adult scene, college and career young adults often
have difficulty finding their place in a church that has not created a natural niche for them.

Although the world calls them Generation X, young adults can stand for something excellent in your church. With consistent efforts to pray for, nurture, and empower young adults, your ministry can make a
positive spiritual impact in their lives.

Five Characteristics of Young Adults

1. In general, they are better educated than the average member.
2. They are usually single or recently married.
3. They are highly mobile.
4. They are progressive in their thinking, aware of and sensitive to social issues.
5. They are looking for a congregation that will provide a varied, quality program for meaningful, relational activities.

Five Ways You Can Minister to Young Adults

1. Empowering them to minister to each other.  Unlike youth ministry where an adult is more central, young adults are more inclined to lead their own groups, meetings, and projects. Ownership is important to them. Give them responsibilities based on individual talents and interests, then step to the side, providing support from an advisor vantage point.
2. Be practical. Young adults are pragmatic; look towards practical projects with local relevance. Also make sure there are tangible results that are evident to your young adults. Doing homeless feedings or shelter work, blood drives, and big “sibling” programs are examples of programs close to home that make impact. Young adults get excited about these opportunities.
3. Relationships are a primary concern. Beyond their peers, young adults are also looking for authentic, mutual relationships with adults. Select some empathic adults to initiate personal relationships with one or two of your young adults. Start a mentorship program in your church. Create social events that are more relationally structured and less program structured. Intentional ministry efforts to get to know young adults personally will make a substantial difference.
4. Niche ministries. A successful way to involve young adults in your ministry is to look first at the talents of your young adults. Rather than plug them into a church job description, create “niches” where they can use their expertise or develop their interests. Videography for Sabbath School discussion starters, developing a desktop-published newsletter for the church, and initiating relations for the church with social action agencies are examples of simply empowering young adults to employ their abilities for the church.
5. Focus group consult. Young adults are very diverse, and no doubt your ministry to and by them will need to be custom-tailored. An excellent way to involve them is to create a focus group or advisory council made up of young adults. Regularly meet with them to check your ideas, get their advice and ask for their help. Gradually, based on their comfort, enlist their leadership into the very core of church life. Taking this route will help them acclimate to the occasional “tempests” that emerge in church boards and other arenas of church leadership. But keep the focus group to hone your young adult ministry vision.

Here’s a Great New Young Adult Resource: Scanner is a publication of the Glendale City Seventh-day Adventist Church Young Adult Program. You can get in touch with Scanner at the following addresses: Scanner, 610 E. California Avenue, Glendale, CA 91206; phone (818) 244-7241; fax (818) 240-9485; E-mail - Scanner -gc7ac@earthlink.net; http://www.glendalecitysda.com.

More Great Resources About Young Adults:

• George Barna, The Invisible Generation: Baby Busters (Glendale, CA: Barna Research Group, Ltd., 1992).
• N. Howe and W. Strauss, 13th gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1993).
• W. Mahedy and J. Bernardi, A Generation Alone: Xers Making a Place In the World (Downers Grove, IL: lnterVarsity, 1994).
• Adventist Review, Cutting Edge edition, William G. Johnson, editor, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Sliver Spring, MD 20804-6600, (800) 456-3991, e-mail: 74617.15@CompuServe.com.
• Build Magazine, Dara Mayers&Naadu Blankson, editors, DO something, 423 W 55th Street, 8th floor, New York, NY 10019, (212) 523-1175, FAX: (212) 582-1307, Email: Daramay@aol.com.
• Regeneration Quarterly, W. Bradford Wilcox, editor, P.O. Box 3000, Denville, NJ 07834-9369, (800) 783-4903, e-mail: regeneration@csgi.com.

“From: ABZ’s of Adventist Youth Ministry”
© 2000 John Hancock Center for Youth and Family Ministry
Permission to copy for use in the local congregation or group