The Parish Paper - September 2015: Can Congregations Reach Young Adults

A recent national study of more than 11,000 congregations identified worshipping communities that are successfully engaging young adults. When 20 percent or more of a congregation’s active participants are between eighteen and thirty-four years old, the researchers designated the church as having significant young adult participation. They found that only 16 percent of all U.S. congregations met this threshold criterion. Thus, the study concludes that high young adult participation rates are not typical for American congregations.

Most young adults are not hostile to organized religion, but the majority of them are unaffiliated and many describe church as irrelevant to their lives. Still, a broad range of faith groups found ways to minister to this important demographic.