Engaging the "Why" Generation

Over the past two years, we have been searching for ways to engage the hearts of our children when it comes to church and their faith.

Our concern started somewhere close to Anna's 10th birthday. We saw her begin to pull back and disengage.

For some reason, there was a disconnect. Church became "our" thing that she participated in out of obedience. We knew that she had a genuine relationship with God, but something was not working in our traditional church model.

When we asked her about it, we discovered that she struggled to see the relevance in what she was being taught. She questioned "How do all these Bible stories apply to my life? How do they even fit together???"

We quickly realized, in doing research about the millenial generation, that this is a cultural thing. Our kids are growing up in a vastly different world than we did. They are more global, technological, experiential and philosophical. "Church as we had always known it" was not effectively reaching our children.

I went back to one of my trusted resources--a book by our friend Dr. Tim Elmore. It is called "Nurturing the Leader Within Your Child" (available at www.growingleaders.com) and is one of the best resources for parenting that I have found.

Tim gives some great tools for engaging your kids: painting word pictures, mentoring, using questions effectively, and creating "laboratories" where they can try out their wings in a safe environment. Those are just a few--you'll have to read the book to discover the rest. : )

But how do we engage this generation when it comes to their faith? We have struggled to find a church that is doing this well. It amazed us how many churches are still employing the exact same methodologies used 25 years ago.

We have finally, though, found a place that seems to "connect" with our kids. Northway understands the heart language of this generation.

Here's how their kid's ministry works. Second and Third graders are together, and Fourth and Fifth. They have large group worship within their grade units, and their corporate worship looks just like what we do in "big church".

Then they break up into small groups (of the same gender), and each group is facilitated by an adult leader. They read through the scripture, and then are asked open-ended questions ("what do you like about this passage?", "what do you not like", "how does this story apply to us?" etc.) They are given tools to begin studying the Bible for themselves, and encouraged to go seek out the answers to questions that came up in small group. It is a very investigative approach to the Scriptures, and the leaders are "coaches" or "facilitators".

This is the exact same method we use with our missional small groups in college ministry. But guess what? It also seems to be working with our preteen kids!!!! The "iron-sharpening-iron", community approach clicks with this generation. I finally see my children owning their faith, and embracing truths of the Word for themselves. And I've actually caught each of them in their rooms with their Bibles, searching for answers!!!!

Another cool thing that Northway does involves the arts. On Wednesdays different classes are offered: everything from cake decorating to pottery or even woodworking. They also offer some athletic activities. Kids can come and use creative expression to learn more about themselves, and Christian principles and concepts are applied in a one-on-one, natural way as kids work with mentors. It is a very effective program.

What are some ways that you have found to reach and engage the millenial generation? How are you making Christianity relevant to them? I would love to hear some more suggestions on how to "do church" for the "why" generation.