the dropout problem: feedback from you guys!

Firstly, a big thank you to all those that came along to be a part of the night! We had a great night a couple of weeks back discussing ‘the dropout problem’ – why young adults are leaving the church. I presented the research and stats, along with the different types of dropouts, some of the major criticisms of those that leave the church and the culture shifts that have had a major part to play in this.


This conversation was between people from a wide range of churches, not just ours. The idea wasn’t to church bash, but to get people up to speed with what is happening around the world, and then to get some ideas. If there is a problem, we want to address it, and we need to address it for our context with our people’s concerns at heart. So here are some of the suggestions I complied from the feedback I received afterwards:

Mentoring

A major thread that was coming through was good mentoring. It seems that for young people, there tends to be a model of appointing leaders for youth and young adult work where they are put in a group and then begin implementing the program. The problem is, is that a lot of the time the program doesn’t actually address the concerns of those in the groups. They said that sometimes they are left feeling like they have to agree with it or face some sort of alienation or feel under pressure to agree with the 'proper' answers. Is this a fair evaluation?

The idea was that young people would like mentoring on a more relational level, to have someone really engage with them and the ideas they’re thinking about, rather than just working through a program. Obviously, this is a difficult one to implement at our church, when we lack people in their 30s and those who are in that age bracket are busy with jobs and families. But is there a way to use the structures already in place to lean more towards this idea?

Differentiation at the Upper end of High School

Some of the feedback from those that have just left high school is that they need more responsibility from 6^th and 7^th form in their groups – like leading discussions and putting it together themselves. Some of the feedback suggested that it becomes difficult for a youth leader to stay as passionate as needed for the whole 5 year stretch and this needs to be looked at. Further questions were raised about the way in which youth leaders are chosen and trained for youth work within the church and the criteria that is used for this. These questions were raised by was youth leaders and those who have been through the youth program. How do we really prepare young people before they leave school?

Honesty and Transparency

Picked up particularly in the written feedback was the idea that leaders need to be more open with their own doubting and personal struggles as to not give off the impression that there is a stage when you ‘make it’ as a Christian. Leaders could be more open about failure. There needs to be room to doubt and seriously question ideas and the church shouldn’t be afraid of scepticism. It was also suggested that part of the problem in church is that often Jesus is depicted as some sort of moral standard to meet, rather than the ultimate human that has done it for us. What could leadership look like as we embrace our weak humanity more as a church? Is it okay to do this?

Church Services

This stuff is the hardest because it will be very difficult to implement change across the board. People said they would like more of a mix of ages (we need you oldies at 5pm!) and would like more opportunities to engage in church wide activities. We do this already but is there a way to do it more on Sundays? Some said they would like less emotionalism in services and more robust discussion around ideas. This is heavily linked with our ideas about the function of preaching and God’s word – what are we prepared to do on Sundays with the message? Others suggested that sermons should pose open ended questions and then some material to research ourselves. Others even suggested that meetings should be less grouped around age, and more about learning styles. Really interesting ideas!

Lots have highlighted the importance of eating together. How do we do more of this as a church?

Small Groups

Finally, people would like room for some decent wrestling (not physical of course… well I guess you could…) in small groups in the week, moving from programs and personal concerns to also including good discussion, and room to disagree with the material. It seemed that the people present really wanted to delve into the Bible and work with it, rather than jumping straight into ‘simple truths’. Some suggested we could mix up the ages more too.


As a leadership team, we take these opinions seriously and want to address these issues head on. These are not issues that need to be tackled by one 'ministry area' in particular, but as was stated on the night, all the issues are pertinent for every age group.


So what do we think? Do we agree with this stuff? How can Windsor take these concerns seriously? If I have missed anything important, please leave suggestions in the comments below. If you have some good ideas, please leave it down there too. We have a lot to think about as a church but it is an exciting time that we can really give this stuff some thought. Ideas are really appreciated!

Also, stay tuned for part two of these evenings, where we can really have a good look at some interesting and more specific ideas!