The ministry I wish I’d started 10 years ago

What I’ve been getting wrong all these years

As a church for the past 12 years we have poured a great deal of time and energy into ministry amongst students. I’ve loved every minute of it and many hearts and minds have been captured by a love of Christ and a determination to offer the rest of lives to Him and the service of the gospel.  Seeing that transformation in the lives of individuals as the gospel bears its fruit is an amazing privilege.

But for 12 years I’ve given practically no thought to what happens next, to the decade after graduation. That has been a mistake.

More and more I’m realising that the 20s are a key time in discipleship and that we as a church need to do far more.

A new ministry to 20somethings

As a result we’ve started a semi-regular meeting (6 times a year) for the 20somethings at our church. We’re calling it ‘New Street: navigating life in your 20s’. For those of you who don’t know New Street is the name of the main Train Station in Birmingham.

• It is not a social club (although we hope people will build strong friendships through it).
• It is not a dating agency (although we’d be delighted if God brought people together through it).
• It is not a replacement for our homegroups (we need to integrate our young graduates into the church family)
• It is an opportunity to think through together the opportunities and challenges that come – almost one after another – within the space of just a few years in our 20s.

Why is it such a challenge being a Christian in your 20s?

At our first meeting a few weeks back we wanted to recognise, together, that it is a tough transition from student days to adult life. We called the meeting ‘The shock of the new’. In future posts I’ll set out exactly what I think is going on in our 20s that churches and their leaders might find helpful.

But maybe for many of us we simply need to accept that it’s never been tougher being a 20something and a Christian (or at least not in the living memory of the church).

Not much has been written either in the secular or Christian media. One book I read Get it together – a guide to surviving your quarter-life crisis by a non-Christian author put the problem like this:

Graduation is a celebration loaded with pressures precipitating an existential crisis. Who are you? What now? You’ve got to make the best of it!

Well what does that existential crisis look like for a Christian and how does the gospel answer it? More in future posts.

If any of you have any experience of a 20something ministry in your church then I’d love to hear about it.