180 Symposium Publications

Document Type

Contribution to Book

Publication Date

2009

Abstract

Studies agree that the church is losing a significant proportion of its young people. This trend is hurting families, congregations and the church as a whole but very little seems to be done about it. Now is the time to do so. Back in the 1990’s the church last looked at restructuring youth ministry — following a commission on youth, the autumn council of 1992 voted a six point plan including revival, recovery, evangelism and nurture. A strategic plan was also authorized but the aspect of recovery has only recently begun to gain significant attention. Now is the time to make this a priority. In this paper, I will outline a model of family-based youth ministry that is part of a long term strategy for retention and recovery. This is placed in a setting of Churches of Refuge, where the model and strategy can be utilized to maximum effect. Historically the church has always been a place of refuge and it needs to be so again today. The Church of Refuge initiative is born with this in mind and is based on a model of cities of refuge as recorded in Deut. 19 where people could flee for safety. In this context a Church of Refuge is one that is intentional about ensuring that young people are protected, valued and involved. In the Trans-European Division a strategic plan incorporating both criteria and action steps for such churches has been developed and is included in the Appendix of this paper

First Page

149

Last Page

161

Book Title

Ministering with Millennials: A Complete Report on the 180° Symposium

Editor

Roger L. Dudley with Allan Walshe

Publisher

Advent Source

City

Lincoln, NE

Series

The 180° Symposium

ISBN

9781577565307

Acknowledgements

Posted with permission, Center for Youth Evangelism at Andrews University

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