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
Recommended Citation
Tompkins, Paul, "Bringing Home our Adventist Prodigals" (2009). 180 Symposium Publications. 73.
https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cye-pubs/73
Acknowledgements
Posed with permission, Center for Youth Evangelism at Andrews University