Answers: 10 years or more: 76%; 5-10 years: 12%
Eighty-eight percent of the young people surveyed have attended church for 5 years or more. This tells me that we have a generation that is not being reached. If the only people who are attending this conference are long-time, life-long Christians, we have not been effective in reaching this generation.
We have either not reached any new young people for Christ, or the new Christians are not participating in the “youth groups†of the local churches, meaning they either don’t feel welcome or don’t feel that it is relevant to their lives.
This conference was for the Baptist youth unions all over the country. About 700 young people attended from a number of Baptist churches, representing pretty much every zone of the country. It is the largest event done on a national scale throughout the year. Many months of planning allow it to take place. Promotion is sent to all the churches. Everyone is invited. It can be assumed that the churches who participate are the ones that have the most active “youth unions,†meaning that these are the Baptist churches that are doing the most with young people . But the only ones who were there this year were long-time church-goers.
It has been my experience that the unions of young people throughout the country are a place for the Christian young people to hang out and enjoy each other, functioning more as a Christian social club than anything else. While we cannot be sure, these statistics may prove that to be true. With 76% of the young people attending church for 10 years or more, my thoughts about the effectiveness of the youth union as a place for reaching your seeking friends have been confirmed. We are not being effective in the outreach efforts. We must change our methods in order to reach this generation.
