I am a part of an awesome denomination that puts excellent emphasis on our children and youth ministries.  From age zero to eighteen, we have you covered.  But then there is a bit of a drop-off… and by drop-off, I really mean 100 foot cliff drop-off.  No, just kidding.  It’s not that bad.  But like most denominations and churches, we are trying to find ways to do better with ministry to emerging adults.  Currently, we do not offer the same level of support, resources, time, effort, and energy to our young adults as we do to our children and youth ministries.  So sometimes when students “graduate” from youth ministry – there is a pretty severe drop-off for them.

But there is hope.

Church is church – no matter if it is in the children’s ministry or youth ministry or adult ministry.  Church is still church.  But there is something to be said about development, too.  You can’t just say “Well, church is church; so let’s put this Junior High kid in the Senior Adult class.  It’s all church, right?  So he’ll be fine…”.  Development plays a part in how we effectively minister to our congregations.   But we do need to balance that with the fact that it should not feel like you are going to a different church when you are done with youth group and you enter this whole new world of ‘adult ministries’.  Simply put: Our churches need to improve on our transitions and transitioning of our youth to young adult ministries and the church in general.

I truly believe this looks different for each local church congregation and context.  But here are two suggestions that I would like to offer:

1. Transitions – There need to be some landmark points in the journey of ministry to our youth where they know that they are ready for something different.  Whether this is a “graduation” ceremony or whatever it is, our young people need to know that they are now ready to take their own faith more seriously and personally.  It is theirs.  They are now ready for the next step.  And then our young people literally need to have people come around them to help them with this transition (because it needs to be viewed as an actual transition).  Youth pastors need to prepare their students and guide them with these next steps in their journey of church.  Additionally, there needs to be people on the other side who can guide them into what their church has next for them: young adult ministry, adult Sunday School class, whatever it might be.  There needs to be preparation for the transition, landmark moments to identify and validate the transition, and people on both sides to help facilitate the transition.

2. Transitioning – This is actually a lot different than ‘transitions’.  Transitioning is the process of the literal transition that is taking place.  This means that the youth pastor does not fall off the face of the earth.  This means that older adults do not automatically assume that these 18 and 19-year olds are now ready to be tithing, attending, supportive adult members of the church.  The congregation needs to help these young people through the process of transitioning.  A lot is going on in the life of a young adult as they come out of the safe cocoon of youth ministry.  Their lives, their faith, their mindset, their status, and they themselves are truly transitioning.  And they need the congregation to recognize this and help them through it.

We can do it, friends.  We can make the drop-off after youth group a lot less, well, vertical.  We can help the young people in our churches to ease into these next few years of life in the church and their crazy faith journey through youngadulthood.  Transitions and transitioning.  Let’s make it much more intentional.

Here we go.