Attracting the Next Generation to Your Church By Joel Murray

I heard somebody say that change is inevitable, but growth is optional. Change is going to happen. I’ve had to develop the appetite to see how the world is changing and how I can improve to reach it. Then, I’ve had to get willing to take the risk on the backside of that knowledge to attract the next generation back to our church. I’ve had to ask myself:

How am I going to change?

Where have I become comfortable or complacent?

Who am I being attractional to, and is it the world of yesterday or the world of today?

Now, the Bible is never going to change. The message is never changing, but the method of delivery does change.

The simple truth, and it is a harsh reality, is that sometimes we as pastors know too much. We have perfectly designed our churches to reach a world that doesn’t exist anymore. Many of the churches I’m thinking of were at one point the hottest thing in town. God was really moving there, and the church was seeing a lot of visitors and new salvations. But they got comfortable. They kept running the same service over and over again, expecting it to reap the same results. Meanwhile, the world has changed, and what worked for the church before isn’t working now.

Today, what seems to be building trust with the next generation is expository preaching from the Word of God. I heard Pastor Larry Stockstill teach years ago that “the most powerful words of your whole sermon are the words of Scripture.” I believe the next generation is looking for the real deal. They don’t want fake or fluff. They are looking for authenticity, for answers and the anointing that breaks the yoke of bondage.

Our society today is the most biblically illiterate it has ever been. I think that’s because of how unchurched or de-churched America has become. Expository preaching fixes this problem. It gives people what they actually want and need, and because it’s Scripture, its words will never return void.

There’s so much grabbing for people’s attention today. They need the Word of God that always accomplishes its mission. And they need a healthy community that will build their faith and disciple them properly. In our church, we’ve tried to implement not just a “find your people” mindset but also the mindset to work together to get through the real problems in life. We promote confessing your sins to one another, having accountability, and developing trustworthy friendships. We foster those friendships through community engagement.

Once a month when the weather’s nice, we hold Food Truck Sundays. We invite local food trucks to pull up in front of the church to get people to hang out on the lawn and have a meal together. We also started something called Pizza Groups, where the church buys the first round of pizza for your group of three to five people for the first meeting. All we want is for these members to get together and talk about last Sunday’s message. It’s just a unique way for us to get people to circle up more often.

Community is something we communicate regularly. It works its way into our messages and into the language we use even around the office. Something I’ve really tried to communicate, especially to our staff, is that my door is open to anyone who wants to come and share a thought or question with me. Having an open door for communication is as important as actually communicating. Why? Because I need to allow people to speak into my leadership. I need to know what I can improve that will help them out.

Another thing I think we need to be able to do as pastors and leaders is share our failures more often. Growing up, I looked up to so many leaders in the church, and the type of Christianity that was being put on display was almost unattainable. Leaders never shared their failures or where they missed it on their journey, and that information could have really helped me. Nobody’s perfect. It would have been helpful to understand that sooner. I want everyone at our church to know that it’s okay if they’ve made mistakes. The person on the platform with the microphone is a mistake-maker too. When we communicate our stories authentically and share a little bit more than our Christian highlight reel, we become relatable and gain the trust of the next generation.

Oftentimes, we say so many things from the pulpit. It’s just an endless stream. But what the next generation is looking for is a window into our culture and our lives to see who we really are. Having a clear message of who we are and what we’re here to do is so important. That’s why our team has chosen to simplify our approach. We talk a lot about how we don’t want to be mediocre at many things; we want to be efficient and awesome at just a few things. We don’t want to put so much out there that people can’t decide where to jump in and interact with us. This has helped the next generation better engage with us. It will help you too.

I hope you’ll take some time today to figure out new ways to attract the next generation to your church. Something that was pivotal for me was that I was given the opportunity to help lead worship from the drum set when I was ten years old. It changed my life. I tell you this because sometimes you have to take a risk on a young person and give them an opportunity. Change is uncomfortable, but as long as the vision is clear and you’re certain about what God has called you to do, God will bless it. Like my dad always says, “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K.” Take more risks and see how God attracts the next generation to your church.