Don't Leave!!

I read this in a book I am reading now called Killing Cockroaches by Tony Morgan, a pastor and CSO of NewSpring Church. He also posted this on his blog. It really provoked my thought because I have seen many friends drop out of church. According to other books I have read recently (Essential Church and Lost and Found) these twenty and thirty somethings do not see the church as essential and relevant. What do you think? Is this true in our community?

"Wired magazine (October 2006) interviewed Dawn Ostroff, the president of entertainment for the new CW television network. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

Wired: Every channel drools over the 18- to 34-year-olds.

Ostroff: We’re the only broadcast network focusing solely on this demographic. And if you think about it, all the major life events happen to people between the ages of 18 and 34. They graduate high school, go to college, get their first apartment, and buy their first car. We will have the ability to advertise to these viewers when they’re going through all of this.

Here are my observations and thoughts:
There are several other major life events that typically happen during this season of life. As examples, people get married, buy their first homes, have children and raise those children.

Most churches focus their ministry on people that are 20 to 30 years older than this demographic (emphasis added).

This demographic is leaving the church. I recently noted that Agape Press reported that 88

percent of children from evangelical homes are leaving the church shortly after they graduate from high school.

Sometimes I think television is more concerned with reaching this generation than churches are.
I’m guessing it will be almost impossible for existing churches to shift their focus to try to target this generation. If that’s true, we probably need lots of new churches to reach this generation.

So, what do you think? If existing churches tried to focus on reaching this generation, how would our ministries have to change?"

Read more: "The Lost Generation? TonyMorganLive.com" - http://tonymorganlive.com/2006/10/01/the-lost-generation/#ixzz0Cu1PvJPA&A