18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solid Research Produces New Insights Into Young Adults and the Church, February 17, 2009
This review is from: Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them (Hardcover)
In their new book, Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and The Churches That Reach Them, Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, and Jason Hayes provide a comprehensive analysis of who the eighteen-to-twenty-somethings are and what churches are doing to reach them.
Ed outlines the purpose of the book by saying -
"This is a book about who the younger unchurched are and how to reach them. Yes, that may be a little old school. Many authors and speakers want to focus on fascinating and important questions like what is wrong with our belief system, how can we do this differently, and what will the future look like for churches? I have asked questions like that myself, and I will do more of that in my next book. But, in this book, Richie, Jason, and I are asking one simple question: Who are the young unchurched and how can they be reached with the good news of Jesus Christ? (OK, that's two questions.) " Lost and Found, p. 3.
And, if you think you know everything about this group, think again. They are amazingly spiritual, open to talking about spiritual matters, bugged by Christians, think about eternity, believe in God, sort of believe Jesus is special, and want to make a difference.
And, just to get you going here, a majority of younger adults wouldn't like it if your church doesn't ordain women, or doesn't welcome homosexuals. And you thought this was going to be easy, didn't you? But the authors give you some ways to address the gender and sexuality issues with this generation.
Based on three large surveys of 1,000 18-29 year olds selected intentionally to reflect the diversity of their generation, the authors are quick to state that there is no one profile that embodies all 18-29 year olds. Respondents included whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics in proportions consistent with the greater U. S. population.
The book divides into three main sections:
1. Polling. This is the data and rationale of the survey including who they are, what they believe, and how they feel about God, church, religion, and Christians.
2. Listening. Four characteristics of this group emerged as the authors surveyed and talked with them. Young unchurched adults want community, depth, responsibility, and connection. More on these later.
3. Reaching. This is the longest section of the book, and spotlights real churches who are effectively reaching significant numbers of young unchurched adults. Surprisingly, the authors discovered that the young unchurched attended both alternative churches with really cool names, and more traditional First Church-types that blended generations in nurturing, mentoring, and serving connections.
The book is crammed with statistics, examples, characteristics, and stories about the young unchurched. Several times I found my stereotyped assumptions of this group exploded by solid research. For instance, a higher percentage of adults under-30 believe there is a God, than adults over-30. And, those under-30 exceed their older counterparts in spirituality and openness to spiritual things.
Not surprisingly, the young unchurched are not all unchurched for the same reason. The book helpfully categorizes the younger unchurched into four groups:
1. Always unchurched. (Never involved)
2. De-churched. (Attended as a child)
3. Friendly unchurched. (Not hostile or angry at the church)
4. Hostile unchurched. (What it sounds like)
Those categories create a starting point in building relationships with younger adults who are unchurched. They are not all alike and a cookie-cutter approach will not be effective. Actually, programs are less effective because this group, regardless of their unchurched orientation, is seeking relationships.
And it is the relational aspect of the book that is most encouraging to me as a small church pastor. Reaching young adults is not about having a rock band (although some churches do); or about alternative worship (although some churches do that, too). Instead this generational group seeks relationship, community, and even cross-generational connections. As a matter of fact, the authors discovered that the majority of churches effectively reaching younger unchurched adults were doing so in a cross-generational context.
Lost and Found is not a how-to book for reaching young adults. It is rather a here's-what book -- here's what this generation is, here's what they want, and here's what churches are doing to reach them. Stetzer says they intentionally titled the book, Lost and Found in order to showcase churches that are finding these lost-to-the-church young adults, and finding them effectively.
If you want to gain some eye-opening insight into the world of 18-29 year olds, get some handles on who they are, and read stories of churches reaching them, Lost and Found is the book you need. Buy it, read it, talk about it; but better still, talk to some young unchurched adults yourself. Learn some basics from the book, then have coffee with a college student home on break, or a young married couple just starting out, or young adult in their first post-college job. Lost and Found can give you the background you need to start those conversations with young adults in your community. I imagine that's what Ed, and Richie, and Jason would really like to have happen.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just another formula..., February 18, 2009
This review is from: Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them (Hardcover)
These guys get it. This isn't some magical formula on how to reach 20-somethings. It gives stats for a broad view on beliefs, but one gets a deep look inside people through the numerous interviews and notes used throughout the book. If you desire to reach 20-somethings today, this book is a great place to start.
Lost and Found explores what people aged 20-29, a group that is living life apart from church, believe and how churches can reach them. The book splits into three parts: Polling, Listening, and Reaching.
As a member of this age group, I thought their polling results were accurate albeit surprising. Extensive polling of hundreds of people revealed that most 20-somethings believe in the God of the Bible (over 75% I believe), believe Jesus died and rose again (roughly 65%), but believe that all gods are the same (some 90%).
The Listening part showed key "markers" of what people were looking for. The four listed were: Community, Depth (and Content), Responsibility, and Cross-Generational Connection. Immediately made sense to me and gave better insight to as why Mars Hill and Acts 29 connect so well with this generation and myself. This section really resonated with me.
The Reaching part gives examples of the churches who are doing this. As Stetzer states in the intro, they're not going to give you a magical formula to make this work. They're giving examples and ideas from people who are doing this.
Also included is a fictional story that weaves in at the end of chapters of composite characters. Thought it was a fun part of the book and was glad it didn't end with a happy ending. It just showed part of the journey.
As a guy who loves reading Ed's blog and has a great appreciation for his experience (planted churches in 3 cities, revived 2 dying churches, missiologist, statistician) and his heart (church planting here and abroad across all denominations and networks), I am obviously biased. But this is a great book for those who desire to see this generation of people reached.
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