How come I don't have many friends in church?  That's what I found myself asking. I don't mean that I'm a loner who needs to get out more. Or that the quality of people at my church is poor and therefore not worthy of friendship. What motivated me to ask that question is this; How come there just aren't that many people my age in church?

This is not a problem in every church, but for the majority of churches especially in the denomination I come from, youth and young adults are few and far between when it comes to going to church.

But why? Is it because the Gospel, now 2000+ years old is getting tired in its old age, and therefore young people are making the inevitable shift away?  Is it because God is irrelevant? Is it because church isn't cool enough?  Why aren't my friends coming to church?

The answer is complex. A mixture of a fast changing society and a slow and carefully moving church, of Christians living in fear of sharing their faith, of Christians being ashamed of the Gospel, of a lack of prayerfulness, of a lack of integrity amongst Christian leadership.  None of us, myself included are free from blame, none of us can say we've done all we can.

My friends aren't in church and it hurts.  Perhaps it's too late for them, they are getting older now, more set in their ways.  God might be merciful, I pray He will bring them to a knowledge and love of Himself. 

But there's a new generation, and a new hope.  That's why I'm a Youth Minister.  To empower youth to reach out to their friends, and to work within the leadership structures of a church to try and bring about positive change that will see more of their friends, and maybe one day my friends in church again.  That's why I'm studying theology, to work out how to take the timeless truths of God and express them in new and relevant ways to this new generation. But it's hard.

It's hard working to change things.  I like to move quickly, I like to take risks, after all, I want my friends to come back to church!  But there are lots of other people involved and for good and bad reasons changing things can be slow. 

I remind myself that older, more cautious people usually have far more wisdom than I could hope for.  That they are there to make sure I really think things through.  It's a partnership, old and young, on the same team with different gifts working to change things so that my friends, and the friends of the Christians in my youth group hear the Good News of Jesus and come back to church.

Chris Bowditch

Youth Minister

Holy Trinity Anglican Church Doncaster

www.youthministryandme.com