Join us as we welcome a special guest, Rebecca, to chat about being a young adult in church and that key transition from youth to ‘grown up’ church. Alongside this, read about the ‘Prime’ drink craze, Tiktok’s new safety features and our word of the month!
FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY: YOUNG ADULTS IN CHURCH
We interviewed Rebecca Glover, author of a published Grove booklet entitled ‘How To Engage Emerging Adults In Church’, on the intricacies of young adults in church and that transition from youth to young-adulthood.
In your experience and from your research, what’s it like to be a young adult in church? Are there even any young adults in church?
Rebecca: There are definitely young adults in church but they are a minority amongst the pews and they can often feel out of place. There are usually lots of ministries and groups for other areas of the church such as toddler groups, youth groups, lunch clubs for the elderly and so on. It can be really hard to find your place when you leave youth-work and become a young adult in church.
What are some of the key themes that came up in exploring this topic?
Rebecca: There were four main themes that came up.
- Attraction – There’s this whole conversation about whether it’s okay for a church to be attractional and to be attracted to a church, but if it’s Jesus-centred then that should be fine. Attraction is around things like visuals, song-choices, authentic preaches and so on.
- Community – It’s the idea that you belong before you believe and having a sense of community.
- Critical Mass – This is having a mass of young adults that attract young adults. This one is hard because how do you attract young adults without having young adults? You could get involved in things like freshers events or by getting involved on social media etc.
- Intentionality – Be intentional about young adult ministry. For example, having dedicated young adult pastors or investment from pastors/youth pastors who take on responsibility with this group. Remember not just to include references to movies from the 80s and little things like that, too.
What can churches be doing to attract and engage young adults?
Rebecca: I think it’s about being intentional and making small changes like tweaking the language used. For example, talking about ‘tomorrow when you go to college’ as well as ‘when you go to work’. It’s about knowing your locality, engaging in freshers events and other things. It really is up to you how big or small you go, but there are lots of small, simple but impactful ways to start.
Anything else you want to share?
Rebecca: I think it can be easy to be fearful of young adult ministry; to feel like it’s a huge thing and you’re not sure what to do. It’s better to start somewhere small and have a go, than ignore this sizeable group altogether.
For the fully fleshed out conversation, listen to the podcast. And to purchase the Grove booklet, head here: https://grovebooks.co.uk/products/y-68-how-to-engage-emerging-adults-in-church
DIGITAL WORLD: 60 MINUTE LIMIT FOR UNDER 18S ON TIK TOK
It might be surprising to those who work with young people that Tik Tok, the short form video app, has a good number of safety features in place with under 18s in mind…and they’re planning on adding a new one to the line-up – 60 minute time limits.
As it stands, current features include 13-15 year olds having their accounts set to private by default, direct messaging only being available to those aged 16 or older and the ability of hosting live videos only being open to 18 years plus. On top of this, they have now announced that “In the coming weeks, every account belonging to a user below age 18 will automatically be set to a 60-minute daily screen time limit.” . In regards to how this will work, TikTok has said “If the 60-minute limit is reached, teens will be prompted to enter a passcode in order to continue watching, requiring them to make an active decision to extend that time.”
Of course, this isn’t entirely foolproof but it’s a step in the right direction. Alongside this, Tiktok are adding more family pairing features so that parents/guardians can be more aware of what their teens are watching. This includes the ability to set screen time limits, seeing how long is spent on the app and choosing to mute notifications to their young person’s phone.
The use of social media is an ever-present topic regarding young people and it’s good to see that platforms are stepping up in their responsibilities, but it does make us ask the questions of whether we are still enabling our young people to make wise choices themselves.
TRENDS: THE PRIME CRAZE
Prime has caused a frenzy amongst young people. It’s a new(ish) drink that is repeatedly selling out in shops all over the UK and young people are going crazy for it and hunting it down!
The drink was created by two popular YouTubers, KSI and Logan Paul. There are two main varieties; Prime hydration which comes in a bottle and Prime energy which comes in a can. The drink has been selling out, not just in shops, but also online on the brand’s website and many people have even been re-selling bottles at higher prices due to the insane demand – one shop in Wakefield sold a bottle for £20.
The website even has sections where you can find the nearest shop that sells it and a ‘verify your Prime’ section to make sure you have the real thing. It’s certainly an on-trend craze in many areas of youth culture in the UK right now – have your young people bought into it yet?
Sources:
Word Of The Month
‘Rizz’
A slang term for someone’s ability to attract a romantic partner. Believed to be shortened from the word ‘charisma’.
Eg ‘ Kieron’s got serious rizz.’ ‘Harry Styles’ rizz is impeccable’