What can be done to bring more young people into the church?

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Le_Crouton

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The other day I was at a church event and there was a mobile component to it. Everyone in the audience had to use their phones to complete a survey. At the end we saw the results. One of the questions was how old are you? Only 2% of the people in the audience were 18-25 and only 6% were 25-35. I’m 28. I’m saddened by this. I’d like more people my age in the church. What can be done about this?
 
Prayer never hurts. Engage and invite those you know and encounter. It means a whole lot more coming from peers than from anyone else. By this, I don’t mean beat them about the head until they are woosey and come with you. Live your life with joy and look for ways to reach out.
 
As difficult as it may be, leading by example and exhibiting the joy of belief. Oh, and prayer. Much prayer.
 
Preach to the young the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Jesus is truly present on earth today. Where would anyone want to be except Church, if they truly believed that Jesus is present on earth in that Church.
 
My $.02, coming from a non-Catholic, stronger social groups for those age groups.

Same thing is happening to my wife’s parish. They used to have a good program where after CCD classes we’d all share a meal, fellowship, etc… They took that program away and went to a family program instead. A lot of younger families left for churches with better youth groups.
 
Go to the Newman Centers. They’re all there. I think the Mass I was at today had like 70 percent of attendees under age 25. There was a handful of us old people there only because we live in the neighborhood and the Newman Center has the only afternoon Mass for about 15 miles.

I’ve also noticed quite a few young people at the Lifeteen Mass with the electric band at another church. By “young people” I don’t mean Lifeteen age, I mean there’s quite a few people around age 22-30 at it, in addition to all the kids who are there for the Lifeteen stuff. I’m not sure if they’re there for the music or if they’re there because it’s the latest available Mass on a Sunday. Late Masses on Sunday also seem to draw younger people; most young people I know don’t really like rolling out of bed at 9 in the morning on the weekend to get to Mass, nor do they want to give up Saturday afternoons.
 
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Have the church BE the church. People, young and old, want real things.
Most places already have clubs, social groups, etc.

You could have a small, poor, rural place with ‘slow’ priest and parishioners but if people actually live like they believe the Church’s teaching, that church and those people will shine like stars and attract all who see it.

If people really believe the words the priest speaks at Mass, their awe and reverence will be plain to see. Their joy and caring will be carried with them wherever they go.

Don’t water things down. Don’t look for loopholes. Don’t constantly try to make it ‘easier’. Don’t make it ‘hard’ artificially, but Jesus told us to take up our crosses, not to dump them and be ‘Easter people’, ‘you’re good enough the way you are’, etc. You are good inside and you’ll be still BETTER when you follow Him, even when it’s hard, but you’ll want to do it for love and you’ll have the help of the people around you.

Despite assurances, nobody wants to come to church to hear on the whole so-so saccharine music sung in a so-so way, to sit on a rather hard chair while somebody drones on or emotes or jokes and pretty much just tells you “I’m OK you’re OK’ ha ha how about those 49ers’, everybody goes up, takes some bread, sips some wine, now remember to applaud Aunt Grace everybody, she’s having her 80th birthday and it’s donuts after Mass”.
People come to church even if they’ve spent years on autopilot because they feel that at Church they may–or they should–encounter God. Because while we’ve all been stopped dead in rapt wonder at a sunset or the smile on a toddler’s face and thanked God, He fades rather quickly while the ‘reality’ of the sunset or the toddler takes over. . . but at Church that is HIS home. He isn’t just ‘passing by’ as we go on with our lives. . .WE are taking the time and effort to come to see HIM.

And when we don’t act like it, when we act the same way we do when we’re ‘out living our lives’, we might still glimpse Him now and then but not because we’ve searched Him out and are taking the time to get to know and visit Him.

And that’s why churches need to make it clear that this is where God ‘is’ and that, just like when you come to visit your grandma, or your boss, or somebody very important, you act in certain ways. You aren’t ‘the boss’ here; somebody else is. This isn’t about you; you aren’t an equal here. Look at Queen Elizabeth. Even Prince Philip, as important as he is, is not her equal. He’s obviously well loved and has an important job to do and is an important part of her life as her husband, but there is a protocol which even he must observe.

How much more should we as God’s children, dearly beloved children as we are, show God respect.

Sure, over the decades many children have lost respect for their parents. Many parents don’t seem ‘entitled’ to respect, acting in ways that hurt their children. But we know what respect SHOULD be (since we are quick to recognize when it is denied to US).

Instead of working on more strategies to offer people ‘community’, let’s let God offer Himself to us and let’s recognize what He’s doing and respond to Him.
 
Le_Crouton said:
The other day I was at a church event
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My next question would be, is this the kind of church event that a lot of young people would enjoy going to?
One parish I know (this is a different parish from the two I already mentioned above) hosts a monthly Adoration time on a Wednesday evening just for the young adults of the county. Older people can come too if they want to just do Adoration (which is how I know about it) but the program is for young people and 90 percent of the people there are young people. A lot of them know each other and come every month. Everybody adores Jesus for an hour (sometimes with a couple young people playing guitars softly or singing praise and worship music), then there’s a talk by a priest, usually it’s a priest from the nearby Catholic college speaking on some subject of interest to young people. Then they have some sort of abbreviated Vespers. And then all the young people go to a nearby restaurant for pizza and fellowship time. I always see about 40 young people at the Adoration (I do not accompany them to the pizza night).
 
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This was an event that was for everyone. There are more young adults at other events like adoration with praise and worship music but these events are infrequent
 
Then increasing the frequency and promoting the young people’s events at places where Catholic youth are (like colleges if there’s one nearby) is a way to get young people to attend.
 
I’m on a FB group for youth ministers, and on there people have said that youth don’t want/need traditional catechism classes, they need an encounter with Jesus. Does anyone know what such an “encounter” looks like in practice? Is this what young people need to keep them in the Church?
 
Le_Crouton said:
The other day I was at a church event and there was a mobile component to it. Everyone in the audience had to use their phones to complete a survey.
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Wow. I have a flip phone (by choice). I guess I would have been left out of that one.

I’m seeing this more and more, though, and I’m going to be giving a talk at a Christian conference in a few months and plan to ask the ladies to use their Smart Phones (even though I don’t have one).

So I guess I’m unofficially a “fuddy duddy.” And dag nabbit, I’m OK with that! 🧓
 
You could have used a flip phone. You just needed to text a number
 
Le Crouton:

I don’t know where you live, but if you are in a metropolitan area I would suggest finding a Catholic Young Adult Group. Many that attend are around your age (late 20s to mid 30s) and it’s oftentimes a good place to cultivate friendships with both men and women. Many are good balances between spiritual and social. Your parish priest may know where one meets, or someone working in the parish office may know.

You can also contact the diocese (or even a neighboring diocese - I used to live on the border of two dioceses) and someone there may know of where one meets.

Hope this helps.
 
I already go to them. I’m also in a catholic men’s group. At the young adult functions maybe we’ll have 50-60 people at most. At the men’s group it’s like 5-10
 
People go to church when they find it relevant in their lives. You have to meet people where they are at. Otherwise, you lose them. Generally speaking.
 
Le_Crouton said:
What can be done about this?
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Probably nothing. We’re talking about reversing a seventy-year-old-and-still-going-strong civilization-wide trend that affects not only Catholics, nor only Christians, but people of all religions, not only in the US, but in every country outside of sub-Saharan Africa. When people have a real free choice to join the religion of their choice or to change religions or leave religion altogether, they more and more decide to leave religion altogether, or to become “culturally”, but not practicing religious.

The coercive methods available to religious groups in the past are no longer in force. There is no longer any stigma in not being associated religious among younger people today. In fact, the opposite is quickly becoming true.

Add to that that Catholicism, Christianity and “Religion” in general are broadly associated by young people with social views that young people not only do not agree with, but find morally repugnant, like misogyny, homophobia and xenophobia, and are often politically allied with right-wing political parties and organizations that young people consider “the enemy”, and it’s little wonder that there is little appetite for religion among younger people.

Then add a long and ongoing history of hypocrisy and incessant scandals related to sex and finance, fostered by a culture of cronyism and secrecy that abhors the light of day and lacks anything resembling transparency and accountability and possesses a strong reflex to blame anyone else for its own failings, from the “mainstream media” to “secular culture” to “TEH GAYZ”, and you have exactly the type of organization that young people are out to destroy rather than to join.

Unless Church leaders are able to view the Church with the same untinted glasses that young people of today do, and honestly own up to it, warts and all, they will never be able to correct their failings. They will continue to scare off more young people than they tiny few that they attract, and the Catholic Church, like just about any other religious body in the world outside of sub-Sarahan Africa, will become a ever-shrinking niche group devoid of cultural significance.

Call me a pessimist, but I don’t see much in the way of leadership, fortitude and intellectually honesty among the leaders of our Church. Most are hoping for a quick and easy magical solution, like pixie dust you can sprinkle on a congregation and make it swell with young people. Whatever solution there might be, if there is one at all, is going to be a bear to implement.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but if you are going to start anywhere, you’re going to have to start with a honest acceptance of the brutal facts, and admit that the damage has been almost entirely self-inflicted. Only from that perspective are you going to be able to come up with a solution.

I sincerely wish you luck with that. My generation failed abjectly. Maybe yours will succeed. There’s always hope.
 
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Le_Crouton said:
At the young adult functions maybe we’ll have 50-60 people at most.
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That’s a good attendance number. It’s comparable to what you might get at a typical church event for other ages.

You’re not going to get hundreds of people showing up to an event unless it’s a big concert or rally where they’re busing people in. Or unless it’s something for all ages that also interests non-Catholics, like a church carnival with entertainment and kiddie rides happening on the church lawn.

It doesn’t mean young people don’t care about the church, it just means that events are going to draw a limited number of attendees generally.
 
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Protestant churches seem to be doing better though. I don’t buy that we can’t get more people
 
Le_Crouton said:
Protestant churches seem to be doing better though. I don’t buy that we can’t get more people
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Protestant churches are not doing any better, either. At least in Western countries. Mainstream Protestant groups are doing worse than Catholicism, and even the Evangelicals, Pentecostals and Mormons are now losing members in the first world, and wherever they are growing in developing countries, it is more due to scavenging people from other Christian religions like Catholicism than due to making new converts.

So I would agree that some protestant groups are better at scavenging than the RCC, but not that they are better at making Christians out of unbelievers.
 
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