To ask how to encourage younger people to join in church

[Ihatecocomelon]

Just that really. I'm not entering debate about what exists etc.

What would draw your children or teenagers into going to church regularly?

Our church has plenty of the older generation but only a couple of younger children and maybe 2 young couples with babies.

Thank you 😊

@wherearebeefandonioncrisps

"Because there wasn't anything else within walking distance?"

So you would rather have your kids colour pictures of characters from a belief system you don't subscribe to, (and disliked having to explain to them what they'd coloured in) find the prayers cringeworthy and yet you went because it was nearer?! 🙄

@InMySpareTime that sounds like it’s more of the youth wing of the church where the young people have (by and large) been brought up in that faith and it’s part of their lives and that of their families - rather than a group which was ‘grown’ by attracting young people with no faith (which I think is what the OP is talking about)

@alrightfella yes, we have had young people who are gay, straight, bi, or not quite settled on where their attraction lies.
It's not our place to tell them who to be attracted to, we talk to them about how to confidently assert their boundaries and let them know that they can bring their whole selves to church. Why wouldn't we?
If you tell people that God will only love them if they hide their true feelings, that's not showing Christian love, that's showing puritanical judgment.
Jesus' teaching repeatedly shows that He accepted people in their sin and didn't turn anyone away for not being "good enough" to come to Him.
We need to do the same. More loving, less judging.

Biscuits. My dc only go for the biscuits.

@SirChenjins over half of our Youth are from non-church families, dropped off on a Friday but we don't see the parents in church at other times.
Sometimes they come with friends, but not all of them have grown up in the church by a long shot.
There's not a lot else that's free and relatively unstructured for youth in the area, I think the social aspect draws quite a few of them.

Have you considered inviting Whoopi Goldberg to overhaul the choir?

i’m catholic, brought my children up catholic, younger one was even an alter server but neither of them go now. they basically have issues with the churches stance on homosexuality, same sex marriage, contraception, abortion, divorce etc. they fundamentally might believe in God but don’t agree with the Church stance on these issues so they will never attend or be a part of church life. no amount of youth clubs or film nights will change that i am afraid.

It does puzzle me as to how Christianity has become associated with very conservative social values, particularly in the USA.
Jesus really had very little to say about these things. His stance on "family values" was very different to what has become associated with Christianity. He was quite radical asking us to sell all we have and give it to those who need it, etc.

St. Francis took it very seriously and it caused a rift with his family, who thought him mad. Perhaps if the church (all denominations) were more faithful to the Christian message it would be more attractive if somewhat scary.

What got my children into church-based activities at various times were:

• not much else going on in the village
• friends attending
• connection from cubs and brownies
• activities (mostly non-religious) often with food e.g. youth clubs
• rock church and discos
• fun visits ('religion lite') from those churches into their school assemblies

Although they weren't, and still aren't, religious, so I'm not sure that's quite the outcome you're after. But some of their friends did stay on into the youth groups where I think they did some Bible study etc.

I've got some friends who run "messy church" in their locale and that seems popular.

@InMySpareTime that's good to hear, I am concerned by the it's fine to be gay but to act upon it is a sin.

one church I knew had a ‘twenties club’, aimed at students and twenty-somethings. It seemed to fill a niche and attract people to the church.

Don't.

@Annualleavecancelled

I went because it was the only toddler group around.
I wanted for my child to socialise.
I wanted to meet other mums. I was very lonely.
None of us liked the religious themes but we had to suck it up because there was nothing else.

If only I lived in a large , busy town and had a car!

Good safeguarding (there are sadly too many horror stories of kids being abused at church) and also a good critical mass of peers. No child wants to be the only/one of two or three kids or teenagers, it can be pretty intimidating for them

I'm very uncomfortable using things to help draw people in, it's wrong. If people are interested they'll go, don't offer stuff to get an audience then preach to them

Modern hymns
friendly Clergy
Sermons that are relevant and not too long
friendly parishioners
Sunday School or Liturgy group, this enables parents to fully participate and concentrate on the service instead of stressing about keeping the kids quiet and behaving. It also enables the children to have fun, access the Gospel at their level and for attending church to be a positive experience.
include the older children with readings and bidding prayers, or involve them in the choir,
baskets of bible stories or colouring in sheets and crayons
if you can make life easier for the parents they will come back.

if the church is linked to a local school, encourage the clergy to visit the school and lead assemblies.

Sunday afternoon would work better for us, I’ve toyed with going but we have swimming Sunday morning.

Church for us would be to:

Learn basic bible stories
Experience the main religion of our country
Community
Connect with the past
Mark the seasons

Nice proper coffee and cakes would be an attraction and maybe themed food occasionally eg hot toast meet sandwiches, pancakes ‘spuds and puds’

When I had a young baby I started to attend the local Church as once a month they had a specific, half an hour service before the main service, for small children and their families.

It's a brilliant service and follows a very simple format with a few songs on repeat so the children get to know them and join in. Children are allowed/encouraged to make noise which is great as I didn't want to go to a main service because of my baby being loud.

11 years later I still regularly go and have become a lot more involved, it's still a popular service for young families.

... saying that it's better than when religious people go into school to try to 'educate' kids in what should be a safe zone with no peddling

Oh and also there are biscuits and juice afterwards which I use to bribe my elder children!

I just asked my teenager what would tempt him to go to church… he looked a bit concerned and reminded me that he’s an atheist so he would never go.

I’d love to go to a Christmas carol service but I have no idea where to start. I live in a city and there are loads of churches - I don’t know how to choose one.

I think I’d be tempted to go to an occasional service if there was little/no religion involved and there were interesting local guest speakers - eg a local social historian giving a talk on the history of the area. If it’s an old building then I’d love a halloween service about ghost stories set in the church.

What about movie night with pizza and popcorn? Some sports activities? Craft evenings? Anything to engage them in social activities

I think some young people are put off organised religion because they, rightly or wrongly, believe that it contradicts their ideas of morality.

If your church is supportive of same sex relationships, doesn’t limit the positions women can hold within the church, is generally open and accepting to everyone, then market that.

Senior leaders of the Church very regularly share their not-so-inclusive views on these matters. If it's not part of the true Christian teachings, they could do with re-educating...they are 'the face' of their religion, after all.

Why would you try and make them go? How would you feel if a non religious person tried to make you stop going to church?

Sometimes it can seem a bit old fashioned. Being friendly, having modern conversations, having free events to support people in the community. Talk about things like mental health. Have coffee mornings supporting things like this.