Workshop Awakens Youth
Workers to Postmodern Trends

by Katie Cooper
How do we keep the church from going out of business? The question seems silly if you didn’t think that the church is going out of business, but the reality is that churches will be struggling to stay alive in ten years if the present trends continue.

In Chattanooga and in cities all over the country, statistics are showing that in every generation, fewer and fewer people are responding to Christianity and becoming a part of a church.

Seventy-eight percent of persons over the age of 65 go to church, but that number plummets to 28% for persons between the ages of 30 and 65.

What about the next generation? The numbers are continuing to drop. The future of our church is in danger.

If you are like me, you are starting to feel a little uneasy by these statistics. I am the Youth Director at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Chattanooga, and I got a huge wake up call when I innocently attended a workshop entitled, “The Future is Now- Reaching This Generation.”

Two dynamic speakers, Reggie McNeal and Brian McLaren, stood in front of a diverse group of church leaders from all denominations and all parts of Southeast Tennessee and told of the threats to the future of our churches.

Our churches are becoming increasingly ineffective at reaching the younger generations. Just look at your church. Are the Generation Xers (ages 18-25) as well represented as the Baby Boomers? What about the Millennials (younger than 17)? Where will your church be in 10 years if there is no solid foundation in the youth to carry it on?

As a member of Generation X, I have seen my peers fall away from the church in droves. And, as a youth director of the next generation, the Millennials, I have seen that it is becoming harder and harder to find kids that have a strong desire to serve Christ. What is our church doing wrong?

There obviously needs to be some changes if we expect to build our Christian faith.

But what kind of changes? It seems so scary to me that the young generations, mine included, of this country are not being reached by the church. What is even more frightening is that I am unsure of what to do.

The workshop, “The Future is Now”, has opened my eyes to a problem that I might never have seen until it was too late to save the church. Now, our task as Christians and as a Church is to stop doing church and start being church. We need to wake up and realize that if we’re not trying to reach the sea of people that sleep in on Sunday mornings, then we are going out of business.

Katie Cooper is Youth Director, St. Peter’s, Chattanooga.