> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://thepulse.org/en/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Growing Young: 6 Factors That Help Young People Love Their Church - URL: https://thepulse.org/en/growing-young-6-factors-for-young-people-to-love-church/ - Published: 2023-09-18T04:00:15.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-06T18:36:00.000Z - Description: How do we build a church that young people love? According to the Fuller Youth Institute’s “Growing Young” study, there are six strategic factors that make a church friendly to young people. - Author: Chris Orth - Tags: Articles, #target-leaders, #topic-leadership, #topic-evangelism, #topic-vision, #age-teens, #age-young-adults, #daily, #translation-pending ## “I love my church” One in two teenagers in your church wants nothing more to do with faith, at least by their mid-20s. I have young kids myself. The thought of 50% of them showing up at my 55th birthday as convinced atheists breaks my heart. Sadly, that is exactly the reality for many teenagers from our churches. As they become adults, they give up their faith and make the most important decisions of their lives on a different foundation. Why is that? And how can we be churches where two out of two teenagers are still passionately following Jesus in their late 20s? In its “Growing Young” study (2016), the Christian Fuller Youth Institute in California (@fulleryouthinstitute) looked at 250 churches that are especially good at reaching young people between 15 and 29\. In these churches, the generations actively share life together, and the young people say: “I love my church.” The team behind the survey wanted to know what these churches do differently. The result was six strategic factors that any church can put into practice. ## 1\. Unlock keychain leadership The first factor is about opening up key positions. > “Whoever holds the keys has the power to let people in or to keep people out. Keys provide access to physical rooms, as well as to strategic meetings, significant decisions, and central roles or places of authority. The more power you have, the more keys you tend to possess.” (Kara Powell)¹ In churches that young people love, key leaders entrust all generations with their own keys, including teenagers and young adults, and open up key positions to the younger generation. ▶️ ****Action** Take a piece of paper and write down the real and figurative keys on your key ring. Don’t hold on to your keys. Think about which young person you will pass one of your keys on to. Write down a few names right now. ## 2\. Empathize with today’s young people A church shows the younger generation that they are warmly welcome when its people make an effort to put themselves in young people’s shoes and understand their issues, hopes and worries. In short: empathy. It takes effort to really understand what teenagers are doing, why they’re doing it, what their needs are, how they think about the world and what matters to them.² Many young people are concerned about the climate, terrorism, social media and global connectedness, and other issues. Growing up has become more complex, even though the basic questions have stayed the same: 1. Who am I? 2. Where do I belong? 3. What difference do I make? As churches, we can walk alongside them here with interest and empathy and support young people in finding answers from the gospel. ▶️ ****Action** This Sunday, come to church as if you were a teenager. Look at the parking lot, the church building, the worship service and your website through the eyes of a young person. ****What message are you sending teenagers?** If you’re not sure: Meet up with a teenager and ask. Build a close, empathetic relationship with a teenager. ## 3\. Take Jesus’ message seriously Young people love churches that take Jesus’ message seriously. They love churches where the real gospel is taught and lived, where it’s clear that faith is about more than behavior and rules, sin management and a distant hope of eternal life. Spiritually mature young people want the pure gospel, that is, Jesus Christ and what he preached and did. He … - embodied the fullness of God’s unconditional love and endless faithfulness, - didn’t condemn but set people free, - restored broken people, - invited people to follow him, which also brings sacrifice and challenges. ![Two young men hugging in a church meeting room while others sit or pray in the rows of chairs around them](https://thepulse.org/en/content/images/2026/11/lehre-und-lebe-das-echte-evangelium.jpg) Young people love churches that take Jesus’ message seriously. Photo: [adrianna geo](https://unsplash.com/@adrigeo%5F?ref=thepulse.org), Unsplash These churches emphasize a gospel that has a relationship with Jesus Christ at its center and that already, right now, permeates and transforms every single area of our lives and our hearts. ▶️ ****Action** Ask the young people in your church what they believe and how they would describe the core of the gospel in their own words. ****Is it about behavior or about relationship?** Present morality, ethics and obedience as a grateful response to God’s goodness, his grace and our new identity as his people in this world, the way Paul did in his letters. ## 4\. Fuel a warm community “Like a big family.” That’s how young people describe their church and the community they love to go to and to get involved in. A home! > A community that shares life. Like a crackling, warm fire that all of us love to gather around with friends, this kind of warm community draws young people in. Church as a family where I’m accepted, where I belong, where there’s room for questions, doubts and experiences with God, where we celebrate and grieve together. This is about atmosphere, culture, relationships and hospitality. To make that happen, some churches have scaled back their programs to have more time for relationships and friendships. Warmth matters more than hours on the schedule. > Young people know: the internet can’t help you move, and it won’t go with you to a job interview, but your church family will. ▶️ ****Action** Ask a teenager what words they would use to describe your church. ****Do they talk about the worship service, the worship music, the building or a warm family?** How can friendships and relationships across the generations be lived out in your church? That’s a decisive factor in growing young. ## 5\. Prioritize young people (and families) everywhere This factor is probably the decisive one, and the hardest. This is where it is decided whether a church grows younger or stays an aging church, which, biologically speaking, is the natural course of things. > How much are you and your church willing to give up to reach young people? Because this isn’t about increasing the youth budget or holding two family services a year instead of one. When a church wants to grow younger, its culture and identity change, not just its program. Attention and resources shift. The atmosphere, the strategy, the community and the actual actions show that (and whether) young people are a priority. You can see this, for example, when teenagers aren’t only allowed to help with children’s church but are included and given meaningful tasks: in worship services, in new projects, in decorating and arranging spaces and so on. Jesus himself paid so much attention to children and held them up as examples that it annoyed his disciples. When we prioritize young people and [their families](https://thepulse.org/en/3-tips-for-involving-parents-in-youth-ministry/#do-something-together), include them and support them, we have Jesus on our side. ▶️ ****Action** ****“How would you do it?”** speaks volumes when you, as an adult, ask a teenager that before the next worship service, church party, prayer evening … How can you [involve parents more](https://thepulse.org/en/3-tips-for-involving-parents-in-youth-ministry/#do-something-together) in shaping young people, and inform and support them better? ## 6\. Be the best neighbors ![A young man looking down, wearing a black cap embroidered with the words Love your neighbour, with a crowd blurred in the background](https://thepulse.org/en/content/images/2026/11/love-your-neighbor.jpg) Make a point of getting to know today’s culture. Photo: [Nina Strehl](https://unsplash.com/@ninastrehl?ref=thepulse.org), Unsplash Jesus told us to love our neighbors. Young people are looking for churches that don’t condemn the world outside the church walls and isolate themselves, but love it and shape it in God’s way. > They recognize the good in culture without taking everything in unexamined. Without closing their eyes to problems, they live out a culture of dialogue and relationship. This is a challenge that takes both biblical callings seriously: to be a holy people, set apart, and also to know our neighbors, to treat them with grace and to love them. ▶️ ****Action** Find out the demographics of your church’s neighbors, from age and country of origin to education and family status. ****Is that reflected in your church?** Make a point of getting to know today’s culture: Talk with teenagers, listen to the most popular songs right now, spend time as a culture detective downtown or at the mall. ****What do you see, what do you hear, what are people talking about?** ## Conclusion: talk with them The Fuller Youth Institute’s findings excite me and offer lots of ideas and approaches you can start with right away. When it comes to putting them into practice, you can only take one step at a time. It wouldn’t help to take on all six factors at once. > This process of change takes time, because a church’s culture and identity are changing. The fruit will only become visible slowly. But it’s worth taking the first step, and that step is conversation. How can the older generations, how can the church leadership, how can you yourself find out from young people what’s on their minds, what they wish for and how they see the church? I encourage you: Ask. If we do that and live accordingly, our churches will grow younger, and young people will say: “I love my church.” --- ¹ Powell, Kara, Jake Mulder and Brad Griffin. 2016\. *Growing Young: 6 Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church*. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, p. 53. ² Cf. ibid., p. 92. This article was first published by [Forum Wiedenest](https://www.wiedenest.de/?ref=thepulse.org) (in German).