Small Church Youth Ministry
Professor Rich Grassel from Geneva College recently led a seminar for youth workers entitled "Youth Ministry in the Small Church." Rich did his usual wonderful job. He did make one statement that filled me with energy and conviction. Rich said, "Typically, a small church contains fewer that 150 worshippers. These churches comprise between 85 to 90 percent of the churches across the United States. That is 300,000 churches out of the 340,000 churches in America."
If you put that information to work here in Lawrence County, you would find that out of the 170 churches in the county we would have 153 churches that would be considered small. You could even push those numbers up to 160 because the county is a low population county.
George Barna reports that only 2 to 3 % of the churches in America have 1000 members or more. We treat them like the majority. This means that thousands and thousands of books have been written about 2 or 3 % of the churches.
Do you know how many books have been written about youth ministry in the small church over the past 12 years? Keep in mind that this is 85 to 90% of all the churches in America. What do you think? 1000. Maybe 900. How about 850? Wrong, wrong, and wrong. I am embarrassed to say, the number is 2.
That number broke my heart. We need to do something to help the majority of churches in Lawrence County reach teens. 90 % of the churches in the county do not need to be ignored but empowered.
This is why Knox Student Ministries started One to One Small Church Youth Ministries. It is one to one help for the small church. The goal is to empower youth workers in the small church to reach the youth in their church and community for Jesus Christ. Small and vibrant are two words that Knox Student Ministries believe can go together.