At one point in history someone figured out that if you customize a product or a service for a certain group of people it works better. Demographic segmentation was born.
Malls have kids stores, women’s stores and shoe stores. Television has old movies, rated R movies, and kids shows. Restaurant’s have a kids and seniors menu.
I have had a problem for the past couple of years; I would like to see Church gain popularity towards the younger generation (13-25 year-olds), sadly I believe the opposite is true. It’s not just “society’s” fault, I think the Church could be doing a better job.
Church doesn’t customize very well, sure there’s a daycare and Sunday school but a congregation is usually made-up of people anywhere from the age of 12 or 13 all the way to 80 or 90 years old. Is there any other time in our lives that people 70 years apart in age can truthfully find meaning in the same message? Possibly some movies or spectacular entertainment productions but for every other part of our lives, organizations have improved their service to cater to certain people.
The answer I receive when I mention my argument is always; “the Church shouldn’t have to cater to you, you should just like it.” I believe it’s that attitude that turns our generation away. When your strategy to engage the younger generation is “they should just like it”, I don’t think you have much hope for growth.
If you have any suggestions on this conundrum I would appreciate your help, obviously it is a delicate topic but I assure you the intent of this post was not to offend. Just trying to help everyone who’s been confused in a Church service before, including myself.
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