Where are the young adults? Rethinking faith beyond church attendance
Once you are done reading the article below, perhaps consider these relational discipleship models for engaging young adults in your community:
- Explore Being With as an option for your young adults (English and Spanish)
- If you’d like training in this model, please contact formation@epicenter.org for a code
- Offer the Jesus-Shaped Life model developed by the Anglican Communion that’s focused on the Five Marks of Mission (English and Spanish)
- Run the Difference Course developed by the Anglican Communion
- Work through the Living Discipleship model from Forward Movement (English and Spanish)
- Engage in Anti-Racism Training or Sacred Ground from the Episcopal Church
Steve Argue, PhD | Oct 2, 2025
Imagine your life being one where you experience …
… unpredictability more than predictability.
… instability more than stability.
… more questions than solid answers,
… the reality that your raw athletic, relational, or academic talent can only get you so far.
… loss, tragedy, or failure in a deeply personal way for the first time.
… pressure to succeed in a world that demands more of you.
… the sense that your beliefs need to change to keep up with your increasingly complex world.
Our team at the Fuller Youth Institute has undertaken over a dozen years of research into effective ministry with and for young adults. What we’ve found as we’ve reviewed literature, listened to young adults, and connected with church is that those in their twenties:
- Experienced more job loss than any other age group during the pandemic
- Move more than any other age group
- Change jobs more than any other age group
- Report the most mental health cases over every other age group, post-pandemic
- Describe continuously finding (and losing) friends
- Have faith but struggle to find a church home
Collect these experiences into one prevailing theme, and you notice what we’ve discovered—that young adults spend the most time, energy, and focus on the transitions happening in their lives. If you were to ask the young adults you know to summarize their experience so far, they’d likely express: I’m trying to find my way between what has been and what’s about to be.
At the Fuller Youth Institute, we value listening closely to our leaders and tackling the questions most in front of them. So, with the gracious support of Lilly Endowment, we endeavored to research what emerging adults need and want support with the most from their churches. The answers we found went much deeper than a new small group or ministry program.
Why aren’t young adults showing up to church?
Read enough ministry articles or scan your feed, and you’ll quickly find an article or statement about young adults and their disconnection from church. Most ministry leaders are concerned about those in their twenties who are on the verge of adulthood and leaving God behind in the youth rooms, church basements, and summer camps that told them about Jesus in the first place. It appears these emerging adults, now facing more real-world landscapes, find their youth group Jesus unable to keep up with their increasingly complex worlds.
This critique by young adults can feel hard to take as they quietly (and sometimes publicly) offer harsh words about deconstructing their personal faith, experiencing church hurt, or feeling impatient with church hypocrisy. It’s natural for ministry leaders to feel defensive and even push back by labeling them as ungrateful, unfaithful, even ungodly. And to be honest, it’s discouraging to consider that the “fruit” of churches’ investment might dissolve into no fruit. Many frustrated church leaders have admitted that they sometimes wonder if what they do even matters.
We hear you. And it matters.
Still, yesterday’s approaches don’t necessarily address today’s young adult challenges. And when churches get frustrated that young adults don’t respond to the events, small groups, or services you offer, you’ve labelled young adults the “problem” rather than considering that you’re offering solutions that don’t address today’s young adult realities.
There’s no blame or shame here. Young adult ministry leaders mean well and want to help. However, it’s time for approaches to change. And this doesn’t start by rushing to create the next program or ministry group. It begins by asking a really important question: If young adults aren’t responding to what we offer, how can we meet them in the ways they need the church?
What do young adults want and need most from their churches?
This is a great place to start because it shifts leaders’ thinking in two critical ways. First, it shifts the focus from blaming young adults for not showing up where we want them, to asking ourselves, where are young adults, then, and what do they need? Second, it shifts the ministry focus from trying to get young adults into our church spaces to imagining how churches can use their resources to show up for young adults whose lives aren’t what they were and aren’t yet what they’re going to be. These shifts present exciting opportunities to reimagine how ministries support young adults in their lives and spiritual journeys.
Where are young adults? They’re trying to navigate transitions in their lives while churches want them to commit to long-term, predictable engagements—a luxury young adults don’t have right now.
From our research, we discovered transitions to be the new, challenging, exciting, and disorienting experiences emerging adults encounter as they navigate life changes and make choices to take responsibility for their lives and relationships.
Where do young adults say they need support the most? In those transitions, as they search for new resources and mentors for their changing worlds.
Young adult ministry that supports twentysomethings navigating educational, vocational, relational, and even spiritual transition (rather than serving only those experiencing stability in these areas) will be prepared to serve in the ways young adults say they need church the most.
Consider how your church or ministry prepares to support young adults navigating life transitions by asking:
- Are we willing to recognize that young adult ministry may be more about giving than receiving much from those who attend? If so, what expectations do we need to shift?
- Are we willing to support young adults who may only be at our churches for six months? If so, what might ministry look like?
- Are we open to recognizing that most young adults will not fit into traditional categories, such as being married, having a single job, owning a home in the community, or having disposable time? If so, how do we communicate to young adults that their lives matter as much as those with more traditional lives?
- Are we willing to learn from young adults’ transition experiences rather than merely trying to solve them, downplay them, or ignore them? If so, how do we learn to step into the in-between with them so as to show up in the ways they need the most support?
I recognize that this post may raise more questions than give specific answers. When it comes to young adult ministry, there are few one-size-fits-all solutions. But I hope this does address one question that haunts many of those who care about young adults. When people ask, “Where are young adults?” we can remind them (and each other) that young adults are on the move, learning to find their way between what has been and what is about to be. And the bigger question, then, is whether we’re willing to join them on that journey.
We at the Fuller Youth Institute believe you are ready to go there, and our research-informed resources can guide your way.
Lead real conversations about topics today’s young adults care about
Young adults are often on the move—pursuing education, taking career steps, forming relationships, taking on responsibilities, and more. Our young adult ministry discussion guides are designed to help ministry leaders and mentors walk alongside young adults through the most common transitions that young adults face.
Each research-driven guide features thought-provoking questions that create space for authentic conversations about the real stuff of life and reminds young adults God is with them, their faith still matters, and the community around them can support their journey.
Formation 