Note: This is an in-person workshop. You will be required to travel to the location on the day. Breakfast and lunch will be provided and are included in the registration cost.
Location: 302 S College Ave, Bloomington, IN 47403
EVENT OVERVIEW
Ministry leaders: all of you agree that connecting with young adults in your congregations is essential. You want it. And they want that connection too.
Still, actually talking with young adults can feel awkward. You’re not sure what to say, and they aren’t either. You ask them about school, work, or “What’s next?” and you can already tell that you’re going to get a generic answer to your generic question! So, what if you could show up to conversations ready to discuss what young adults spend most of their time thinking about?
We’ve got you covered in this seminar. By the end, you’ll be more equipped to show up where young adults say they need you the most.
Drawing from the Fuller Youth Institute’s latest research [graciously funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc.], we’ll offer insights from surveying and interviewing a nationally representative sample of over 1000 young adults who self-identified as Christian and had gone through a dramatic shift or change in their twenties.
Our research discovered 7 essential transitions that young adults are most likely to encounter, and we also learned what churches did that helped and hurt them along the way. Whether your congregation is small, medium, large, urban, suburban, or rural, we’ve got something for you.
Participants will:
- Gain a clear understanding of young adults today
- Learn a useful approach to young adults and the transitions they encounter
- Be given tools to show up for young adults
AGENDA
The day will be made up of a series of short-form discussions, teachings and breakouts:
- Welcome and Orientation
- Framing: Who Are We Talking About?
- Emerging Adulthood: Let’s Talk About It
- The 7 Life Transitions Every Young Adult faces: A Framework for Connection
- Transitions: Let’s Talk About It
- Seeing, Knowing, Accompanying, Discipling, Activating
- From Concepts to Context
- Contextualizing the Framework
- First Steps: Starting/Restarting Your Young Adult Ministry
- Send-Off and Resources
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Steven Argue is associate professor of youth, family, and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and the applied research strategist at the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI). He has worked in multiple ministry contexts as a youth pastor, parachurch leader, pastoral team leader at Mars Hill Bible Church (Grand Rapids, MI), and has served on the board for the Association of Youth Ministry Educators. He researches, speaks, consults, and writes regularly on topics surrounding adolescence, emerging adulthood, faith, and spiritual struggle.
Dr. Argue is the co-lead investigator for a four-year, $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment focused on understanding young adults and congregations. Discipleship Initiatives with Young Adults (DIYA) is focusing on the key transitions emerging adults experience in their third decade of life, how these impact their spiritual quests, and what religious institutions can do to support them.
Argue has authored Young Adult Ministry Now (2022) and coauthored three other books: Sticky Faith Innovation: How Your Compassion, Creativity, and Courage Can Support Teenagers’ Lasting Faith (2021); Growing With: Every Parent’s Guide to Helping Teenagers and Young Adults Thrive in Their Faith, Family, and Future (2019); and 18 Plus: Parenting Your Emerging Adults (2018). He is a contributor to The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook of Contemporary Christianity in the United States (2022), Joy: A Guide for Youth Ministry (2020), and Adoptive Youth Ministry: Integrating Emerging Generations into the Family of Faith (2016). Argue lives in Southern California, eats vegetarian, and runs marathons. He’s @stevenargue on social media platforms.