“We go downtown every Friday night, and we pass water bottles to people who are coming out of the clubs or just hanging around,” says Sonia Figueroa, student ministries director and pastor to 20s and 30s at Faith Assembly of God (No. 72 fastest-growing) in Orlando, Florida.
“There was one girl we gave a water bottle to. A few weeks later, she showed up at church. She was going through a hard time and decided to come. She came for a few weeks and then she gave her heart to God. A year or two later, she decided to intern for us. She met her husband at church. Now she and her husband are on staff. She is our assimilation coordinator. The very ministry that God used to save her is the one that she now runs.”
Each year we seek out stories and principles behind the numbers that churches report for the Outreach 100 Fastest-Growing Churches list. This year Lifeway Research interviewed those seeing encouraging things happening in their ministry to those in their 20s.
As we spoke with leaders of ministry to young adults, their tactics are not identical. Recent ministry changes did not all move in the same direction. But each leader and church represented is fully invested in discipling young adults. Their insights and the thinking behind their changes and strategies point to important elements we believe will help most churches in their ministry to young adults.
Young Adult Focus
For some of these fast-growing churches, young adults are a large part of who they are. At NPHX Church (No. 23 fastest-growing) in Phoenix, Arizona, 59% of new members in the last 15 months are people ages 18 to 30. “It’s not like they’re a minority,” says Rich Nibbe, executive pastor of ministry and discipleship.
Similarly, the target for Mosaic Christian Church (No. 39 fastest-growing) in Elkridge, Maryland, is 25-year-old unchurched males. “I refuse to have a young adult ministry, because our whole church is basically one big one,” exclaims Lead Pastor Jonathan Moynihan.
One of their strategies is hiring young and constantly indexing down in age. Many of their staff are in their 20s and only two are over 40. When young adults see that, Moynihan argues, “they see this is a place where young people contribute, and I can contribute.”
In the typical church, congregations that have more middle-aged and older adults, raising the profile of young adult ministry has yielded tangible results.
At Mariners Church (No. 17 fastest-growing) in Irvine, California, young adults and singles pastor, Dallas Viva, describes their move in 2024 from separate gatherings each month for college and 20s and 30s to a weekly service for all young adults on Thursday nights. It is the first of their weekend worship gatherings taught by their senior pastor, Eric Geiger. This service averages around 1,000 in attendance, more than double what they saw each month in the separate meetings.
Taking Ownership
At Peace Church (No. 61 fastest-growing) in Middleville, Michigan, it was the young adults who wanted more. Logan Bailey is the discipleship pastor, with young adult ministry as one of his many responsibilities. He had to tell the young adults, “I can’t do the things that you’re wanting to see. We need to do it together.” This core team of young adults helped them move from a Friday night meeting every other week to a weekly meeting every Tuesday night. They didn’t have the staff to do it any other way, and the young adults didn’t want a youth group for those in their 20s. The leadership team for this ministry is all young adults.
At Faith Assembly of God, Figueroa has a coordinator for young adult ministry and an associate pastor who helps with preaching. Most of the ministry, however, is done by 75 volunteer leaders in their 20s and 30s.
Cory Daniels, young adults pastor at Liquid Church (No. 22 fastest-growing) in Parsippany, New Jersey, also has a lead team comprised only of young adults. These volunteers plan, run and execute events from the ground up. When one of these events is announced, “People are excited about it because they know it’s planned by young adults, and it’s catered to the felt needs in our community. It’s going to be a vibe for them,” he says.
A Range of Ages
This last year Rock Church (No. 42 fastest-growing) in San Diego, California, moved to stop focusing just on college students and to shift to make their ministry for young adults. Allison Mercer, youth and young adult pastor, describes this as a new focus on the demographic of 18 to 29, because “people are going to school later or not going to school at all, getting married early or not getting married at all, or not really knowing what to do, and they’re figuring it out between this wide age [range] of 18 to 29.”
At the older end, Rock Church doesn’t have a hard stop. Mercer said, “We tell people, ‘Don’t let age phase you out, but [you will reach a point where] maturity will make you feel uncomfortable.’ Maturity is the determining factor.”
The top end of the age range can be most difficult when a church does not have a healthy ministry to those in their 30s. Daniels describes the young adult ministry at Liquid Church as 18 to 20-somethings. He said he wanted to avoid having “a really awkward conversation” if those on the older end of that spectrum get involved in order to try to meet those still in their teenage years.
Challenges to Overcome
There are many challenges inherent in young adult ministry that leaders are quick to point out. “Young adults in general—but specifically those in their 20s—are very migratory. Their jobs are changing, they’re graduating college, they’re starting to get married, they’re starting families,” said Emory Cothen, young adults pastor at Champion Forest Baptist Church (No. 100 fastest-growing) in Houston, Texas.
Bailey also highlighted this volatility, because it creates transitions in your young adult leadership team. “When there is rotation in who is on this core team, there has to be a lot of flexibility,” he observes. “That’s true for the ministry at large as well.”
“This is a group that loves to travel, that loves to do things,” adds Viva. “There are so many things happening, so how can we captivate them? How can we grab their attention?” Similarly, Figueroa notes, “It’s hard to get young adults to come to church every week.” Jace Brandhorst, operations manager for the senior executive pastor at Christ Church (No. 71 fastest-growing) in Gilbert, Arizona, says it this way: “The biggest challenge is just getting people to fully commit to something. It used to be FOMO—fear of missing out. Now it’s FOBO—fear of better [options].”
For those near college campuses, activities on campus are always competing with church plans. “Campus life always wins,” says Bailey. Brandhorst also added that attendance at their site near a college campus drops during the summer.
Leaders note culture tugs in the opposite direction of the kingdom. “When we speak about purity, intimacy, sex, dating and all that stuff, it is like we are speaking [a foreign language] to these people. They don’t get it. They never learned it, and it’s just far from them,” says Figueroa.
Nibbe says their massive challenge is reaching people in Phoenix who “have no church experience, no practical application of giving, serving, grouping, being a part of community, expectations for coming to church, etc.” He would not attribute this to them being young adults, but that they are reaching people in one of the least Bible-minded cities.
As the young adults and connections pastor at 3Circle Church (No. 35 fastest-growing) in Fairhope, Alabama, Jourdain Thrash deals with parents of young adults who aren’t ready for their young adults to grow up. “I get a lot of young adults who are 24 and the mom and dad are still putting a lot of pressure on them. They don’t know how to deal with that pressure in light of trying to discover their own identity and their own faith, and not rely on their parents’ faith.”
“The amount of adulting that they have to be taught is greater than previous generations,” says Moynihan. “How do you say no? How do you have conflict? How do you communicate? How do you follow through with a commitment?” As an example, volunteers may stop serving by “ghosting.” They just cut off all ties and don’t respond to any communication, because that causes them less emotional distress than having to have a hard conversation and say no to somebody. “We have to figure out how to lovingly guide them into maturity and discipleship,” admits Moynihan.
A Shared Vision
Each church that has good things happening with young adults in their 20s has intentional ministry to this age group. Each described some large group gathering, though this varied from weekly to monthly in frequency. Each has small group Bible studies in some form. And each has numerous opportunities for young adults to serve.
While many of the expressions are unique to that church and that young adult ministry, some churches are deliberate about their connection within their church. “It’s very intentional that we actually just have the same vision and mission the church has,” says Bailey.
The approach is similar at Rock Church. “All of our ministry goals, all of our ministry standards, all of our ministry mission values are not different from what our church is pursuing. Whatever the goal is for the house is ours too,” Mercer shares.
Thrash also indicates their desire at 3Circle Church is not to be siloed. “We’re going to push missions really heavily. We’re going to have you partner with the mission trip the church is already doing. If you want to serve, we’re going to plug you into the church.”
While there is much diversity in how these programs function, there is intentionality behind decisions. Faith Assembly of God has their large group gathering every Thursday. “We do that every week so that at some point it can create some sort of commitment in them,” offers Figueroa.
In contrast, Rock Church moved to only one young adult service a month in which they all meet together. Previously their weekly services were great, but young adults were not fully integrated with the church. “They were not serving. They were not pursuing discipleship or mentorship, so something needs to change,” says Mercer. The new first Tuesday gathering each month has the “sole purpose of mobilizing the community.” The middle weeks of the month are for small groups, and the last week is for connecting on their local campus.
Discussing the Hard Stuff
“Our senior pastor teaches the Bible unapologetically, both the good stuff and the tough stuff. I feel like this next generation is really looking for strong Bible teaching,” Nibbe argues.
Mercer agrees. “I don’t think Gen Z is scared of the hard things. I believe they are wanting direction, guidance, and to be shown how to live an authentic Christian walk. We are not compromising. They are taught difficult things, difficult passages, having difficult conversations. Whether or not you can really teach and empower and equip will determine whether or not they walk through your doors.”
The 20-somethings at Mosaic Christian Church shared with Moynihan that “one of the best things that’s happening is we’re talking about the spicy subjects that they’re seeing on their social media feeds every day.” He adds, “If you’re talking about what they’re naturally already swimming in, then you’re going to get them to want to lean in.” His recent sermons included hell, doubt, race, abortion and Jesus’ traditional ethic on sexuality. “If you’re not talking about stuff that they’re having to be confronted with every single day, I think you’re going to lose them.”
Another thing working for Mosaic Christian Church is hangouts, one-off events planned by young adults in different demographics and with different interests. These smaller gatherings address data that shows that younger people are more averse to taking risks socially.
“We wanted to create a gateway drug to the goodness of community without the intimidating barrier of commitment,” explains Moynihan. “It makes a large church feel like I can be known here.” After attending a couple of hangouts they’ll often join a monthly group. After the monthly group serves them for a couple of months or a couple of years, then they’ll join a weekly group.
“I don’t think the target of getting them in a group has shifted, but we have to give them a much longer runway,” he adds. “You don’t want to lower the bar of discipleship, but you do want to lower the bar of entry to get them on that path.”
Going the Extra Mile
“Most of them don’t believe right away,” observes Figueroa. “It isn’t this point-in-time evangelism. It really is a process how people come to services and be a part and be around. It’ll be months or a year until they decide, ‘I want to accept Christ now. I’ve seen enough. I’m ready.’”
Thrash shares a similar story, “I have a young man that before he even was willing to meet with me in person and before we even got to the conversation of Jesus—the ‘church hurt’ that he was dealing with was so great—I literally had a 7 a.m. phone call every morning for seven months before we were able to actually start talking about the gospel.”
Young adult ministries, even more than student ministries, take so much time because you need leaders who are willing to go and have these coffees and lunches and hard conversations. Amazing revivals do happen, but Thrash says that most of the time, with 20-somethings, it takes more than just one life-changing moment.
“It’s sitting down at a table with them, taking the time, doing the work, walking with them through Scripture, being there when they mess up, and showing them that the church isn’t something that’s going to push them away when they do something wrong,” he says. “It’s a place that’s going to walk alongside them, even when things go wrong, and help them every step of the way.”
The investments in young adults through your church may need to look different than these examples. But good reports are coming from those making a long-term investment that empowers young adults, is intentional about discipling them, and faces head-on the challenges inherent in their stories.