"Surefire" Ways to Reach Youth

If you are trying to impact Millennials then the following principles from a youth marketing guru should ring true. The following 5 basic ideas can be applied to our ministry strategies as well:

Provide valuable content and information.
Isn’t it interesting that even secular marketers understand the importance of providing “valuable content and information”? As Bible-believing Christians, communicating “content” should be our specialty. We must present God’s life-changing truth in creative and relevant ways – and we must show our students how the Gospel relates and applies to their lives today and in their future. (This relates very, very well with our recent push on teaching theology to teenagers. They are craving this stuff!)

Have a social mission.
I wouldn’t call it “social”, but I understand the point. As Donna Fenn says, “…Millennials care deeply about social causes.” No wonder Alex and Brett Harris’s book Do Hard Things resonates so well with this generation. A recent issue of Christianity Today reported that about 1.2 million American high school kids go on social or missions trips each year. Youth workers, we should lead the way on this one, too. We must teach and train our students to live “missional.” You can read more about this idea in Matthew 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8.

Connect with their parents.
A recent survey revealed that the vast majority of this generation consults their parents on most or all of life’s decisions “large and small.” Our church youth ministries must become “parent-targeted”. We’re making a big mistake if we by-pass parents in our attempts to minister to kids.

Co-create with Millennials.
This is a generation that grew up with the Internet. Today’s young people often have entrepreneurial aspirations. For example, Mark Zuckerberg founded the social networking site "Facebook” when he was still a teenager – and he’s now worth around $4 billion dollars. (See Wikipedia.) It’s important that you involve your students in the fabric and in all aspects of your church’s youth program and give them ways to share and implement their ideas. Plus, they will be more effective than you are at strategizing how to reach their own generation.

Be edgy.
This is not a “business-as-usual” generation. They grew up in a time when technology was growing and developing at an exponential rate. (iPad’s anyone?) They thrive on chaos and creativity. Theirs is an MTV-influenced culture and their normalcy is different every week. I’m still thinking this one through, but I’m wondering if the “cookie-cutter” churches of my generation will be relevant for Millennials. They seem to be intrigued by “liturgy and contemporary” at the same time. I’m sure their churches will look differently in the future, but I’m convinced this generation is seeking truth and is very, very serious about their faith and their God!

The sub-points in this post were developed by Donna Fenn (author of Upstarts! How Gen Y Entrepreneurs are Rocking the World of Business) in her blog article Five Surefire Ways to Reach the Youth Market.

What do you think? I’d love to hear your reactions.