I wrote this in a Comment box back on David Fitch’s last chp. But, what I’m wondering is what resources there are for this sort of thing:
David’s last chp has sent my mind reeling a few times in the last two days, and it has wandered into this thought: what is the long-term impact, structurally and formatively, in age-specific classrooms in the church? Has anyone done much research on this?
Here’s an issue: the Barna report, Revolution, indicates a growing number of Christians who are both committed to Jesus and not committed to the local church, and I wonder how much of this is related to teenage ministries and young adult ministries and 20somethings ministries that, when adults move out of them, find the drabness of the regular service completely meaningless — this is a simplification, of course, but this is what I’m wondering.
In other words, the “church” done by 30somethings and older is uninteresting not because it is inherently uninteresting (it could be that, too) but because those who have been guided through the local church haven’t been prepared for it at all.
And, what can we do? Probably to liven the traditional service and guide the age-specific groups?
There are other questions here, but this should get us into a discussion — esp if we’ve got some experts on this topic who can sweep the floor clean and put some good four-post chairs on it on which we can sit and chat.