American Unitarian Conference Forum

It is important for Unitarian leaders to know what young people are looking
for in a church and the services that are offered. Too often we just assume
that we know, but in fact the young people are disappearing from the
churches because we do not address the issues they are most interested in or
address them in a manner that is interesting and stimulating.

A member of the UK Unitarian group posted the below information on their chat.  
I think it is an area that the AUC also needs to discuss and address.

“And as a point of discussion...
What do you think younger people want out of church and the services?
To start it off here's my wish list!! I'm 29 by the way.

Community work / inclusive outreach
Charity work / awareness
Readings from the Gospel and other sources of interest
Short sermons from different speakers on topics of interest
An open-minded discussion of the above
Prayer and meditation
Social and community, support
Some hymns, contemporary worship or singing spiritual songs

I'm very interested in emerging church ideas although I like some
of the traditional aspects too.”

With love,

Rev Dorris

Seems a little too UUA / Liberal Church.....I am not young...middle aged...but I would prefer some real meat on the table....theology, practice and RE.

sorry this isn't helpful, i have a little cold (that's my excuse) but when i first saw this thread i thought it said "what do you people want?" LOL

What do you people want?  That would have been a good subject title also.  Let us know what you want, regardless of age.

With love,

Rev Dorris

That sounds like a good list. I can't think of anything else to add.

Personally, I'm a big fan of the more casual group discussions. Not that that has to be everything, but without that, I feel like I'm just being talked to and not included in any way.

Oh, actually, I would add dancing to that list. At my old Messianic group there was group dancing, like the hora or something, and that was good. At a lot of churches I've been to no one ever moves around, and it makes me feel a bit stifled. If there's going to be music, I'm going to dance, you know?

And I'm 21 if that matters.

Hi Sarah,

I like casual group discussions also.  In most UUA groups this takes the form of a talk back session after the sermon.  In many main line churches, it happens in Sunday School or Bible Study sessions.

It would be nice if churches incorporated more of the arts such as dancing.  We become too stiff and formal in our services at times.  We are so serious that we forget to have fun.

With love,

Rev Dorris

I also prefer the informal group discussion to the formal church culture. Regarding messianic services: I enjoy them tremendously, like the music and the dancing a lot, but of course can't quite embrace the theology that goes with it. I wonder if there are any messianic (Jewish-Christian) groups that are a bit more liberated theologically.

John