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TechnoratiFuller Seminary's Center for Youth and Family Ministry (CYFM) released results from its first wave in a three-year longitudinal study surveying high school seniors going off to college.
(Photo: DeMoss Group)Teen Mania founder Ron Luce helps tens of thousands of teens across the nation embrace Christ. The College Transition Project, a three-year study on youth transitioning to college, found that high school seniors largely point to youth pastors as their reason for going to youth ministry and as their source of support.
Studying the current state of seniors and the type of students youth ministries are developing today, the College Transition Project received responses from high school students around the country for wave one of the milestone study.
Surprisingly, the top reason students go to youth group is because of their youth pastor. According to the responses received, 162 of which were usable, 68 percent said it is "very true" or "completely true" they go to youth group because they like their youth pastor. The second most popular reason was "I learn about God there," which was followed by 58 percent who said "It's fun."
Other reasons listed as "very true" or "completely true" by at least 50 percent of the students included "I feel comfortable there," "I've always gone to church/youth group," "It's a place where I can learn to serve," and "It feels like a real community."
Some youth workers expressed ambivalence about the top reason students listed but they also raised the question if it's possible that the students have become "too dependent" on their youth pastors.
"Interestingly, seniors' connections with their friends at youth group don't rank as highly as many would have guessed," noted the report. "By average score, seniors ranked the options regarding community and a sense of belonging seventh, eighth, and tenth."
The least likely reason students listed was that their parents make them go or that they feel guilty if they don't go.
Students were also asked what they wanted to see more of in youth ministry. At the top was the desire for more service projects. Following that, 70 percent of the respondents wanted more or much more time for deep conversation; 65 wanted more mission trips; 65 percent wanted more accountability; and 58 percent wanted more time to worship. Ranked last was the desire for more games.
"The major theme of these seniors’ responses is a desire for deeper responsibility and interaction; they want to express themselves and their faith through service and mission trips, and they want deeper interaction through conversation, accountability, and alone time with leaders," stated the study. "The vast majority do not want more games."
Although 56 percent said they wanted more Bible study, the study highlighted its lower ranking among the listed changes and pointed to the little time seniors spend on reading the Bible on their own. A separated questionnaire had indicated that the seniors read the Bible by themselves an average of 2 to 3 times per month.
On an additional note, involvement in Sunday youth group gatherings was found to have a significant relationship with seniors' choices on such risk behaviors as drinking alcohol and sexual activity. Earlier results from the project's first pilot phase had found that 100 percent of students who graduated from youth ministry had engaged in risk behaviors.
However, the more activities, such as Bible reading or youth ministry works, students engaged in, the greater effect it had on their faith and life choices.
A third question in the study asked seniors about their feelings toward their adult youth leaders. Youth leaders were looked to as a greater source of support than fellow peers or "other students" in their youth group. Continue »
