The Church needs to get involved with youth and the problems that children face. Young people need to be supported though life, and Churches are a community that should be aiding in this support. A counselling group, or a youth centre where teens can ask about their troubles and get answers that are normal and down to earth would be an excellent idea to get youth into Church. Members of the Church community also need to bring themselves down to the same level as the young people in the congregation. Ministers need to have conversations with the youth as a young person and address the issues that young people face with the knowledge of an adult, but the frame of mind of a teenager. Most teens are intimidated by larger, dominating figures. If they came to understand that Priests and other members of the clergy are actually human, and have had the same problems, then they might be more attracted to the Church as a whole.
Teens need to be able to relate to what is being said in Church. Topics that are used for Masses should have connections to current affairs and teen issues. Mark important days and holidays with a celebration in a more modern way. Bringing out the fact that Jesus was a human who did wonderful deeds instead of the Son on God who had a path to follow, would interest teens. It is important to bring out the humanity of Christ and God, rather than the Divinity. Then people have something to relate to.
Teens will only be interested in things that are modern and popular. Start a choir that sings more upbeat songs, introduce a band to play alongside the choir and it will be more uplifting for the entire congregation. Organs and slow keyboards are seen as boring and sometimes even morbid and depressing. Church is meant to be a place of contemplation, but why not make it a time to contemplate the fun things in life. Teens do not want to be reminded of the bad things they may see in life.
Churches need to understand more about what attracts youth to go anywhere. Kids today want to get something out of everything they do, and that is not often a feeling of spiritual completion. Churches need to find a few things that they can offer a greedy generation. To draw youth into the Church, offer a youth group where teenagers can hang out with other people like themselves. A building with computers, game consoles, a skate park or play equipment will be effective in drawing in youth. A Church sponsoring such a place would give it the publicity it needs to attract young adults. Bring in rock bands that have a religious background. There are many bands out there that sing religious music in disguise, have a concert could attract more teen-adults.
The Church was, is and always will be a conservative community. Today’s youth are much more into free speech and although the Church will never change, it does need to loosen its grip on issues such as homosexuality, abortion and sex before marriage. Older teens are getting more and more into supporting their beliefs; they make their own choices and are no longer directed by their parents. With so many options now out there the Church is having a hard time drawing attention away from other religions and belief structures, but if the Church wants the youth to come back into the congregation then they need to adjust to these issues (In the same way that people had to adjust to electricity, cars and spaceflight). In this freethinking society, it is difficult to be attracted to a religion that tells you go to Church. Humans aren’t very good at being commanded these days, and the Church needs to loosen its grip around the throats of the unwilling.
To make the Church more attractive to the youth of today would be quite a challenge for both the Church and the teens that the Church would be aiming at, but it would only involve a few steps, and it would be worth it. The Church needs young people to keep the faith going.