Ed Stetzer: "Lost and Found" A Review tagged: , , , , ,

Ed Stetzer: "Lost and Found" A Review

Posted by in Church & Missions

Stetzer, Ed, Stanley Richie, and Hayes, Jason. Lost and Found, The Younger Unchurched an the Churches that Reach Them. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Co. 2009, 232 Pages.

Have you noticed how hard it is to reach twenty-somethings today? Have you become alarmed at how many kids leave the church behind when they become adults. Our children’s programs and youth ministries are bursting at the seams, but when those kids hit college, they often hit the streets and are lost to the church. Ed Stetzer, with Richie Stanly and Jason Hayes, has written a book that will help those who read it, and digest its suggestions, to be more effective in reaching the younger unchurched in our communities.

Ed Stetzer is the director of Lifeway Research and an active blogger. Richie Stanley is team leader at NAMB’s Center for Missional Research and Jason Hayes is the Young Adult Ministry Specialist at Lifeway. They conducted extensive interviews with adults under the age of 30 who are not involved with a church, exploring their beliefs, their viewpoints, their opinions about the church, and what churches might do to reach them. This book presents their research.

I highly recommend this book to every pastor and church leader who wishes to have a more effective ministry to younger adults. It is very well-written, even entertaining – somewhat of a surprise for a book based on scientific research. The “how-to” section at the end is both practical and biblical.

Overview

Stetzer and his associates talked to over 1000 unchurched adults under the age of 30. I have no expertise on polling or statistics, but I would guess that more than qualifies as a scientific sample. Part 1 of the book presents this research. They found that not all young unchurched are created equal. They identified four major types: the “always unchurched” who have never been involved in a church, the people, the “de-churched” who grew up in church but no longer attend, the “friendly unchurched” who do not attend but are not hostile, and the “hostile unchurched” who are angry at the church or had a negative experience in church that left them bitter.

Stetzer weaves a fictional storyline throughout the book which illustrates these four types of people. A young Christian named Mitch is attempting to reach four unchurched friends: Ally (the always unchurched), Dean (the de-churched), Aaron (friendly unchurched) and Jason (hostile unchurched). Reading the storyline helps to make these categories more easily identifiable.

The second chapter presents the results of the research. What do they believe about God, about Jesus, about spirituality? What do they think of the church? Is there anything the church can do to motivate them to attend? One reading will not digest the information in this chapter.

The third chapter is a shocker. It compares the attitudes of this younger generation of the unchurched with older unchurched people. I expected to read that the younger unchurched were more hostile toward the church than their older counterparts. The opposite is true. There seems to be an openness to an authentic ministry from a church. Things are not hopeless.

Part 2 presents the results of another poll, an extensive survey of the attitudes of young adults. It identifies four key values of young people today: community, depth, responsibility and connection. A chapter is devoted to each of these.

The section on “depth” is worth the cost of the book. Young people today do not want neatly packaged theology with pat, easy answers to difficult questions – the kind this preacher’s kid used to give in Sunday School. Clichés will not reach these people. They want real answers from God’s Word about the very real problems they face.

There is a powerful section in this chapter comparing the simplistic values and themes of TV sitcoms and the way many churches function. Some humor, a good story or two, a minor conflict and a happy ending – the sitcom church. Wow!

Part 3 explores the “how-to’s” of reaching a younger, unchurched generation. Again, there is a chapter devoted to dealing with each of the four key values identified in Part 2.

Perspectives

Ed Stetzer is a genius – he is able to make statistics interesting!  He speaks with both authority and humility. His research seems (to this amateur) to be solid and honest. But he is careful not to use research as the basis of truth. He recognizes that truth comes from God’s Word – something this book is careful to remember. He is not trying to derive truth from statistics, but to use his research to show the church how to communicate its eternal truth more clearly.

For example, the research made it clear that the younger unchurched are turned off by the condemnation of homosexual behavior and the refusal to ordain women as pastors. But there is no suggestion that we compromise scripture to increase our appeal.

Several findings of their research surprised me. Young adults have a very positive (though often theologically weak) view of Christ. It is not the Savior they have a problem with, but the perception of hypocrisy, legalism, shallowness and irrelevance of churches. Is that an accurate sentiment? Maybe yes, maybe no – but it is a common perception, one we must deal with if we want to reach these people.

I was also surprised to find that music was not one of the key issues in young people’s minds. They wanted authenticity, community, depth, truth and responsibility more than they wanted rock-and-roll.

This is not a book to be read once. It is a book to be slowly digested and considered over time. Buy it. Read it. Think about it. Pray about it. Implement its recommendations. The younger unchurched in your community will receive better ministry if we do.