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| author | Michael Droege |
| title | A Weed in the Church: modern youth ministry practice and its effect on mainline church attrition |
| abstract | It has been widely quoted that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different
results. While this may be arguably a flawed definition of mental illness, it does give us a framework to ask the question in this paper, namely: is our modern
praxis of youth ministry really working? The mainline church has been losing the vast number of congregants in the time period between confirmation and their
mid-twenties, yet more and more resources are poured into a youth ministry model that keeps young adults separated from their host congregation. Drawing from the
fields of church growth, educational practice, sociology, and theology, this project seeks to demonstrate that the age-segregated model of youth ministry has been
a contributing factor in the attrition of the mainline church. Using the work of Malan Nel, Holly Allen, and Christine Ross among others, ample evidence is provided
to suggest moving from a traditional youth ministry model to an inclusive intergenerational model of youth ministry returns congregations to sustainability and growth.
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| school | The Theological School, Drew University |
| degree | M.A. (2017) |
| advisors | Dr Kate Ott
Dr. Malan Nel |
| full text |
MDroege.pdf |
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