Becoming a Listening Church for Young People
Engaging young people in the Church is important. In fact, it is essential to the life of the Church. But engaging young people is about far more than just filling pews. It is about acknowledging, honoring, and listening to a whole generation that can invigorate the Church and sustain it in the years to come. One of the first steps to engaging young people is to show them, through words and actions, that the Church is a place where they belong. And the first step to creating belonging is to listen. The following are five steps toward becoming a listening Church for young people.
1. Create Opportunities for Dialogue
A listening Church creates spaces and opportunities where youth voices can be heard, respected, and considered. This can occur through youth groups, parish councils, listening sessions, and everyday interactions with young people.
Adults and adult leaders in the Church must show an openness and willingness to listen. Young people need to feel like they can share their true thoughts, feelings, wonderings, and struggles when in conversation with others in the Church. If they can’t, or if they are cut off with dismissive advice or correction, they will not see the Church as a place that is really interested in who they are.
2. Be Curious about Them
Another mark of a listening Church is one that works to understand the world that young people are growing up in and the factors that might be shaping their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Taking steps to understand the issues and realities young people face can go a long way toward being relatable and relevant in their lives.
Much can be learned from ongoing research that focuses on key markers of the younger generations, but the most important insights are gained from simply engaging young people in supportive conversations that are sparked by honest curiosity.
3. Incorporate Their Input
The Church must be willing to find ways to incorporate input and suggestions from young people. Youth advisory councils or other input events or groups that include youth can be an effective way to bring youth voices forward. Seeing their input being honored and incorporated helps show them they are welcomed, listened to, and respected.
4. Empower Young Leaders
A listening Church develops intentional opportunities to train young people and empower them to take positions of leadership within the Church. Mentoring youth in key roles throughout the parish can invigorate both the parish and the young people within it. Parishes that involve young people in leadership roles signal the Church’s appreciation of their gifts and contributions.
5. Focus on Service and Social Action
Young people are deeply passionate about justice issues, helping people in the local community, and making a positive difference in the world. A listening Church can engage this passion by supporting initiatives that provide service to others and address pressing social issues, such as poverty, the environment, human dignity, and rights. Young people want to be part of a Church that is making a positive difference in the lives of others and is actively living out the teachings it proclaims.
Becoming a listening Church for young people can be challenging. It doesn’t rely on one simple program or solution. It is an ongoing commitment that requires many elements, including creating opportunities for dialogue with young people, understanding their world, incorporating their ideas and input, empowering them for leadership, and giving them opportunities to change the world for the better through Church-sponsored service and social action. It is a commitment to the future, a commitment to life and vibrancy in the Church, and a commitment to simply being present to and inclusive of a generation that will one day lead the way.
