What was your favorite piece of clothing in your teenage years?! 

I’ve recently started wearing a pair of bell-bottoms – I’ve gotten a giggle out the responses from friends who are older than me saying, “I used to have a pair like those in middle school!!” Less excitingly I’ve also been asked, “are those really back in style?!” … Geez – I was hoping so.

As you’re taking a trip down memory lane, let me remind you about an upcoming event. 

Brad Griffin – author of Growing Young & co-director of Fuller Youth Institute – will be at PCJH – Oct 18-20th! You won’t want to miss what Brad has to share, and we don’t want to miss having YOU in the conversation. 

(In case you need to peek again – here is the schedule for Oct 18-20th, Friday-Sunday).

Are you still wondering, “What in the world is this whole Growing Young weekend about?” Brad Griffin is bringing the latest research from Fuller Youth Institute here to Jackson Hole. The research project is entitled “Growing Young.”

The research found 6 core commitments that emerged as consistent components in churches that are growing in their population of 15-29 year olds. Take a look at the wheel below.

Let’s whet our appetites by getting a taste of one of the 6 core commitments – Empathy Today: empathizing with today’s young people.  

I’d challenge you to think …  

• Which question — “Who am I? Where do I fit? What difference do I make?”— surfaced for you most when you were a teenager or young adult? What about today?
• Who or what has been the most helpful to you in walking through those questions?
• What factors do you think create the most generational differences in our church?
• How does our church empathize with young people well?
• What gets in the way of our church empathizing with teenagers and young adults?
• What shifts might we need to make in order to be a more hospitable place for young people’s journey toward identity, belonging, and purpose?

Friday night – this is exactly how Brad will be challenging us. How can we do an even better job at being a congregation, and individuals, who empathize with young people?

Join us at 5pm Friday to start with a light dinner. Or at 5:30pm – when the keynote will start! 

Hope to see you there! 

Still hungry? Check out this article written by an emerging adult church leader – Older and Younger Leaders: Forging a New Relational Vision.