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By Erik Alsgaard

UMConnection Staff

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The “gap” that Cheryl Cook talks about when it comes to young adults has nothing to do with a popular clothing store. Instead, she’s talking about how churches often fail to provide opportunities for ministry for this age level.

“High schooler’s go off to college,” said Cook, “and when they leave and return home, there’s nothing for them.”

Cook is passionate about filling that gap. For the past several years, Cook has been active at her home church of Calvary UMC in Annapolis, working with youth and young adult ministries as a volunteer. Since July 1, she has been on staff at the Baltimore-Washington Conference as the new director of Young Adult Ministries. Her goal, she said, is to bring young adult ministry to the forefront of the conference, and to see more young adults involved in the life of the church and on college campuses.

A graduate of Penn State University, Cook has a degree in public relations, and has spent nine years in marketing and event planning. This experience comes in handy, she said, when reaching out to young adults.

“They are at a pivotal point in their life,” said Cook, who defines young adults as those between the ages of 19 and 35. “They’ve finished college or started a job. They’re making huge life decisions, such as who to marry, what career field to pursue.”

And in the midst of those decisions, Cook said, not enough young adults have a relationship with Christ to help guide them. “With Christ in their lives, they would be more confident about the decisions they make,” she said.

“So many churches are interested in reaching out to young adults,” she said, “but they don’t know where to begin. There’s this huge myth going around that in order to attract young adults to your church, you need to have a ‘hip’ worship service with a coffee shop. That’s not true.”

While emphasizing that there is no one answer to the question of how to attract more young adults to your church and its ministry, Cook said that the number one thing churches can do to improve their young adult ministries is to be intentional.

Rather than making it an afterthought, she said, come up with a plan that helps keep the church a part of their lives.

Other ideas:

• Connect each young adult with an older mentor/ member of the church.
• Send care packages while they are away at school or the military.
• Send devotional/spiritual materials to them while they are away.
• Send them the church newsletter.

“If the young adult moves back home … or should I say, ‘when’ the young adult moves back home, if they have some sort of established relationship with the church, they are much more likely to become active again,” she said.

The key, said Cook, is to be authentic.

“Young adults don’t want to be marketed to,” she said. “Make sure your church is authentic in its purpose of making disciples for Jesus Christ.”

Cook also is quick to add that young adults, in general, want to be in service, and suggests that churches offer several hands-on ministry opportunities throughout the year.

“You often hear that children, youth and young adults ‘are the future of the church,’” Cook said. “They are the church. Their input and their service are important now.”