Gen Z is a growing demographic in many churches—bringing unique discipleship challenges and opportunities.
‘Young Adults’ ministry broadly captures the time period after someone leaves school until they hit major life milestones like marriage and children. This gap between youth ministry, and being part of ‘adult’ ministries in church life is getting wider, with more and more young adults finding themselves asking the big questions of faith.
Three years ago, pastor Ken Hutchinson saw the need to actively disciple young adults at Pakuranga Christian Fellowship in Auckland.
“I noticed there was always a need when people left high school, and before they were married or had kids—so my wife Diana and I decided to start something. It was initially maybe five to ten people coming for a once a month Bible study and lunch.”
The group was made up of young people who were coming regularly to church, with the aim of actively discipling them and providing an opportunity for them to fellowship with each other.
Ken says being intentional made all the difference—creating space for exploring questions, studying the Bible deeply, and connecting with each other. They’ve seen the relationships among the group deepen, and the young adults' group has become one of the fastest-growing demographics in the church.
Diana Hutchinson says they’ve been encouraged by the spiritual hunger and evangelistic heart of the group as it has grown.
“Over time we started to see more young adults come to the church who had a real desire to know God and see their friends come to faith. All of the young adults had unsaved friends who were talking about spirituality and had big questions about faith. We could see that there was a big spiritual hunger and great potential to share Jesus with this age group.”
Diana says many of the group began attending evangelism training and outreach events run by PCF elder John White, “Some even started to go to the local night market to share the gospel with any who would stop for a chat. Their passion for the lost and boldness in sharing the Gospel is so encouraging.”
Over time, the young adults' group has grown larger and started to meet more frequently with 15-20 people now coming along for Bible study and fellowship every second Tuesday. Friends from work, family members or schoolmates have been invited and are showing up at the group—with new people coming along every time.
At the start of this year Ken and Diana could see that there was a group of young adults who were ready to step up into leadership roles. “We asked them to consider taking over our role as Bible Study facilitators,” says Diana, “and we would support them with ongoing training and discipleship.”
A group of eight young adult leaders responded and were commissioned in April, and are being supported by the whole church family.
The young adults leaders now lead the fortnightly Tuesday meetings. They also attend a regular men’s or women’s church home group for their own spiritual growth and discipleship, says Diana. “We’ve seen the benefit of this in their lives and it has helped the church to connect intergenerationally in encouraging their faith, praying for them, their friends and this ministry.”
They also meet regularly with Ken and Diana for input, “Ken and I (along with others in PCF) are now holding leadership training sessions looking at topics such as how to run small group studies, how to create and run team rosters, and plan further sessions on Biblical leadership and how to prepare a teaching message.”
Ken says he has been encouraged by the growth of this group into leadership and giving them opportunities to prepare Bible studies, and lead. A number of the leadership team will be preaching their first sermons in the coming summer period.
“It has been a wonderful group to disciple. We're seeing the potential now going forward into other leadership areas and all those sorts of things. I’ve been most encouraged by seeing the growth in the leadership as we've invested in them, and just seeing the wider growth in the young adult demographic in our church. It's a true joy for me because it's something that I've longed to see happening in the church for so long. This group really has a hunger for the word and the truth.”
