This revised study guide helps the reader of "Where have all the Young People Gone" dig more deeply and, if desired, share in an eight session discussion group. It also provides for a disciplined and documented planning process for persons preparing to welcome young people into their congregation. The first three sessions deal with the changes in family and community after World War 2 that opened the door to rapid social change. The chaos and college riots of the 1960s and 70s are evidence that the World War 2 generation and their "Boomer" children were diverging in world-view, lifestyle, and values. Then on to Generations X and Y who are still more different and tend to be deeply alienated from traditional Christianity. The next three sections focus on one-on-one response to alienation within family, community, and congregation: getting back in touch with the Gospel and how our faith has been shaped, learing to tell our story of our personal walk with our Lord, and learning to share that story with an alienated person. The last three sections presents an over-view of what may be required for effective outreach to new people in general and to the younger generations in specific. For readers who have been asked to draw up a plan for outreach for their congregation, various instruments are provided to turn their reading into a data-driven assessment of the strengths and weakness of their congregation for change and growth. This includes understanding how their ways of "doing church" may be seen as cultural barriers by Generation X and Y. Change is difficult for many people to take and should not be done without careful thought, planning, buy-in by the people, and prayer. We're called to live the Gospel toward the alienated person and to "take up our cross" by accepting changes in packaging that we have come to love but which are barriers to the alienated who come from a different culture. This is always the task of the missionary. Old dogs can learn new tricks when it's all for the glory of God.

Description of "Where have all the Young People Gone" By R. Channing Johnson Today's younger and older folk have grown up in different worlds and are different people. Communications between generations is often painful. The older folk tend to be church people. Generations X and Y are not: perhaps 90 percent of them have written off Christianity as irrelevant. To explain what has happened, the first part of this book looks at our history since 1945. You may have lived through these events but will be surprised by the results. If you are younger, you'll see the events that have shaped you and most of your friends. All readers will see changes in family and community that have produced four different generations in America today. And you will become familiar with the distinct characteristics of each generation. Once you understand how we got the way we are, the book turns to what can we do about it. The distinctive learning style of Generations X and Y is to learn by their experiences and how they interpret them. Don't try to tell them what is right or truth. That shuts down communication. Rather, share the experiences that have shaped your life. For a Christian, that is the experiences by which the Lord has shaped you into a person of faith. It's not what you have done but what the Lord has done that is your story. Outreach by a greying congregation to young families and individuals may be far tougher. There is a table of 26 factors to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your congregation. Then there is the missionary problem. The foreign missionary has to learn a new language and get used to a new culture. Can your congregation make the adaptive changes required to speak and live the Gospel in order to welcome a people of the culture of Generations X and Y into your midst? In offering the Gospel to an alienated generation, you yourselves will be changed. Is that too frightening? Are you willing?