Lost and Found Presentation

Wednesday April 29, 2009 ~ 5 Comments

Yesterday, I spoke in Saint Louis, Missouri at the Acts 29 Regional Quarterly Gathering.

If you want to see "loose" quotes of what I said, you can see them using the Twitter hash tag, #a29midwest. Nowadays, most speakers leave a Twitter-trail that is, at times, accurate. ;-)

Below is a picture from of the meeting at a former (and now renovated) Catholic Church.

I presented around my recent co-authored book, Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and Churches that Reach Them. I promised to post the presentation I did and you can find it below.

As you will recall, the numbers are those who agree, somewhat or strongly, with the statement listed. I have only listed the agree percentages. You can download a pdf of the presentation I used here.

Also, if you are interested in more information, you can check out a podcast where Jason Hayes and I discuss the younger unchurched generations and the churches that reach them.

Thanks for coming to St. Louis!

Posted on April 29, 2009 at 10:50 AM ~ 5 Comments

Tagged with: books, presentations

5 Comments

By Orion Berridge on April 29, 2009 4:27 PM

Ed-

Great post, amazing research! I think we're very quick to assume that younger people are more post modern than the older post moderns.

As a former Student Pastor that is not necessarily true. Young people to me seemed more likely to accept the things of God if they were presented in a relevant way. Also the big thing for us was authenticity. My teenagers would follow me anywhere as long as I believed what I was saying and they could see me model it.

So here is where I have great excitment, terrible fear and such a burden.

From this research, young people are more likely to have a better view of God, Spirituality, be open to coming to church, open to listening and studying the bible. But they are less likely to have a favorable view of Christians and think that we don't care about them personally. Or that we don't make our message understandable and relevant to their lives.

So they should be more likely to embrace faith but do not because..... well I guess the because is what we all need to be wrestling with in our context.

Thanks again Ed!

By Kelly Manire on May 1, 2009 12:25 AM

Hi Ed,

I enjoyed your Seminar today at the SUMMIT too...a lot.

Quick question - Where can I find the Canadian research results from your lost and found study?

Kelly Manire
Student Ministry IMB guy in Vancouver, BC

By Dennis Sy on May 2, 2009 9:00 PM

Hi Pastor Ed,

Hi I'm Dennis Sy. I am a pastor here at the Philippines working under Every Nation churches. Pastor Steve Murrell mentions you in some of his talks. Anyway, i have ordered the book lost and found and am excited to start reading it once it is delivered. It has been my heart to really reach the young (13-35). We have been deliberate about it as well in our church. I am praying that you could come here one day and teach it to us.

By Juan Callejas on May 5, 2009 5:33 PM

This is amazing stuff. We desperately need this type of research in Latin America. Lots of great insights for our urban high class Guatemalan 20 somethings. Thank you!

By Bill Williamson on June 22, 2009 10:16 PM

I am reading Lost and Found, after listening to Ed speak recently. In his talk he mentioned an earlier study that showed 88% of young people leaving the church after high school, never to return. I have heard that a lot, but Ed said he found that it was a fake statistic and those who made it up have done a retraction. Does anybody know about either the original fake study or the retraction?