by Lauren Farmer
At a recent trip to the bookstore, I picked up Essential Church by Thom and Sam Rainer to be my newest summer read. I had researched the book and read the reviews so I was fairly confident in what I was buying—a book about church dropout among young adults ages 18-22. As I read through the pages, however, I realized that this book was as much about youth ministry as it was about church dropout among young adults.
Without a doubt, many of the challenges we face reaching and ministering to collegiates and young adults directly stems from one’s upbringing and experience in the church as an adolescent. Here’s the deal … by the time students get to college, the stage has already been set in many regards. Beliefs about themselves, God, the church, and the world around them have been shaped during their pre-teen and teenage years.
When a student steps onto a college-campus for the first time, opinions to questions such as, “Is church important to me?” and “Do I need to go to church to have a right relationship with God?” have already been formed to one extent or another. With today’s statistics showing that most of those who leave the church do so between the ages of 17 and 19, there is a huge need for our churches to take another look at this age group.
So what does this mean for girls’ ministry? It means that girls’ ministry is more important than ever! It means that work you do with middle school and high school girls matters! Girls’ ministry makes a difference in girls’ lives … not just in the present but in the future as well. For better or worse, the beliefs, values and worldview that girls develop during their middle and high school years will be the foundation on which they make important life decisions about their faith and the church during their college and young adult years.
While some might see this as putting an exorbitant amount of pressure on parents, youth ministers, and girls’ ministry leaders, I see it as an opportunity, a responsibility, and a privilege. We have an opportunity to minister to girls during the critical and life-shaping stage of adolescence, as well as, a responsibility as “older women” (whether you are 25 or 85) to teach and invest in the lives of women who are younger than us (Titus 2:3-6). But most of all, we have a privilege . . . the privilege of loving and ministering to girls who are deeply loved by God, girls who are trying to figure out life and the world around them, girls who are hurting and trying every means they can find to make the pain go away, girls who are in desperate need of the of the redemption and life that can be only be found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As girls’ ministry leaders, we get to be a part of God’s work in raising up the next generation of women and preparing them to enter adulthood. So when you think you can’t take another 6th grade girls slumber party (I’ve been there!) or the drama that ensues as three girls in your ministry fight over one guy, remember this… what you do matters! 
Lauren Farmer is a recent seminary graduate and transplant to the Nashville area. She has a passion for young women and the church. She loves to laugh, spend time with family and friends, travel the world, curl up with a good book, and drink Diet Coke.
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