Reaching the younger generation

[Reverie]

What are some ways you think you can do to reach the younger generation to advertise to them to join your forum or website?

There was a period of time where everyone on the internet came across forums, but other sites have kind of made it to where people join them and then never go anywhere else. Such as Facebook and Reddit.

Do you have any ideas to reach this younger generation that could participate on forums, but just don't know much about forums or the specific genre yet?

 

[Joan_Red]

Apps my lady Reverie, it's all about apps - it's what the kids know these days. They are not brought up on sitting at a laptop in a dark room with a jug of coffee at stupid o'clock at night, F5'in the hell out of the page waiting for a post reply.

If you can market your product or transfer you're forum/website to that medium then you might have a chance of targeting a few of that demograph. I would say that's why Reddit is so mahusive even for the younger generation.

 

[roycareyou]

We see it everywhere: Younger generations are leaving the church. As a 26-year-old Christian, I regularly witness this exodus and acutely feel its significance. These are my contemporaries, my friends. But here's the elephant in the room: What can we do?

The Barna Group came out last year with their findings on a multi-year study, "The Faith That Lasts Project," which surveyed 18-29 year olds who had been active in a Christian church as teenagers. Their findings were, well, depressing. Nearly three out of every five young Christians (59 percent) disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age fifteen. An article by the Barna Group, as well as David Kinnaman's new book, You Lost Me, outline these findings, and the primary reasons why young people leave the church. These reasons include:

Churches seem overprotective.
Teens' and 20somethings' experience of Christianity is shallow.
Churches come across as antagonistic to science.
Church attitudes toward sexuality are often simplistic and judgmental.
Christianity seems exclusive, which they wrestle with.
The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt.
In the immortal words of The Who, they are "Talkin' 'bout my generation" (which is ironic because many of the people talking are the original generation to which The Who referred). But here is the million dollar question: Who is talking to my generation? Or better yet, who is listening to my generation?

As I look at these reasons for why young people leave the church, I see a pattern: most churches are simply not designed to disciple people through their spiritual questions. This generation harbors abundant questions about living a life of faith (as shown by reasons 4 through 6), but the church's attitude, or at least perceived attitude, fails to celebrate questioning as part of a faith process (as shown by reasons 1, 2, 3 and 6).

Thinking about it, these findings make sense: the format of most churches is not a dialogue, which it seems most of these young people crave, but a lecture, and the conversations that do exist largely consist of homogenous thought. Of course, some churches do intentionally engage younger generations. For example, I attend a vibrant church of mostly 20somethings where my small group community supports and loves each other and frequently parties together. But as wonderful a community I find there, I rarely ever bring questioning friends to a Sunday service. It just would not meet their needs.