Category Archives: Graduation

Graduation time provides opportunity to remind graduates to keep trusting God as they navigate life now and in the future.

Graduation is . . .

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God has brought graduates to this time of celebration. Just as He has been faithful in the past, so can He be counted on with the future. Each step forward can be taken in full confidence, knowing that wholeheartedly trusting Him rather than leaning on one’s own understanding leads to that which is best and for the good.

Graduates, look at graduation as . . .

a time to look back

I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High. (Ps. 9:1-2)

a time to look forward 

… being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil. 1:6)

a time to look current

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Prov. 3:5-6)

Graduation Holiday Reflections
Be sure to check out the Holiday Reflections resource which contains a two page discipleship guide that can be distributed to your graduates and others. It helps us reflect on the past, present, and future with additional Scripture and questions. This is one of the fourteen guides covering various holidays and milestones.

Resources: Graduation Ministry Resources

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After Graduation, Then What?

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Many young people will soon be graduating from high school or college.  The church can give them a nice certificate to recognize this accomplishment or some other keepsake gift.  We can wish them well in their adult lives. But, can we keep them in the church? After graduation, then what?

Actual figures of how many drop out of church vary.  One of the lower figures I’ve seen is from a 2006 Barna study.  Here is a quote from that report:

In fact, the most potent data regarding disengagement is that a majority of twentysomethings – 61% of today’s young adults – had been churched at one point during their teen years but they are now spiritually disengaged (i.e., not actively attending church, reading the Bible, or praying). Only one-fifth of twentysomethings (20%) have maintained a level of spiritual activity consistent with their high school experiences. Another one-fifth of teens (19%) were never significantly reached by a Christian community of faith during their teens and have remained disconnected from the Christian faith.

After Graduation, Then What Do We Do to Keep Young People in the Church?

I think the question we must ask first is why they aren’t staying.

  • Is it a matter of intellectual disengagement?  Have we not done a good job apologetically with them?
  • Is it a heart issue?  Do they want to be in control of their own lives more than they want God?  Are we praying for them as we should?
  • Or is it something else?

Once we figure out why young people are leaving the Church after graduation, then perhaps we’ll be in a better place to know how to stem the tide of their exodus.

Graduation Holiday Reflections
You’ll find a two page discipleship guide in the Holiday Reflections resource to help graduates, and others, reflect on God’s role in their past, present, and future. If He isn’t an integral part, why would they value His Church? (The resource contains guides for thirteen other holidays.)

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