Where are the youth?

I am sitting in church in the city of Velingrad, Bulgaria. Bulgaria is a country of about 7 million people. In the last census, there were approximately 64,000 people or about 1% of the population that identified themselves as protestants. Even the church that I am visiting is small, there are about 50 enthusiastic believers that sing beautifully their praises to God. The pastor is personable and has a somewhat casual style of preaching. I feel welcome and comfortable in spite of the fact that I understand almost nothing that is said (I don’t speak Bulgarian). However, there is something missing. Something inside of me doesn’t feel right.

Then it dawns on me that there are very few faces that are younger than me (an old man of 41). I notice a few couples in their early 30′s with young children, but the majority of the congregation is made up of women 50+ years. I looked around as we sang and spotted one teenager, running the PowerPoint for the worship songs, but she was it. There are close to 1500 high school age students in this city of 25,000 people. And I saw one at church, the only church in town that even has youth that attend.

So where are the youth? Why is there not even a 1% representation in the chuch? I mean, that would be at least 15 or so. Is it Bulgarian culture? Is it a leftover anti-religion attitude inherited from the Soviet days? Is the church perceived as irrelevant to the young people in Velingrad?

Yesterday I had the chance to spend some time with a dozen Bulgarian youth workers from different parts of the country, along with our YH global youth workers, Gabe and Melissa Hillman.  They gave me some insight.

Challenges for youth ministry:

• The protestant church is viewed as a cult or sect.  Many youth think that they will be brainwashed or have to do weird things and are almost afraid to go to church.
• Few churches are doing anything focused on youth (or activities are only relevant to super Christian youth).  The same thing is said by youth here in Bulgaria as everywhere else around the world.  ”Church is boring!” They don’t see the church as relevant to their lives and so they just aren’t interested.
• Nominal Orthodox cultural/traditional identification.  So many Bulgarians would tell you they are Christians because it is cultural.  It really means that they aren’t Muslim.  However, most never darken the door of the church, except maybe for a wedding or an Easter service.  They are also encouraged to avoid the evangelical church as it is not seen as legitimate Christianity.

Approaches the Hillmans are using:

• School Outreach – Gabe and Melissa teach a school based program called Youth at the Crossroads.  They talk about subjects like self-esteem, drug use, etc. as a way to introduce Christian principles and build relationships with youth.
• Outdoor activities - Gabe is a fanatic of outdoor sports and activities.  The city they live in is in the mountains.  They have developed a program that incorporates mountain biking, rock climbing, low ropes, team building, etc. They invite youth to spend time with them and that gives them the opportunity to build relationships and talk about their faith.