Failure to Leave

Young adults are staying at home in greater numbers than ever before. So, how can the church reach a new niche, the young and ensconced?

Since 1970, the percentage of people ages 18 to 34 who live with their parents increased 48 percent, from 12.5 million to 18.6 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

This phenomenon is the subject of the movie Failure to Launch, starring Matthew McConaughey as a 35-year-old living with mom and dad. Many of the parents’ friends are having similar experiences: “Our place is much nicer than anything he could afford,” one says at a social gathering that becomes a gripe session about adult children still at home.

“People today think it’s a little odd when a young adult stays in his or her parents’ house until their early 30s, but it wasn’t that uncommon 100 years ago,” Andrew Cherlin, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University told USA Today. “We’re moving back in the direction where it’s acceptable to stay home.”

Although high housing costs are a part of the reason more young adults stay home, experts also note some are trying to pay off debt from college loans.

“Stay-at-home adults” present new ministry opportunities—and challenges—for the church. “The key for single adult ministry is that you’re dealing with two categories, 35 and under and 35 up,” says Rich Hurst, director of young adult ministry at McLean Bible Church in McLean, Virginia. “With the 35 and under group, they’re separated mainly in terms of lifestyle. A young professional living alone is forced into making his or her own decisions and into unfamiliar environments. In contrast, young people still living at home are sheltered from some of that.”

Hurst suggests that the ministry approach to stay-at-home young adults should be geared more toward relationship issues than toward career issues.

“There is almost a glass ceiling that they’re popping up against, which forces them to deal with issues like not having their own space, or not making their own decisions.” This makes their everyday relationships vital to their spiritual wellbeing, Hurst adds.

Although he concedes that many churches do not have the money or muscle to tailor ministry programs specifically to stay-at-home adults, Hurst says that anybody with a passion to reach that demographic can do so if the church identifies it as a target area for ministry.