Last year when the Hemorrhaging Faith Survey came out there was a lot of focus on why many Christian faith groups were struggling with keeping their youth and young adults. However, there was also other information that was discovered through this study. For example, several themes came out about the youth and young adults who are very engaged in their faith today. In fact, in North America we have many groups and denominations that are growing because youth and young adults are engaged and remaining.
It would seem that the groups who are attracting, reaching, and keeping all the ages groups involved have a few common factors between them. Before You Say Goodbye is really about helping connect young people to these common factors. Some of them are habits, practices, ideas, engagement, and tools. All are faith builders.
Here is just one example. A large amount of youth and young adults who are engaged in the church today say their faith became real, or alive, through a short term mission experience of some kind. This is just one thing we are seeing is a common faith builder. This does not mean going on a STM is going guarantee you will always be a strong Christian, but it could be a help. There are likely a few reasons why it has such a dramatic effect on people. People see how passionate others are in their faith. They see God work. They see prayers
answered. They discover they can serve others. Faith moves from being just something you know, to something you live.
Here is a video from Before You Say Goodbye. It is about a young lady named Jessie who went on an STM and how it effected her entire life.