March 26th

Global Youth Summit 2025

Our MCA rep -- Liam!

I have the privilege of representing Mennonite Church Alberta, along with four other representatives from across Mennonite Church Canada were tasked with compiling a report. This report centered on themes of belonging, spiritual inclusion and belonging. We surveyed 33 adults across Canada, with more than 50% of the responses from Alberta (go us!). We found four key themes.



First, active involvement correlates with youth [and young adults] staying at church. This suggests that young adults are more likely to stay connected when they have roles or responsibilities. Growing up in First Mennonite Edmonton, this theme stands out as a strength of our MCA church congregations. My church family was incredibly proud to have me, to invest in my growth and to give me spaces to try new things. As a young adult, this included serving on committees, counselling at Camp Valaqua and assisting in leading worship services (or entirely taking one over as a youth group). I don’t take my experience of preaching at age 15 for granted, nor leading a fundraising effort to send 10 youth to a local Christian youth conference, nor the bursary I received to attend Canadian Mennonite University. We need to see much more of this kind of support across MCA for young people in our churches!

Second, young adults value genuine community engagement. They seek environments where their voices and contributions are acknowledged. Young adults had memorable experiences in worship, with opportunities to be engaged, when churches were trialing new ways of worshipping. One significant is from First Mennonite Calgary. I learned their congregation has an ‘outside of the box’ service roughly every five Sundays. These services may include a focus on hymn singings, or an outdoor service, or a lectio divina style service. The young adult who shared this said it has engaged young adults and created a safe space to invite friends who may not otherwise attend a church service. I wonder how our churches may be able to trial similar services as a way to engage young adults and encourage their leadership beyond Camp Valaqua.

Third, young adults value churches that prioritize vulnerability and are open to discussing difficult or controversial topics. Success in fostering vulnerability often comes from smaller, interest-based groups where young adults can delve deeper into challenging issues and/or topics. One success story comes from Foothills Mennonite Church, where young adults have been self-organizing lunches for about 2 years. I’ve seen young adults encouraging one another in their careers, experimenting with new recipes, assisting with transportation, diving into questions about the role of the church in spiritual formation and simply enjoying each other’s company. It’s an incredibly rich space and a joy to be a part of whenever I can make time.

Fourth, young adults had a very clear message across Canada: don’t focus on chasing young adults to grow your church population. Rather, focus on deepening connections with existing members rather than prioritizing growth as a strategy for long-term engagement. This final point has caused me to pause. It’s easy for First Mennonite Edmonton, or the Chin Congregation, or Foothills to speak of deepening connections with their young adults. But what about Bergthal or Trinity? What about my Dad’s home church of Rio Terrace Moravian, where the youth population fluctuated between 2-6 people during my adolescence? I have found myself encouraged by a conversation I had with young adults at First Mennonite Edmonton, where we discussed the ‘migration’ of young adults as they start careers or families. In our circles, it’s uncommon for young adults to merely stay at their home congregation through all seasons of life. More likely, your church’s young adults will go to post-secondary in a different city or fall in love with someone from a different city, or move to take on an interesting career opportunity, then make a decision about where their new home congregation is. There is a sizeable number of my young adult peers who grew up in Edmonton or Calgary but have moved to another city: the other big Albertan city, Winnipeg, Abbotsford, Ottawa, Toronto. Most, if not all, of these peers have attempted to reconnect with a Mennonite Church when they have moved to that other city.

The research and findings of this report have left me with a sense of hope and a sense of curiosity for the state of young adults in MCA. I pray that these findings may do the same for you.