Flipping statistics
In 2010, Frank Limehouse saw something he said was a problem in churches.
Limehouse, who was head pastor of Birmingham’s Cathedral Church of the Advent at the time, believed “youth ministry is probably the sector of the church where there’s the most Christ-less Christianity,” said Mountain Brook resident Cameron Cole.
Based on that concern, Cole and Limehouse held a conference in Birmingham about the gospel in youth ministry. There, Cole said he and others realized the need to bridge the gap between youth and the gospel within the church through youth ministers and parents.
“Churches weren’t equipping parents to invest in … their own kid’s spiritual lives,” Cole said.
Youth ministry had become entertainment-based and moralistic, and kids had started to view Christianity as a set of moral behaviors and “their view of God was a distant God,” Cole said. “So we realized that what we had espoused in that first conference, gospel-centered youth ministry, was the antidote to the issue.”
And with that, Rooted Ministry was born.
Cole, the founder and chairman of the ministry, described the organization as “a ministry organization for student ministry leaders but also a movement” that hopes to “flip the statistic.”
“Statistics show 70 percent of people who go through a youth group don’t stick with it,” said Mountain Brook resident Emily Heide, director of events and marketing, adding that only 30 percent of children who are a part of a church when they’re younger return after high school. “What if it was 70 percent stay with the church? Wouldn’t that be amazing?”
After the first conference — which had 31 attendees — Cole and fellow board members identified three channels to try to influence how churches minister to younger members: through conferences, such as the one Rooted Ministry was founded on; through communications, such as a blog and other publications; and through connections, by consulting and starting regional groups.
With the regional groups, youth ministers are able to gather and share ideas with one another to better design the youth ministry at their churches. So far, they have groups in Michigan, California, North Carolina and Alabama.
They also started Rooted Parent on Fridays, where parents contribute articles to the organization’s blog.
“We believe that parents are student ministry leaders,” Cole said. “We really want to communicate to parents and churches that parents are spiritual leaders.”
Through Rooted Ministry, youth ministers and writers discuss their thoughts and teachings to parents and other ministers to try to better reach younger generations. Mountain Brook resident Anna Harris, a Rooted Parent editor, said topics for their podcasts, blogs and newsletters include a range of issues.
“We have writers in Canada, the UK, Australia; [five percent] of our readership is in the United Kingdom,” said Heide.
Harris said too that a minister’s wife in Dubai found Rooted and has since reached out to ask to write for them. Rooted has 115 contributing writers, Cole said, and some have been Mountain Brook high school students who offered their perspective in a “student series" this past summer.
In October, Rooted Ministry will host its annual conference in Dallas and expects nearly 300 attendees.
“Our speakers are incredible this year,” Heide said. “I’ve never seen a lineup like it.”
Over the course of three days, attendees will attend sessions and workshops with speakers and activities, and the conference will also offer a parent track for the first time.
“As a parent of young children, it’s really encouraging to me that we are helping kind of provide foundational [elements of Christian parenting],” Executive Director James Kling said. “We are trying to take a smart approach as well as what we believe is scripturally effective.”
To learn more about Rooted Ministry, visit rootedministry.com.
Editor's note: This article was updated on Sept. 25 at 10:30 p.m. to correct the statistic regarding readership in the UK and the spelling of James Kling's name.