- April 24, 2024
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With an older population and busy schedules, how are some of the churches in Flagler County reaching out to a younger demographic? Two churches, First Baptist of Flagler Beach and Palm Coast United Methodist of Palm Coast, have active and growing memberships and share what works for them.
Pastor Chet Thomas, of First Baptist, estimates the average age of his congregation to be about 60 years old.
“The biggest thing is that we have a youth ministry that stays active,” Thomas said. “We offer two types of services on Sundays, an earlier contemporary service and the traditional service later.”
The church uses a combination of word of mouth and online presence to attract new people to the church.
“We encourage people to invite their family, friends, and neighbors to services," he said. "On Sunday mornings, we have Bible study classes for all ages from infants to senior adults.”
The church has a website, www.fbcflaglerbeach.com, something Thomas says helps bring new people to services.
“When younger people move into the area they do an Internet search for Baptist churches and ours is one of those that will pop up.”
The average age at Palm Coast United Methodist Church depends on which service you’re attending. “We offer three services,” said Children's Ministry Director Leanne Mannino. “The 8 and 11 a.m. services' average age is about 65. Those are traditional services with a choir and they sing hymns. The 9:30 service age is late 30s, early 40s. We have a praise band with drums and guitars and contemporary Christian music.”
To reach the entire community, the church offers Bible studies on Wednesday nights, which include adult studies, parent and child studies, and women's ecumenical Bible study.
The children are actively engaged in many of the church programs including helping the men's group prepare and serve breakfast at the fifth Sunday pancake breakfasts.
“We do lots of summer day trips like Daytona Lagoon and Night of Joy at Disney," she said.
Social media is also custom fit to the parishioners' needs.
“We have three Facebook pages, a youth page, children's ministry page and the Palm Coast United Methodist page,” Mannino said. “We don't want someone having to wade through a bunch of stuff that doesn't apply to them and they are not interested in. We also have our own website at www.palmcoastumc.org.”
One area Mannino is hoping one of her younger church members can expand is the church Twitter account.
“We have one, but we don't have anyone who can tweet,” she said. “I am hoping one of the teens will take that over.”
