My parents remember their 20s as a time of newly-wed bliss and parenthood. My father wasn’t even legally able to drink alcohol at his own wedding reception. Sure they moved from an apartment to a starter home, but they were “starting” their life together, moving towards the white picket fence of suburban living. Now the 20s look quite different. I spent mine in graduate school, moving from apartment to apartment every 9 months or so, working enough to eat and have a social life, but definitely not saving for a down payment on a house. I was lucky to afford the text books I purchased used from Amazon. My friends were mostly doing the same thing. Few got married out of college, many went on to graduate school, or the peace core, and most were living in studio apartments or their parent's house trying to figure out the next move. The 20s has become the new crisis age. It is a time of searching, a time of defining who you are based on where you want to be in 10 years.

In the church of 30 years ago, the 20s were the influx of new members. They leave church during the college years, and then when they have families of their own they tend to wander back in. However, what about the church of now? What are we doing with the fact that the 20-somethings are not running down the wedding aisle and popping out babies? Instead 20-somethings are living in loft apartments and getting PhDs. They are searching. They are told that it’s about where you’re going and not so much about the right now. I don’t know that we have the answer, but our response to the 20-somethings crisis is to create community. Why not be in crisis together? In the Young Adult group at my church, there are graduate students and new parents, newly engaged and emphatically single. Some of us feel like we’re finally settled, others say they’re just passing through. But whatever brings us here, this group reminds us that the 20s are not a time just for getting through. Searching can be a good process. This time in Ann Arbor can be more than a passing city, it can be a chapter of your life where you felt connected to something greater than the goals you check off your list. We grapple with the Bible, we pray for one another, and on Sundays we participate in the greater church community, often thought of as the “young ones.” As a “young one,” I am so thankful for the community we have. We are a city chock-full of 20-somethings in various modes of searching. May we as churches, as people of various faiths, guide these people to find their place, and if you’re in those 20s, may you find community and search together, taking the time to live, not plan, this chapter life has given.

Darcy Crain, Contributor

Darcy Crain is the Associate Minister at the First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor.