Pastor Jeff Adel gives the kids message at Sunday Service at Gettysburg UMC. Photos courtesy of Gettysburg UMC Facebook page.

On Sunday evenings at Gettysburg UMC, an average of 20 people show up to worship each week. It is an informal, casual service, in the fellowship hall. It is a time of gathering and connecting for young adults and families.

Last spring, Pastor Jeff Adel, who serves Gettysburg, Onida and Agar United Methodist Churches—also known as Wheatland Parish, gathered a group of young adults.  “We had some younger adults, whom I knew cared, but didn’t show up for worship on Sunday mornings,” says Pastor Jeff.  “These people are the future of our church. I gathered them and asked them how they wanted to get involved with the church.”

The group of young adults shared that Sunday morning wasn’t the time for them to attend worship. There were a lot of competing activities, and they were not around.  The group proposed to have  a service on Sunday evening.

The entire Sunday evening service plan is by the young adult group called —Nxt Generation Gettysburg UMC. The service includes a welcome, a song, a prayer, another song, kids message, scripture, a message from the pastor, sharing special moments, and a closing song.  The music is contemporary, from digital files, with the words projected on screens. Kids activities are available — puzzles, colors, and more.  Cookies, coffee, and lemonade are available to enjoy.

Singing at Sunday evening service at Gettysburg UMC.

“They suggested it, and they planned how we would do this service,” says Pastor Jeff.  "There has been positive feedback. It is a win-win situation. There was a fear that it might take away from the Sunday morning worship service, but that hasn’t happened. Some of the regular Sunday morning worshippers come on Sunday evening if they are out of town.”

Nxt Generation is still talking about what else they want to do as a young adult group. They recently held a movie night, and they have started a Facebook page. 

“This has been great for our congregation,” said Pastor Jeff. “The young adults wanted to do more, but there wasn’t any place for them to talk about it and do it. The older people in the congregation were saying that they wanted to hand things off to someone but, they didn’t see anyone available to hand things to.”

Another success Gettysburg UMC has experienced for families with children is the after-school program called Faith Builders. The traditional Sunday school program had three or four kids in attendance. The congregation decided to try a program on Wednesdays. There are now 20-25 kids that come to the church at 3:30-5:15 p.m. each week. Teachers lead the kids in snacks, music, video lessons, and then individual or small group time with discussion.  Pastor Jeff notes, “We have wonderful, faithful teachers for this program.”

What is next? Conversations will continue with Nxt Generation Gettysburg UMC in hopes of building the future of the church. They dream about growing worship attendance on Sunday evening.  “We are excited about what is happening. We know that God is at work and the future is in His hands,” says Pastor Jeff.