Essential Church?

I've started reading a book called "Essential Church? (Reclaiming a generation of dropouts)"
It's to do with the North American exodus of young adults from the church. Over the past couple of weeks, this is something that's been brought to my attention. I think perhaps it's God. I say this because I got an email in the same week I first had these thoughts and got hold of the book (but not because I was looking for it). The email was worded as follows:

"... the eAdvising/Development…it is basically a cost effective way in providing consulting, advising, and developing as it relates to Young Adult/20-30’s Ministry. Each session will be done via conference call and the web. The purpose is to assist and equip churches in finding ways that they can “retain” the 20s-30s in their local churches and “reach” them in their communities. We will look at context and culture, both within the local church and their community. Each church has it’s DNA, and we want to find out how they can uniquely reach this emerging generation for Christ!

I've suddenly started to notice and care that there seems to be something lacking between youth age and fully-fledged adulthood...namely the lack of community for young adults - the 18-30 age group. I guess I've noticed for longer than a couple of weeks - but it's crystallized in my mind just recently. I'm not talking about creating a program, but I am talking about some kind of community for the young adults who are going through so many life-changes with little or no community-base on which to anchor.

Let me just share a couple of points from the book, so you'll know where my head is right now (where it says "America / Americans", feel free to read "Canada / Canadians")

"Why do more than two-thirds of churchgoing young adults Americans leave the church? Or to ask the question positively, why do one-third of churchgoing young adult Americans stay in the church? The answer to the latter questions emerged from several years of research. Young adults are likely to stay in the church if they see church as essential to their lives. But the reality is that most churches in America are doing little to become essential to the lives of their members" (page 5 of "Essential Church")

The authors then going on to set the following structure for the rest of the book:
"Church members (of essential churches) see the local congregation as a biblical fellowship that they deem critical for their lives. The essential church has four major components.
1) The church has learned to simplify. Too many churches are filled with activities that have little coherent purpose.
2) The church moves its members to deepen their knowledge of God's word and His truths.
3) The church has high expectations of its members. When expectations are low, commitment is low.
4) An essential church is committed to helping its members multiply spiritually. Evangelism is part of the heartbeat of the church.

Taken from "Essential Church?" (Reclaiming a generation of dropouts). Written by Thom S. Rainer and Sam S. Rainer III. Published by B&H Publishing Group.

Cheers
Dan