Five Ways to Minister to Young Adults Struggling with Anxiety (Part 1)

John ThurmanBy John Thurman14 Minutes

In the last several months, numerous publications have sounded the alarm concerning the alarming increase in young adults reporting feelings of anxiety and depression. In this article, “Five Ways to Minister to Young Adults Struggling with Anxiety,” I hope to open your eyes to an opportunity for growth for yourself and your ministry.

This article is a must-read if you are a pastor or ministry leader passionate about reaching the next generation. Here I summarize ground-breaking research conducted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and highlight alarming statistics about young adults with an eye toward creative ministry opportunities today.

We’ll look at the rising tide of mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression, that so many young adults are struggling with and identify five crucial issues facing this emerging group of adults. By understanding these trends, pastors and ministry leaders can better adjust their approaches to reaching young adults with the truth of the Gospel. Five ways to minister to young adults struggling with anxiety is designed to help you understand five of the challenges that this people group face and give you five ways to positively impact those five concerns.

Are your attempts to reach young adults based on the “way we’ve always done ministry”? Or is your dream and strategy for reaching the next generation fueled by a combination of the Great Commission and solid research?

If you answered yes to the second part of the question, continue to read.

The Impact of Anxiety on Young Adults
In October of 2023, a survey conducted on young adults in the United States revealed a concerning statistic regarding mental health. The survey, released by Harvard, highlighted how young adults are experiencing significantly higher rates of anxiety and depression compared to teenagers. According to the report, 36% of the surveyed young adults reported experiencing stress, while 29% reported symptoms of depression.[i]

This alarming data sheds light on the growing concerns surrounding mental health among young adults. It emphasizes the need for increased awareness and support systems to address these issues effectively. Understanding and addressing the factors contributing to these high rates of anxiety and depression is crucial in developing strategies to promote overall well-being.

While these struggles are not new, as a society and as a church, we have done little to support these emerging adults. Young adults need easy access to supportive communities, and fewer and fewer are finding that in local churches, even as we’ve seen the mental health challenges of young adults continue to rise over the last several decades.[ii] Perhaps those of us in various areas of ministry have surrendered our roles to the modern-day “priesthood of mental health professionals” rather than finding ways to share the eternal, life-saving truths of Scripture.

I do believe the church has an opportunity to be a beacon of hope for young adults who are struggling with life issues. To understand the five ways to minister to young adults we need to look at the five reasons for their anxiety and depression.

Understanding the Five Reasons Behind Young Adult Anxiety and Depression
Let’s take a moment and look at the five major concerns this Harvard report identifies as the top drivers of mental health challenges in today’s young adults.

1. A lack of purpose, meaning, and direction: 58% of respondents reported lacking “meaning or purpose” in their lives. Half of the young adults reported their mental health was negatively impacted by “not knowing what to do with my life.“

2. Financial concerns and achievement pressure: 56% reported financial worries, and 51% stated that achievement pressures negatively impacted their mental health.

3. A perception that the world is falling apart: 45% of the young adult respondents reported a general “sense that things are falling apart” undermining their mental health.

4. Relationship deficits: 44% of young adults reported a sense of not mattering to others, and 34% reported feeling lonely.

5. Social and political issues: 42% reported the negative influence on their mental health related to gun violence, 34% cited climate change, and 30% cited concerns that our political leaders are incompetent or corrupt.[iii]

Go back and take a look at these clearly stated needs! I believe that the truth of the Gospel is the answer to the needs identified in this study. Our traditional program-driven ministries will only be successful if we commit ourselves to engaging this particular people group on a one-on-one level as much as possible.

Go back and take another look at that list, research tells us that these are five ways to minister to young adults at their point of need.

Possible Approaches to Addressing Anxiety and Depression in Young Adults
Let’s look at the most pressing needs, according to this study:

The first is a need for more meaning and purpose
I recently watched a news segment about a young adult who graduated from college with a business degree and went to work at a corporate job. Much to her surprise, she learned that the life she thought she’d live, working from home, going out with “the girls,” and “living the life,” quickly evaporated as she faced the daunting reality of a 9 to 5 with an hour commute.

The pain of her real-world experience left her asking the question that every generation asks. Is this all there is?

Before you judge her, think about it for a minute. She grew up with a device in her hand. She may have experienced a couple of her formative teen years attempting to go to school on Zoom. In addition, she, like millions of others, spent part of her adolescent years living under the restrictions of the pandemic. And like so many people, she may have spent too much time on the highlight reels of TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram because of social isolation.

A faith-based response.
How can the church help this young woman? Hint: an eight-part sermon series on “How to Find Purpose in Your Life” will only partially meet this need. It may help, but there is so much more we could do to engage her more meaningfully.

As a Christian, I know that part of God’s purpose for us is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. But how do we help her see that truth? How do we help her find meaning and purpose? How do we provide targeted, life-altering discipleship to this young woman?

What can we do as a church? What can you and I do as individual believers? Here are three ideas to help you think about this issue.

1. Facilitate meaning and purpose in young adults by including and engaging them in caring for others and participating in relevant service projects.

2. Help young adults develop meaningful and lasting relationships with peers and mentors.

3. Assist young adults in realizing that a well-lived life is more than a sum of personal achievements.

The second concern is a combination of financial problems and achievement pressure.

The second concern is a combination of financial problems and achievement pressure.
Over the past several years, Americans have been immersed in a culture of consumerism. Young adults grew up with this buy-and-consume mindset impacting every part of their lives—a constant barrage of consumer culture targeting them daily with messaging to the tune of You must have these clothes, these shoes, and these accessories to be significant and noticed.

With the rise of inflation, housing, and education costs, and an alarming increase in credit card debt and school loans, many young adults feel they will never make it.

I believe the church and we as believers can model and teach biblical stewardship principles. With this knowledge, we can help young adults avoid debt, build a solid financial future, and ultimately become cheerful givers.

Another portion of this stressor is the concept of achievement pressure.

In her book, Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—and What We Can Do About It, author Breheny Wallace discusses the pressure adolescents and young adults face today to succeed.[iv]

In her book, she indicates that achievement pressure can come from older adults, who are conduits for broader cultural anxieties, such as growing income inequities and job market competitiveness triggered by globalism and economic shifts.

A faith-based response.
The church may have contributed to this achievement pressure in some cases, mainly if you grew up in a faith group where attendance or performance equaled godliness.

As we minister to these young people, let’s focus more on the idea that faith justifies us, not works (Ephesians 2:8-9). While we as believers will do good works, that is not the basis of our salvation but the fruit of it.

The church has so much to offer young adults in financial stewardship and living a more balanced life with the help of the Holy Spirit. Here are a couple of programs you could consider; David Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, or Crown Financial both offer exceptional, faith-friendly training in stewardship. With that in mind, what thoughts and ideas come to mind as you seek to assist young adults in this area of their lives?

[i] Richard Weissbourd, Milena Batanova, Joseph McIntyre, and Eric Torres with Shanae Irving, Sawsan Eskander, and Kiran Bhai, “On Edge: Understanding and Preventing Young Adults’ Health Challenges,” Harvard Graduate School of Education, Making Caring Common Project, October 2023

[ii] According to a study by Twenge and colleagues (2019), there was a 71% increase in young adults experiencing severe psychological distress in the previous 30 days from 2008 to 2017. Another study using data from over 300,000 college students found that over 60% of students met criteria for one or more mental health problems in 2020-2021, a nearly 50% increase from 2013 (Lipson et al., 2022).

[iii] Richard Weissbourd, Milena Batanova, Joseph McIntyre, and Eric Torres with Shanae Irving, Sawsan Eskander, and Kiran Bhai, “On Edge: Understanding and Preventing Young Adults’ Health Challenges,” Harvard Graduate School of Education, Making Caring Common Project, October 2023

[iv] https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/09/how-achievement-pressure-is-crushing-kids-and-what-to-do-about-it/ Accessed November 10, 2023