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who are young adults?

Some may be wondering who is included in the title of young adults. It is a good question that unfortunately has few clear answers. Each church needs to define this grouping for itself based upon its own context and who is present, but there are some basic understandings of who young adults are that are fairly common to most settings. Broadly speaking, a young adult is anyone who has moved beyond the concerns and needs of a youth, but has not yet come to the place of fully taking on the needs and concerns of an adult. This is a transition stage that is often marked at its beginning and end by defining life events.

Most youth become young adults upon graduation from high school whether they move into the workforce or on to further education. This event often marks a transition from being fully dependent on their parents for guidance and provision to being mostly or fully independent. The end of this transition stage is more difficult to define. There is no clear age or event to mark this completion. For some it is graduation from college, for others it is a move to a whole new area, marriage or having children. For each person, it is whatever brings them to full ownership and acceptance of their presence in the adult stage of life. It is whatever moves them from seeing themselves as between being a youth and being an adult, not really fully fitting into either category; to feeling fully a part of the adult life stage.