Threshold Communities: Where the Theological Future of Teens and Emerging Adults Is Made

Using Springtide Research Institute’s mixed-methods findings on 15–22-year-olds, this presentation reframes the AAR theme “Future/s” around a practical-theological question: what communal conditions make faith livable for teens and emerging adults? The data suggest a connection–communion gap: many retain religious/spiritual identity while worship attendance and embedded participation are uneven, and older youth participate less frequently in both religious and nonreligious groups. I propose “threshold community” as an analytic construct for ecclesial spaces that lower entry barriers while building pathways to belonging, meaning-making, and agency. Interpreted through koinonia, mystagogy, accompaniment, and charism-centered leadership formation, the argument treats young people as diagnosticians of formative infrastructures rather than deficits to be fixed. The session introduces a compact Connection–Communion Diagnostic to map threshold costs, communion practices, and agency pathways. Participants generate a one-page “communion pathway map” to locate where ministries leak connection into disengagement, and identify redesign options for co-responsible leadership and hopeful futures.