News you can use

Young and Faithful

Who are the Millennials?

Imagine for a moment a young person who you know personally. What would they find when they walk into your congregation?

Is the worship time and location available and accurate? Is the entrance to the sanctuary easy to navigate? Is there someone there to greet them? If they have a history with the church, be careful of well-intentioned but off-putting greetings such as, “It’s been so long since we’ve seen you.” Young adults often are still trying to establish stable careers. Will they feel pressure to donate to the church as an organization which they are still unsure about? If they have children, will they receive unfriendly stares or complaints if their children are loud? Is the liturgy written out in a way that is accessible and engaging for someone new to the faith? After worship, will they be bombarded with people trying to get them to join the church or will they be completely ignored? You get the idea …

The common perception is that young adults are leaving the church in droves. However, the latest research reveals that is not true. Millennials who were raised in the church largely stay in the church, although we may take a “break” from attending Sunday worship services as we adjust to life outside of our family of origin. What is true, however, is the millennials on the fringe — those who grew up only somewhat connected to the church — may disconnect from the church all together during emerging adult years. Researchers in this field have labelled these the “nones” (those who have no religious affiliation) and “dones” (those who had a religious affiliation but are done with the church as a religious institution). However, what is interesting is that many of the nones and dones still consider themselves to be spiritual.

Throughout my seminary training, I heard a lot about the Millennial generation — often presented in negative light, which bothered me as someone in this generation. “Millennials” are currently young adults ages 18 to 34 — born between 1980 and 2000. Some of the stereotypes of this generation are technological, moralistically motivated by what is good, self-absorbed, entrepreneurial, idealistic, consumers, global, hungry for community, cause-oriented.

Yet young adults want to know what we believe, why we believe it, and why these beliefs matter. Last week, I asked you to reflect on why you are a Christian, why you chose your particular tradition, and why you keep attending. When someone new comes into your church, it is an opportunity to share these insights with them — why this faith community is important to you serves as an invitation for them to consider why it might be important to them.

Preaching matters more than ever as there are so many narratives competing for the attention of our young adults. Therefore, today’s preaching must counter the lies in our culture and cast vision for the one true narrative — the gospel of Jesus Christ. The prevailing, but false, narrative that young adults believe and live by is “Moral Therapeutic Deism.” Basic beliefs are (1) a God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth; (2) God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most other world religions; (3) the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself; (4) God doesn’t need to be particularly involved in one’s life, except when he is needed to solve a problem; (5) good people go to heaven when they die. The problem with this world view is that God becomes something that we can manipulate and this belief system does not stand up against life’s hardships and struggles.

But preaching is also strengthened by relationships. Pastoral care and preaching go hand in hand — personal engagement is so important! Young adults, like all of us, need to be discipled. Many might lack biblical and spiritual knowledge, and many do not understand the gospel and do not know how to grow spiritually. The key to discipleship is mentoring — coming alongside them to read Scripture and reflect on it together, modeling basic spiritual practices and showing them how to do it.

Frankly, what we did 50 years ago might not work any more. Considering these realities, the local church is invited to reach out to young adults in and outside of the church. Next week, I will discuss some practical models for doing this.

——

The Rev. Maggie Lewis

First Presbyterian Church, Havre

Chinook Presbyterian Church, Chinook

 

Reader Comments(0)