Sunday, August 25, 2013
Millennials & The Church, Part 1
By: Angela Lee Price
If the Kingdom of God is to advance, it behooves the church to think innovatively in reaching the largest demographic, the Millennial Generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you are a pastor, minister, lay leader struggling to keep young people in your church, or just a concerned parent wondering why your young adult won't go to church, this should begin to help answer questions for you.
Part 1: Introduction
A tidal wave of change is beating against our global shores. The Millennial Generation is coming of age, and with more than 78 million members, they are coming in like a flood. For the marketers especially this means good news. They whistle while they work targeting goods, services, and experiences to a generation that has moved beyond the final frontier of space and time to boldly go where no man has gone before. However, the Psalmist declared in ancient of days, “I will cause Thy name to be remembered in all generations” (Ps. 45:17). The Psalmist declared, “I will bless the Lord at all times, his praises shall continually be in my mouth.” The question that begs to be answered and remains to be seen is will the Millennial Generation born between 1980 and 2000, and raised in a postmodern era where choice is abundant, there are no absolutes and technology is ever-changing – will they bless the Lord?
If the Millennial Generation is to “bless the Lord at all times,” they will need much more spiritual nurturing and guidance from the preceding generations, Generation X, the Baby Boomers, and the Silents. Although there is a lot of good news to report statistically, relationally, educationally, and potentially financially for the Millennials, one ominous statistic remains, this population is largely apathetic to and uninvolved with church. Roughly, only one-fourth of Millennials attend church weekly. Consequently, many Millennials do not know what they believe or why they believe it as they cannot clearly define their beliefs. Getting to know young adults under age 33 must become priority to the church as no church exists without a multi generational mix of some sort. Theirs is a vast mission field. Helping them come to know and remember the name of the Lord is how we advance the Kingdom in this age.
Excerpts from Min. Angela Lee Price's research paper, The Millennials. This paper was written in partial fulfillment of course work for the Masters of Theology program at Campbellsville University, June 2013. All rights reserved.
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