Personal (Non-Scientific) Reflections on Millennials and the Church (Part Two)

Yesterday I shared seven observations that I’ve recently made based upon personal experience and conversation with leaders in the Millennial generation. These reflections are not all rooted in scientific social data but most that I say here can be seen in this kind of data if you look at it carefully.

1. Most churches tell Millennials, at least by their actions: “We have a program for you. Get married and have a family and you will find a place to join in with our community.” Given the large numbers of single Millennials, and the large number of Millennial couples who do not have children, this message pushes Millennials away from the church more and more. Large numbers of Christians who are now single young adults have left the church and have no plan to return. Thinking they will come home like previous generations is a huge mistake in my view.
2. Millennial Christians would rather not start another “generational” church but this will inevitably happen because of the reality of what I stated above.
3. Millennials can be reached but very few will be discipled well unless and until the church realizes that the mission of Jesus has profoundly changed in North America. The gospel is the same joyful good news but the way in which we reach and teach must change. We have moved from a religious, denominational, Christendom culture to a post-Christendom, post-denominational culture. Until we see this and embrace it missiologically we will fail.
4. Millennial leaders generally do not have the patience to put up with “what’s happening now” in the church culture so they will go where they find meaningful friendships, even if these friendships are not church-connected friendships.
5. Churches cannot fix these problems by “reaching out to Millennials.” Congregations must become communities, and this means more than starting and running small groups. Large churches, at least mega-churches as we’ve known them since the 1980s, will not be the same in the next two decades. Many large buildings will not be church buildings in my lifetime or slightly beyond. Again, very few current leaders are willing to address this problem before it overwhelms them.
6. Denominations and church groups desperately need to become ecumenical in every practical and possible way. Millennials are not going to embrace a fractured and divided Christianity the way my generation did. I believe there is growing evidence that they will embrace mission and unity if they see how the two are related in Christ’s teaching (John 13-17). This is why I believe even more deeply in the vision that God gave to me for the church back in the early 1990s.
7. Millennials hunger for silence, space and nature. They may be connected socially but they desire even more to be connected incarnationally. They hunger for significance in human relationships that reflect real diversity and true openness to all people; even to the whole of the biosphere on this planet.
8. Millennials have a strong and growing sense that they want to make a difference. It is more than interesting to see how they have voted. Now they seem to have “buyer’s remorse.” They will likely fall away from the political process in even greater numbers in the coming years, underscoring why the culture wars can not succeed in any meaningful way. The only way to change culture is to disciple leaders who create new structures, or renew old ones.  This can only happen if we who are older listen and embrace the young leaders who are speaking to us boldly at the present moment.