Young Millennials and Faith

Millennials is a term used to define people born in the late 1980's up to about 2000.  They are also known as Generation Y.  According to the Millennial Values Survey, many of the youngest Millennials are leaving their childhood faith and becoming mostly unaffiliated.  Many 18 to 24 year old Americans are rejecting religious doctrine and orthodoxy in general.  About 24 percent do not identify with any religion.
Jess Rainer recently co-authored a book on Millenials and is a member of that generation himself.  Here are some of his thoughts about this topic.  Millennials that enter churches only to find infighting and large amounts of negativity will become frustrated, leave, and avoid the church altogether. Those Millennials with minimal religious convictions will let go of them in order to maintain peace in their own lives.

I mentioned before that I am not the typical Millennial, so I see the church in a different light. The few Millennials that hold strong religious convictions desire to see the church change in a more positive, outward, and deeper theological direction. We are willing to maintain our convictions and work through disagreements in civil way in order greater God's Kingdom.

Those who match my Evangelical convictions only make up around 6 percent of the entire Millennial generation. But the other 94 percent of the our generation are not against the church or organized religion. In fact, using the very broad definition of Christian, 65 percent of the Millennials claimed it as their religious preference. Without using too many more numbers, approximately 85 percent of the Millennials are indifferent to the church.

So how do we reach Millennials with the Gospel?  Rainer's response:  There are two different groups of Millennials that churches need to be aware of: the 85 percent group and the 15 percent group. As mentioned previously, 85 percent of Millennials are not Christians. And its these non-Christian Millennials that are indifferent to the church. Churches need to understand that they are not on the radar of non-Christian Millennials. It will take an intentional effort to reach our generation.

A great place to start to reach non-Christian Millennials is to simply invite them. When asked, these Millennials will attend church with a friend.

Also try to find a way to connect the Millennials to their Christian parents. Millennials are seeking advice and guidance from their parents on a regular basis.

Additionally, leaders must be transparent, humble, and have integrity. It's these leaders that need to demonstrate the deep meaning of following Christ.

And how do we retain the 15% of Millennials who are believers?

The Christian Millennials want to see churches challenge themselves. "Church-as-usual" is no longer effective in retaining Christian Millennials. Churches need to start with deep biblical teaching. Watering down scriptural truth will only cause Christian Millennials to look for another church. There has to be an outward focus as well. Churches need to commit to investing in their communities, love the nations, and direct revenue outwardly. Christian Millennials, like their counterpart, want to see leaders who demonstrate transparency, humility, and integrity.
It's not an easy task to reach the Millennial generation. I am experiencing these difficulties first hand as I reach out to our generation with my church plant. At the same time, I am seeing a small group of younger believers start to desire deeper teaching and community involvement. One of the biggest misconceptions is Millennials are unwilling to commit themselves to the church. It's this small group that is becoming more committed each week. Millennials want to radically commit themselves to something. There is nothing more radical than a true follower of Christ.
I hope we can all commit at the very least to praying for Millennials and then add seeking to build relationships with them.
Blessings,
Dr. Paul