A Sad Trend

We all know millennials are leaving the church in droves. The church is having a hard time meeting the needs of this generation. My Pastor had started a new sermon series titled Courageous. The first Sunday he was preaching in this series, he gave us cold hard facts. He told us that recently there was a lunch of about 50 ladies and they all had adult children. When they were asked if their adult children attend the Church only 2 raised their hands.

Pew Research Center has an article title America's Changing Religious Landscape. It is it says "One of the most important factors in the declining share of Christians and the growth of the “nones” is generational replacement. As the Millennial generation enters adulthood, its members display much lower levels of religious affiliation, including less connection with Christian churches, than older generations." 


I am a 28 year old millennial and I have seen this as the total reality. I have been personally impacted by this trend. The Church has yet to learn how to reach out to this particular challenging generation. If it does not change, the ramifications can go much deeper. Some churches do\ well in reaching out to this challenging generation. Luckily I have found a church that is truly wonderful about it. People may say that it is not a problem but with that attitude can result in tragic outcomes- more tragic then we need can imagine. 

I believe there are many factors to this issues. I will name the first few that run off the top of my head. One is people in this generation haven't learned how to make their faith their own. They see it is something that their parents believe and it was simply how they were raised. Once they turn 18 because they haven't learned how to make their faith own they decide to leave. Churches don't make enough of an effort to reach out to people in this generation or they try but they could do more. They need to make programming available for this generation- even if there are not many millennials in a particular congregation. When they read in the bulletin that a Bible Study meets for people like us it sends this message... "This church cares about me. This church believes me." Churches need to do research on what  our needs are, what attracts us and what sets us off. The more churches learn about about us the more they will be able reach us where we are. Parents of kids through the age 17 need to help their child make their faith their own. They need to help them see it not just apart of what their family but a part of them as an individual. 

I truly believe it is not too late to change this sad tread. I do believe that we need to change this now before it will be too late. I believe the church needs to be courageous and stop being complacent. I believe we as a Nation needs to back it's Christian foundation and I believe that the millennials can lead that change but before that happens the Church needs to stands up! NOW! 

http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/