7 THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED ABOUT REACHING MILLENIALS

I find the work of Ron Edmonson extremely help.  He has a great post on this shared concern of mine-Steve

BY RON EDMONDSON

The statistics are staggering. The older a child gets today, the greater his or her chances are of disappearing from the church. The church must intentionally plan to reverse this trend.
I was part of a church plant built around a desire to reach people who may not have previously been interested in church. We were amazed at the number of young people we reached. Defying statistics.
I’ve now updated this post because we are currently in a growing, revitalized established church and—amazingly—our fastest growing group is the Millennial generation. Again, defying statistics.
It must be more than structure or age of church—or even style of worship.
Along the way, we’ve learned a few things—and these are the things that regardless of type of church have remained true.

Here are seven thoughts for the church to reach Millennials:

Love them—Young people today seem to crave genuine, no strings attached, healthy love from other adults—and they want it to be unconditional love—through the good times of their life and the times they mess up. And they want us to love first, without qualifications added.

Be biblically true—Millennials don’t want fluff or sugar-coating. They want an authentic, honest approach to the Bible. Whether they believe all of it yet or not, they want the people who teach to teach what they believe—and then be willing to discuss it with them as they explore.

Be culturally aware and relevant—This generation has been exposed to the problems, challenges and changes in the world. And changes are coming fast. They are more socially conscious than in years past. They want the church to be addressing the needs they see in the world around them.

Give them a place to plug in—They want to make a difference. They want to be a part of change. They want you to support them in their pursuits. They want to serve somewhere they believe is doing good work and makes a positive impact on the world—and they may even want to help lead the effort.

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WE'RE NOT ON WALTON'S MOUNTAIN ANYMORE

BY STEVE DUNN

 

Churches are notoriously resist to change.  Whether they are watered from the liturgical stream or the pentecostal tributary, churches quickly develop traditions that they embed in stone.  Even a fresh wind of the Spirit can at best bend them for a time, but they anchored by roots of culture and personal preference that make them inward focused.

The inward focus soon leads to irrelevance even in communities where they are known as "First Church."  Except for the most isolated of locations, they are living in a world of constant change; and without an awareness of those changes and an attempt to engage their unchurched neighbors,  they find themselves on a mission field for which they are ill-equipped to connect new generations with a meaningful faith in Jesus Christ. 

This is true of both temperament and technique.  By temperament our churches tend to cultural-despisers instead of counter-cultural lights.  Their message is one of judgment, condemnation,and lament.

Or their techniques are tied a Sunday morning worship service, with worship that looks more like a family reunion than an assembly that clearly worshiping Christ or with sermons that talk about the minutia of doctrinal distinctives instead of the challenge and hope of the Kingdom of God.

We do not live on Walton's Mountain any more.  In fact, few of us who aging church leaders ever lived their either.

The time is come to take a cue from Paul on Mars Hill, whose cultural awareness and discernment gave him a bridge to reach a culture with the eternal gospel of God.

© 2015 by Stephen L Dunn

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