CHURCH!?!?! YOU'VE GOT A PROBLEM!!!

Yo, Church, ya got a problem. It’s me. Hello, my name is Generation Y and I’m here to screw up all previous notions of how the church functions and ministers to the “younger” generation. Baby boomer generation? You’re gonna hate me. For all the annoying things I do, like non-stop texting and staring at my phone when I should be talking to you. The times when I tell you, you’re boring and old and out of the loop. You need to be relevant! How many of you have heard that these days? Be in the culture, but not of it? Be aware and free to integrate with all people groups and social spheres. All you Old Church-ians will have to learn a new way of dealing with today’s generation. Generation Y has been burned by the church. Upset. Forgotten. Hurt. Church, ya got a problem, and it’s me.

I don’t know for certain that I’ve ever felt really comfortable in the Christian community. It’s hard to say. I loved the people I grew up with at church, my Sunday School teachers, etc. Long story short, it’s been years since I have had a “home-church.”

Now I’m seeing that this isn’t just me, though. I’m with a lot of people that feel disassociated with the church and like they have to recreate “church” to feel like it’s something for them. We have to break all the rules and change the church to make it fit us.

While we may have to find new methods of ministry, new ways of outreach, the church’s purpose doesn’t change, people.

Ephesians 4;11-13 “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Acts 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” 

Matthew 28:18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

While in college, I slowly began to realized that part of the problem with Generation Y is that the “Church” (as a nationwide entity) cannot “peg” this group and therefore cannot effectively do anything - let alone minister! - to this demographic. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Of those Americans defined as “Christians,” between the ages of 18-30, 17% are members of “Evangelical Protestant Churches.” In the same poll by Pew Forum, of the people who do not affiliate with ANY religion, 31% are 30-year-olds and younger, or one-in-four. Stats show that 43% of American Protestant Christians are between 18-29 years of age. This number is on the decline and the growth of the “Unaffiliated” population is expected to rise. http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

Churches invest in children’s ministry, youth ministry, small group ministry, women’s ministry, men’s ministry, community and missions. The single/unattached/ “young” adult/human-between-18-and-30 that doesn’t fit into any of those groups is usually left to fend for themselves. The church designs those groups to fit a specific category/need and when someone is cross-ministry or outside of all the parameters of a ministry, the church really does not know how to function and so it lets these individuals fall through proverbial cracks. Not because they want to or are purposely missing a target audience, it is just really hard to appeal to such a wide category without becoming the awkward singles group no self-respecting person would actually attend. Am I saying we need to cut any of the currently functioning ministries in churches? No. Never. Just stay with me for now.

2. Most high school graduates move on and don’t come back. That’s not a bad thing. They go off to college and become part of a new community. That’s good. Unfortunately, most college kids don’t seek or find a home-church so a lot of church’s are “off the hook” in ministering to college kids. Most churches focus on the kids dragged to church by parents and forget about the hungry 18-30-year-olds seeking “spirituality” for their own sake. The church tries to get them while they’re young and at home, even though most teens won’t stick around church once they are 18. The church fails to see that investing in the 18-30 year old crowd could be their biggest demographic yet.

The projections based on the poll below estimate that if present church trends continue, the percentage of the population that attends church in 2050 is estimated to be at almost half of 1990"s attendance — a drop from 20.4% to 11.7%. It estimates a drop to 15.4% in 2020. http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/139575-7-startling-facts-an-up-close-look-at-church-attendance-in-america.html

3. The 18-30 year group is huge and diverse. That’s part of what makes it so incredible. The problem? It’s huge and diverse. You could have male or female, and these people could be single or married, widowed or divorced. They could be unable to have kids, teen moms, single parents, dads paying child support, college kids, college dropouts, grad students, middle class workforce, professionals, doctoral students, or anything in-between. To lump all these people together and say you have a ministry for this “20-something” demographic would be crazy and overwhelming.  There is a huge gap between 18-just-out-of-high-school and mature-adult making real life decisions. Most churches minister really well to the “married-with-children” category. They just lack a lot for the diverse roads that get people to  a traditional definition of “adulthood.”.

4. AND LASTLY, what I see as the biggest problem, is extended adolescence. In 2010 an article was published by The New York Times called, “What Is It About 20-Somethings?” by Robin Marantz Henig. She explored the new phenomenons of my fellow millennials'. Just a preliminary Google search brought up many articles and now published books on the subject of extended adolescence and pre-adulthood. The premiss is that a human isn’t mature until age 30 now. While we are considered an adult at 18, a legal adult at 21, we’re still not viewed as a mature human, making adult choices until age 30. This should frighten all mature individuals.

So throw that last issue into the mix and the church has a very large gap in its ministry. A large gap in figuring out how to minister to a generation of millennials' who could be mentally adolescents or possibly, but not necessarily, mature adults. It is IMPOSSIBLE to pigeonhole this group of humans.  It’s so diverse and so bipolar. The church won’t help most millennials' on that path. Which is heartbreaking since most people in my demographic have no clue where to look and the church is clueless in helping them.

Church, you have a problem. Me. When people of this diverse demographic comes to a church or someone like me walks in the door, they don’t know how to treat me. Is she an overgrown kid or a grown up? Is she a college kid or an adult? Is she mature or not? I am convinced I won’t be taken seriously by any church until I’m married + kids. Regardless of I Timothy 4:12,  it is our cultural context to have overgrown kids in their 20s and the church is responding in much the same way as the world does. Extended adolescents and this lost demographic in the church is a problem. Have you witnessed it too? Has your church found a good response or are you still searching?
 
Next Episode: The Solution


Mentioned Articles:Religion and Public Life Project. (2013). Retrieved January 14, 2014, from Pew Research website:
http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

Barnes, R., & Lowry, L. (2013). 7 Startling Facts: An Up Close Look at Church Attendance in America.
Retrieved January 14, 2014, from ChurchLeaders.com website: http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/139575-7-startling-facts-an-up-close-look-at-church-attendance-in-america.html?p=1

Marantz Henig, R. (August, 2010 18). What is it about 20-somethings?. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


DISCLAIMER:
 “By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you--I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" when away! I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world.  For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.     We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. You are looking only on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he. For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present. We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you. We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you.” ~ 2 Corinthians 10:1-14
Matthew 28:18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
3/2014

Comments

Popular Posts