THE YOUNGER UN-CHURCHED

From Ed Stetzer comes this insightful column: The Younger Un-churched: what do they really think?


Here is my latest column from the Spring 2011 issue of Facts and Trends magazine, focusing on the younger unchurched:

Adlai Stevenson stated, "That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in another." He did not have a particularly high view of the next generation, but he does challenge us to consider the radical changes in thinking that are sometimes seen between generations.
The reality is that generations do think differently and different views emerge - and it is worth our time to consider them. As George Orwell said, "Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it and wiser than the one that comes after it."
This bothers some and challenges others. For me, my concern is not to rail against the next generation-- I want to reach them.

In the book, "Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them," I shared some of the findings from a survey conducted of 1,000 unchurched young adults about the issues of church and spirituality. The study revealed that the younger generation is more open to issues of spirituality than our conventional wisdom allows us to admit.
This generation is open to God and spirituality. When asked if they considered themselves to be spiritual, 73 percent of respondents age 20-29 answered affirmatively. They are interested in learning more about God or a higher supreme being. Eighty-two percent believe a person's spirit continues to exist in some kind of afterlife. Seventy-seven percent believe in the idea of heaven and 60 percent believe in the idea of hell. Perhaps most surprising, 66 percent even believe that Jesus died and came back to life.

The Jesus that they believe in, however, is in some ways a Jesus of their own creation. Only 57 percent believe there is only one God, the God who exists in the Bible. Fifty-eight percent believe the God of the Bible is the same as the gods or spiritual beings of other religions. Though Hinduism ascribes to a million gods, Buddhism has no god, and Christianity has one God, a majority of young adults believe that all of these gods are the same.

While there are clearly negative implications to this pluralism, there are also great opportunities for the church. Sixty-three percent said they would attend a church that presented truth in an understandable way. We need to be proactive about sharing the gospel to this demographic in clear, understandable terms. Simultaneously, we should defy the "Chicken Little syndrome" that believes the church is about to crumble under the weight of pluralism.

It's easy to look at some of the viewpoints of the younger unchurched and write them off. Rather than throwing up our hands in disgust, we need to extend a hand, exemplifying Christ and His gospel now more than ever. We need to enter into authentic relationship with a generation filled with brilliance and potential. We need to begin honest conversations with those who have honest questions.

You can read more about our research on the millennials here, and you can subscribe to Facts and Trends by emailing factsandtrends@lifeway.com.

WHY TEENS, YOUNG ADULTS ARE LEAVING THE CHURCH

By Sheryl Young of Yahoo News Service
ANALYSIS | For the last decade, churches in America have felt the pinch of young people exiting faster than you can say "Welcome to Sunday Morning Service." Why do our young people want out?

At a glance, it's no puzzlement to the man on the street. As discussed in my recent article, "New Organization, Book Explores Reversing the Church's Bad Reputation," numerous controversial issues have been handled ungracefully while trying to tell the rest of the world about Jesus and His love.

But for Christians who wish to return America to a more Bible-friendly atmosphere, there are even deeper conflicts and symptoms to be recognized.

Starting from kids on up, a great variety of reasons for the exodus exists. The following are gathered and generalized from well-informed sources: "Generation Ex-Christian: Why Young Adults Are Leaving the Faith ...and How to Bring Them Back," (Drew Dyck, Moody Publishing, Oct 2010), "Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it" (Ken Ham & Britt Beemer, Todd Hillard, New Leaf, Aug 2009); "The Last Christian Generation" (McDowell, Green Key, 2006); and Lifeway Christian Resource Surveys from 2007 and 2010.

* Churched kids and teens spend six of seven days each week hearing other people say how judgmental Christianity is, and that the Bible should be taboo.

* Churches use outdated methods of Sunday School, rotating the same Bible stories year-in and year-out without relating the morals to daily living. When kids want to know why someone like Gabrielle Giffords was shot, they don't need another lesson on Noah's Ark.

* Teens can only eat so much pizza at church social events before they see through this thinly veiled attempt at keeping them occupied and out of trouble.

* Those surveyed say there aren't enough good reasons given for holding Bible beliefs other than "the preacher says so..." or "your parents say so."

* Sometimes kids are routinely kept out of "grown-up church." From infancy to four years old, they're in nursery. Then they get "children's church" with a short Bible lesson, crafts and refreshments. For teens, a separate youth service geared to "their" music. By eighteen, they've never been expected to sit through a whole Sunday service. It's culture shock.

* Young people can see that the Church in general hasn't yet been able to conquer racial reconciliation, domestic abuse and the rampant church divorce rate...sometimes in their own families.

* Older generations won't blend a moderate amount of contemporary music with traditional hymns, to show young people that newer ideas are respected.

* Or, the Church feels pressured to impress their younger members with new technological avenues. So they discard all the old hymns that were written out of peoples' struggles with life, pride and suffering. Thus, the newer generations don't hear about how God can help them through hard times.

* Parents are expecting the church to teach what may fall within their own responsibility.

* But then, young parents raised in the last twenty years have themselves grown up under the new pop psychology of never receiving or deserving any discipline or criticism. They've seen church become irrelevant. Now, as parents, they're hesitant to make (or even ask) their kids to go to church or develop a backbone in faith.

* Lastly, everyone's too busy for church. There are too many other attractions in life.

Many church leaders may pick up these books and surveys only to find the suggested answers to the problems are things their church already tried. Others may not have the means or congregational support to implement changes.

And still more will find it such a daunting task that they just throw up their hands. Maybe it's time to do just that -- throw hands up and pray, rather than create more programs -- and leave the rest up to God.

Sheryl Young has been freelance writing for newspapers, magazines, organizations and websites since 1997. Her specialty is American politics, education and society as they intersect with religion. Credits include Community Columnist for the Tampa Tribune Newspaper, Interview Columnist with Light & Life Magazine, and a National First Place "Roaring Lambs" Writing Award from the Amy Foundation.

ATTITUDES OF THE UNCHURCHED

This video on YouTube is from a broadcast called The Greatest Story Never Told and features research from Lifeway, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. Ed Stetzer adds his analysis. This post appeared on another of my blogs BRIDGES TO THE BRIDGE.

MOSAIC LANCASTER SHARES VISION

Nick Francis is the pastor/cultural architect for Mosaic Lancaster, a new kind of church community for the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God, General Conference, They have their own video "company." This is a recent presentation.

HOW MILLENIALS VIEW COMMUNITY

Thom Rainer writes in his blog ...

For most boomer churches, the community was perceived to be a place where prospects could be found. Entire systems of outreach were devised to find people to increase the membership of the church. In many of these churches, the community was seen to be a source of greater attendance and increased financial gifts.

Millennial Christians (those born between 1980 and 2000) resist this view of the community. For them, community is not a place where we look for prospects to help our church; it is a place where Christians are called to serve and minister. Millennials don’t ask what the community can do for the church; they ask what they can do for the community.

Listening to Millennials

My son Jess Rainer and I are working on a book based on a comprehensive research project on the Millennials. Karen was one of 1,300 Millennials we interviewed. She was 24 years old at the time of our interview with her. She grew up in a more established Southern Baptist church in South Carolina. Though Karen still resides in her home state, she now attends a church with no denominational affiliation.

“I love the town where I live,” she began. “But I’ve learned to love this community from my church. The pastor and other leaders in the church are constantly letting us know how we can have an impact where we live. Our church has been so consistent with caring for and loving our community that leaders from town now turn to us when they have a need. We don’t have to have a formal outreach program,” she said, remembering her former church, “because we are already in the community and because the community comes to us.”

Missional and Incarnational

Two of the buzzwords used by Millennial Christians are missional and incarnational. Missional means that Christians are sent in the community, that they are on mission in the community. The community is not just a place where the church is located; it is a place where Christians are sent to demonstrate the love of Christ. For most Christian Millennials, they do not go to work, to the shopping center, or to the schools merely to carry out transactions. They see themselves as missionaries wherever they are in the community.

The Milllennials also are committed to being incarnational in the community as well. The word literally means “in the flesh” or physically present. But for this younger generation it has the deeper meaning of being present as a representative for Christ. As Karen told our research team, “When I am in my community, I try to see the people I encounter through the eyes of Christ. It makes all the difference in the world.”

Millennial Christians will reject those churches that tend to view the community as little more than a population pool from which growth in attendance and budget can come. But they will embrace those churches that teach its members to love the community.

How Churches Understand Community

You can tell the difference in these churches rather easily. In many churches, efforts to reach the community may be limited to distributing flyers telling the residents what church events they can or should attend.

“I don’t criticize those churches,” Karen told us. “But I want to be helping repair homes, caring for merchants who lost loved ones, and cleaning up trash for elderly residents. I know it’s cliché, but I want to ask the question, ‘What would Jesus do?’ I want to be in the churches that view the community that way.”

The Millennials are on mission for the community. Is your church doing likewise?

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YOUNGER ADULTS ARE LOOKING FOR OUTREACH

Heather Berkshire is a United Methodist pastor in Indiana. She is one of my ministerial children. Some day, with her permission, I will share the story of her personal redemption on call. She recently sent this article. Here are some highlights from this article by Joey Butler in the United Methodist reported, initially quoting Jamie Dunham of Nashville TN:

"For many years, Mr. Dunham says the dialogue has been about “what type of music was played in the worship service and what type of clothes you wore. The real discussion is what place does church have in our culture and community. This younger generation is looking for things that allow them to get outside the church to do things.

“The churches that I think have the healthiest approach today put emphasis on the actions that show they are people trying to solve problems in the community rather than trying to insulate themselves,” Mr. Dunham says.

Morley Winograd and Michael Hais, co-authors of Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics, call Generation Y “the most civic-minded since the generation of the 1930s and 1940s. . . . This is a generation of activist doers.”

The more opportunities Millennials have to get their hands dirty, the better. Churches need to look into their communities and see what needs are there—perhaps a pancake breakfast for the homeless, a Habitat build or a community cleanup.

When designing ministries, remember young people in entry-level jobs and paying college loans often don’t have as much money to contribute as older members."

I encourage you to go to this link and read the full article:



http://www.umportal.org/main/article.asp?id=6485