I recently asked my Millennial daughter to answer the question:
What can a Church do to keep Millennials?
Here’s what she said…
1. Don’t blame them for society’s problems.
Millennials haven’t been around long enough to have caused much of society’s troubles. They are a reflection of the future, not past or current ills.
2. Don’t rag on media and technology.
This is an immediate turn off to a generation that has grown up and immersed itself in the technology boom. Technology is a tool—only as positive or negative as the person using it.
3. Don’t cut yourself off from the culture.
This is probably the single most important reason the church loses young people of any generation. Refusal to participate in culture—movies, music, T.V., video games, art, dance, politics, etc—cuts off the church from the part of everyday life that informs opinions and attracts people the most.
4. Don’t be discouraged if they don’t respond immediately.
Millennials—and young people in general—are in a transition phase and unsure of where they fit in society. Sometimes, despite your best efforts there will be a period of rejection where silence is better than outreach.
5. Don’t write them off as a lost cause.
This can be as dangerous and damaging as ignoring the culture. Focusing all resources on the traditional Sunday school for kids and get-togethers for adults over 50 ignores the critical ages where opinions and belief systems are both shaped and solidified. There’s a reason why Hollywood targets ages 18-30 so furiously, and the church should too.
6. Do encourage involvement in church related activities.
Most often Millennials need an individual invitation to become part of church related activities and do not get one. Young people are looking for inclusion, but only if personally invited. Once they develop relationships and responsibilities in the church they have more of a reason to stay.
7. Do enter into their culture.
Embrace the positive uses of technology and media—this tactic will draw Millennials in rather than push them away. Pay attention to what movies are playing, which celebrities are trending, or what games they are playing. This will make conversation topics easier to pick from and help to build relationships that will keep them sticking around.
8. Do make an effort to educate on a level they will understand.
Instead of rejecting technology, use it! Learn how to put together quick videos and memes to transfer information to them on a level they contend with every day.
9. Do treat them like adults.
Understand that Millennials have lives and responsibilities just like everyone else and can’t be expected to spend every waking moment in the church. On the flip side, hold them accountable for their responsibilities and actions just as you would any other mature adult.
10. Do give them a cause to fight for.
This is what Millennials want most of all — a chance for their lives to be worth something. This is why you see the Millennial embrace of gay marriages and transgenders. These causes have been sold to them as having the equivalent importance of the black civil rights movement, fulfilling their desire to move beyond the traditions of their parents and build a new world regardless of how deluded this notion may be. Replace these superficial and dangerous causes with a crusade for God, and you’ve got a whole new generation of passionate Christian evangelists!
(Millennial via pixabay)
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