Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it~ Proverbs 22:6 NKJV

 I try hard not to jump onto bandwagons when it comes to choosing subject matter for this blog page. In general my aim is NOT to talk about what everyone else is talking about. I want to talk about the issues nobody else is thinking or talking about because I believe it’s the things we ignore that ultimately become our downfall.    

This week I am breaking the rule.

I am breaking the rule for a couple of reasons. First, I am by nature, a rule breaker. Secondly, I came up with the stupid rule and I can break it if I want to. But, mostly, I decided to break the rule because this week I read three different articles published by three different Christian organizations all asking the same question:

 How do church leaders, pastors and parents lure the millennial generation back into church? 

 The millennial generation (those born between 1981 and 1996) have abandoned the Christian faith in seriously distressing numbers. Generation Z (those born between after 1997) are following the millennial generations footsteps. Upwards of sixty percent of millennials and eighty-eight percent of Gen Z who were raised in church have left the church. Most express zero interest in ever returning. Their reasons for leaving typically come down to a few key issues. Millennials and Gen Z tend to believe that the church is anti-gay, sexually repressive and far too rigid in its teachings and leadership structure. Most also think that the majority of churches have not done enough to help the poor and marginalized in society. 

Some of those criticisms are clearly valid.

Every article I read was focused entirely on finding clever ways to lure younger generations back to church. Some suggested tailoring small-group curriculum and preaching just for that particular demographic. Others recommended making services shorter, using secular music during worship services and making church government more democratic and inclusive. A few even went so far as to say the church ought to soften its stance on issues like homosexuality to make Christianity more palatable to millennials and Gen Z.   

Some of the ideas were not terrible, a few were actually pretty good, the vast majority were clearly stupid. That said, all the recommendations were putting the cart before the horse. Before we begin the process of luring the millennials and Gen Z back into the fold, we need to do some self-examination and figure out where we went wrong in the first place.

Where exactly did we go wrong?  

Results do not lie and the results clearly indicate that the Church failed the millennial and Gen Z generations.  We cannot lose sixty percent (or more) of a generation to secularism, atheism and every other ism and declare it a win. The problem was not a lack of money or resources. Between Christian books, videos, Christian curriculum, children’s church and youth groups more money was spent on evangelizing the millennial generation than any other generation in the history of Christianity. 

What are we going to do differently with the next generation?

If churches continue to do the same things they will continue to get the same results. Churches simply must do more teaching and training. It’s definitely time to stop telling children and teens sanitized Bible stories and start teaching doctrine. If nothing else Christian kids need to be able to clearly articulate what they believe about life and God and why they believe it by the time they graduate from high school.

And finally, the really big question: how do we get millennials and Gen Z to think and behave biblically? 

This is a much more critical issue than simply luring them back to church. Truth-be-told if we jump to find ways to fill our churches with a group who do think or behave biblically just to get them back we will destroy Christianity. The answer to the millennial conundrum is not to soften the churches stance on hard issues. The answer is to pray for this generation like we have never prayed before and then do the hard work of clarifying biblical truth to a biblically illiterate generation.