Millennials and the Church

Introducing a new Blog series from Transform Minnesota

One-fourth of Millennials are practicing Christians. That leaves 65 million who might still embrace life with Jesus

 

There are an estimated 86 million Millennials in the US – the largest population group ever in our history – and they have come of age and are making their own decisions about faith, work, family and relationships.

The Millennial generation is 7% bigger than the Baby Boomer generation. More of them, and especially more women, have attended college than earlier generations; college enrollment surged by 30% in the last decade.

Fewer of them are married at this age than in earlier generations.

In an age when the language of culture is digital they are native speakers, however 38% are either unemployed or have not entered the workforce, the highest rate since before Boomers were their age.

Who are they?

Millennials are the generation born approximately between 1980 – 1995. Today they are between 19 and 34 years, so all of them have entered adulthood.

They already are having a big impact on the Church, and despite the rumors that Millennials are leaving the church in droves the truth is that for many of them religious faith is very important in their life.

The Church of Jesus Christ has adapted, reproduced and thrived in generation after generation for 2,000 years, in all kinds of cultures. That is why I am optimistic about the future of the Church in America.

But we can help it thrive in the next generation by understanding who Millennials are and identifying the factors that shape them and learning what they are searching for.

Why this series?

The duty of any evangelist or missionary is to apply the timeless truths of the Gospel of Jesus to specific cultures and individual realities so that it can take root and spread. In this series we have asked several writers to attempt that for Millennials.

The themes you will hear from our authors are that Millennials value relationship, authenticity and holism – all fruitful ground for the Gospel to take root – and that it is possible for faith in Jesus and life as part of a church community can be appealing to this generation.

The polling shows that about one-fourth of Millennials are practicing Christians. On one hand that’s a strong showing, on the other hand it means there are 65 million young adults who might still embrace life with Jesus if we took time to understand them better and were intentional about helping them discover living faith relevant to their generation.

 

Check back here each Tuesday for the next five weeks to read a new entry in this series.

[message type=”custom” width=”100%” align=”left” start_color=”#dadbdc” end_color=”#ffffff” border=”#9ead39″ color=”#9c1b33″]Millennials & the Church: Related Articles

Why does God hate me so much? by Corey Magstadt

Strategies for engagement by Stephanie Williams

Invite Millennials into your life? by Laurel Bunker

Millenials and the Church introduction by Carl Nelson

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