1. There are no Millennials in your leadership.

2. You reject the idea of contextualization as you wear 1980s clothes and sing 1880s songs.

3. “Sunday School” literally feels like school on Sundays.

4. Your political preferences are clearer than your gospel proclamations.

5. Your idea of a “social media presence” is finally getting that Myspace page finished.

One of the most popular discussions in the Christian blogosphere (especially, but not limited to, Evangelical circles) is the absence of Millennials in church.[1] Why are young adults in the millennial generation leaving their church communities, sometimes to never return? Is it the worship style, the community groups, the preaching style, the lack of Instagram? One article from the Millenial Evangelical states 5 reasons (out of many):

While I strongly agree with #4, articles such as this are representative of the condescending treatment of the “millennial” generation. Why do people react to the “millennial absence” so superficially, as if looking cool and stylish are the primary concerns of this generation? I mean, I love Instagram as much as the next guy (it’s alright, but I’m not on it everyday), but why are there very few theological assessments regarding this “millennial absence”?



Believe it or not, millennials actually do care about what they believe in. I personally attest that differences in theology were my major reasons for leaving my former church community and to actively seek out a new one: there was a major gap between my theological studies and what was being preached. It came to a point where there was a dreaded difference between terms: whenever people in my former church community used the term “biblical”, they meant one thing and I meant another. The two areas where I differed from my community were (1) recognizing different interpretations of Scripture and (2) critiques of Calvinism. There was very little actual theological conversation going on, with my views being dismissed or downplayed. Of course, here I risk the accidental endorsement of learning theology autonomously. That is a discussion for another time, but the reason stands that it was primarily for theological differences that I, a millennial, left my church community.



We also can’t forget the rampant anti- and pseudo- intellectualism in evangelicalism: the philosophically shallow apologetics against agnosticism and atheism. Many pastors still push for some form of “commonsense Christianity” approach to Scripture (the Bible says the Bible is true; therefore, it’s true) and hermeneutics (I don’t need to “interpret” the Bible, because all I have to do is read; God said it, I believe it, that settles it). Critical engagement with any study of philosophy and/or religion will automatically push aside such shallow evangelical theology. One glaring example of this is the scenario in the recent God’s Not Dead movie: an angry atheist teaches philosophy and a kid who listens to the News Boys is able to deconstruct his argument by saying the atheist “hates God”. It is a fundamentalist evangelical understanding of philosophy’s relationship with Christianity that only has parallels with online myths. Very few churches actually engage or equip millennials with any type of sustainable Christian worldview, so when students graduate and go off to college, some Christian parents dread the “liberal agenda” of biology, philosophy, and religious studies classes. Yet, somehow, the discussion surrounding millennials isn’t about proper Christian engagement, spiritual formation, or theology, it’s about getting an Instagram account.



Of course, some millennials do want the lights, camera, and action. Some millennials do want to treat churches like buffets, picking and choosing which programs they like at certain ones. The differences in “worship style” in Evangelicalism make this whole dilemma possible: once you present a group of people with several options, you’re bound to get people to split off in different groups based on preference. That is a reality Evangelicalism has to deal with, especially after the “worship wars” between the “traditional” and “contemporary” services. There is now a push for “blended” and “liturgical” services in church communities that may or may not bridge the divisions in style.



However, focusing on style alone, as if that’s all millennials care about, misses the whole point of why people go to church. This focus on being “relevant” also misses the spiritual aspect of the conversation: maybe your church has (gasp) bad theology? Maybe millenials crave communities that actually productively engage with theological and philosophical critiques of Christianity. Or maybe millennials are shifting in a new ecclesiastical direction? Some have noted the shift to “high church traditions” such as Anglicanism, Catholicism, and Orthodoxy (here, here, and here). Or maybe your church is obsessed with evangelical decisionism (pray this prayer) and not discipleship, reflecting poorly on Christian soteriology.[2] To talk about church is to talk about the spiritual life of Christians, and once you focus the conversation on style as the basis for why millennials should attend your church, then that is a major theological and ecclesiastical issue. The millennial conversation has become too much about social media and style, and not enough about community and Christ.



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[1] Why makes this generation tick? “Millenials” (sometimes referred to Generation Y) are not always defined in these articles, but they are generally those who are born in the 1980’s to 2000’s. Bruce Horovitz, “After Gen X, Millennials, what should next generation be?”, USA Today (4 May 2012). Retrieved 10/29/2014.

[2] David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity… And Why It Matters, (Grand Rapids, MI: BakerBooks, 2007), 67-90.