Much attention has been paid to the “millennial generation,”
roughly understood as the children of younger baby-boomers, who now are in
their 20s and 30s. It’s a truism that even those who grew up in evangelical
churches are finding little satisfying in their parents’ culture, many leaving
the Christian faith altogether. Folks are often wondering why that’s the case,
especially since “We set up all this programs for them.”
And that indeed might be the problem. With all the focus on
youth ministry, which I’ve noticed for the past few decades (though I myself do
not have children), one thing seems true to me: That generation as a rule doesn’t
have its own “touch of God.”
There’s a saying that while He has children He also has no
grandchildren. That is to say, just because your parents may be believers doesn’t
mean that you’ll be or become one in your own right; as the late David
Wilkerson said, “It takes a fresh work [of the Holy Spirit] every time.”
Some years ago I wrote about a friend whose nephew is in
utter rebellion against God, especially since her brother and sister-in-law put
him in Christian schools for all 12 years so that he would “avoid hell.” That
doesn’t always work because simply being in such an environment might not cause
change — indeed, that being sheltered from the world may even compound the problem.
Another issue, probably the biggest one, is the parents’ confusion
of political and Kingdom matters. The Trump phenomenon has alienated much of
that generation with its hypocrisy, seeing that Christian “values” don’t matter
when it comes to political power; I would say that it seems that the parents
don’t really trust God to preserve them — and if the parents don’t really trust
God, why should the kids? And it’s not that the children don’t want God; they
just don’t want the packaging that’s present-day evangelicalism.
That’s why I see this generation seeking God for itself and
no longer relying on their parents or the church. And should He visit them in
power, they will cause change — getting back to what and how things should be.
My own church is in a unique situation because we’re the
kind of assembly that millennials might want. This is not to say that we’re
focusing upon them; we’re a racially- and culturally-diverse congregation, and
since diversity is a core value of that generation they would likely fit right
in. While we do refer to some things that are morally wrong, we don’t as a
church participate in the so-called culture war — which, frankly, we Christians
lost before we got started.
Recently we’ve embarked on campus rebuilding program that would
be pricey but are believing God for the finances. I told an executive pastor
that, down the road, it might be money well-spent because we’re offering what they’re
looking for — a church that actually resembles heaven. Of course we’re not
perfect — no church is — but our commitment to the Kingdom above all else
should attract those disaffected 20s and 30s.
In other words, we might benefit from the revival that many
people say they are hoping and praying for — but, sadly, working against.
No comments:
Post a Comment