Chris Reinolds: The Rise Of The Millennial Generation

Introduce them to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who can empower them to be life changers. There is so much potential in the youth that is being wasted because they aren’t taught how to adequately defend and share their faith. That is why I want to go a faith-based Christian college who are building up leaders. I want to become one of the leaders that drastically reduces this statistic. To become the great leader that I want to be, I am going to need to go to a great Christian college to further my education in the Christian faith. I want to learn how to more effectively build up other Christian leaders. The church is always one generation away from dying out. If there aren’t leaders who can strengthen the youth, the church is in big trouble. If the church is in trouble, the whole world

Another challenge concerning the Millennials is that a lot of these young adults are growing up without attending church. The Barna group calls them the unchurched segment and report that this segment has increased in the last 10 years, from 44% to 52% (5 Reasons). This is a problem because it decreases the chances for new members to join the church. The majority of people that follows a specific religion learned about that religion in early childhood. Students of human behavior believe that “The most significant borrowing occurs in early childhood. Family is thus an important factor…” (Wuthnow 106). If the number of the unchurched segment continues to grow at this pace, in the next few decades, this will continue to be a major concern for church leaders across the Americas. It is a lot harder to try to reach those people that have never attended church or don’t come from a religious background than try to reach those that belong to a church or have been brought up in the faith.

Shown in recent statistics, is that younger people, who are over 15 (as children under this age are usually forced by parents), do not participate in religious activity as much as the older generation – excluding the over 65s group, this is usually because they cannot get to church easily due to ill-health and disabilities. Brierley supports the idea of an older generation by showing that the average age of church goers in 1979 was 37 which increased to 49 in 2005, clearly showing a trend towards an older congregation. Heelas also found that those involved with the New-Age Movements were mainly middle-aged or older; again supporting the recent trend.

turning out in today’s day and age. He goes on with facts and statistics to back-up himself for

This book seeks to encourage the declining and stagnate churches to take the example set by other churches that have had a period of decline yet have managed to pull up their socks and regained their lost growth. Stetzer and Dodson call this book the “comeback Churches’ to give the readers

In The Next Christians, Gabe Lyons presents how the next generation of Christians turns the tide by bringing the truth of the Gospel to bear on our changing, secular society. While many Christians are worrying about the growing disregard for Christians and deviation from our faith, Gabe holds an optimistic attitude and believes now we are restorers, and Christianity’s best day are yet to come

After two decades of ministry with and to college students, I know Chi Alpha and the Assemblies of God to be on the cutting edge of engaging emerging generations. Despite my enthusiasm, we still face a sobering reality that some researchers have described as a “dropout” phenomenon. True to form, interpretations of the data range from those prognosticating the end of the modern church to those wanting to dismiss the data as a natural product of spiritual maturation, but scripture teaches that the wise find a balanced perspective (Ecclesiastes 7:18). So, what experience and expertise can we draw from others (Proverbs 15:22) to empower Chi Alpha and the North Texas District in a coordinated effort to proactively engage current young adult adherents

Over the course of the last several decades, mainline churches have been declining in membership as new independent churches have swelled in size (Bishop 170). Bishop asserts that this shift is primarily a manifestation of the Big Sort occurring at a smaller level. Pastors have recognized a shifting tide in the way people think about their religious communities, and have altered their techniques accordingly. In the new conception, the church was not a unifying force for the disparate segments of society, but a self-contained cell of like-minded individuals. These two forces, the splintering and separation of churches, have combined to cement the cultural gap in American life.

Within the context of American society, we have strayed from the true purpose and identity of what the church was originally created to be. When we hear the word, “church,” we think of a building, a mere location where believers gather together every Sunday. The church of America might believe the essential elements of the church are an air-conditioned sanctuary, ten different ministry opportunities, and a full band to lead worship. While none of these things are necessarily bad, they do not comprise the biblical model of what the church was created to be. The church can be divided into two components: the Universal Church and the local church. Once a person becomes a believer, they are part of the Universal Church, the body of believers

This change is revolutionary, as religion has been stagnant in its beliefs for hundreds of thousands of years, thus even this slight shift in inclusivity is monumental. Later in the “Religion” essay, Schwartz highlights that religion has been in charge of “silencing women, controlling their sexuality, removing them from the public sphere, denying them equal rights of participation, denying them leadership roles in the church, and at the most extreme, even denying them access to the blessings coffered by divinity”, and this control applies to all minorities and peoples who are not white heterosexual males (CTSG 428). Jae proves that religion can be both fluid and inclusive, as her congregation has developed such a large following. I think many nonreligious people as well as many millennials want to be more in touch with a higher power, but are turned off by the rigidity and heavily structured boundaries that a believer must abide

One may feel as if they cannot relate to the teachings in the church sermons. In his article about church decline, Dr. Krejcir mentions that, “the people will get the feeling that the teaching or the church is not informative, in-depth, or relative to them, thus they are not receiving anything worthwhile from which they can grow or use in their daily lives” (1). If people do not feel a connection to church, then they are not going to attend. Another reason why someone would not want to attend church is if the church is based around money. Dr. Krejcir also stresses this point saying, “Another big turn off is being overly money-oriented so that people feel the church wants their money but not them” (4). If people feel that their money is valued by the church more than they are, then they are more likely to stop going to church. Additionally, some people choose not to go to church because they were not raised in a certain church or religion. The Huffington Post points out that, “one-quarter (25 percent) of Millennials identify as religiously unaffiliated…11 percent of Millennials were raised without faith, more than half of Millennials left their childhood faith” (“More Millennials Losing” 1). When focusing on the younger people of the world, having a home congregation is becoming more and more uncommon. This can also be found when looking at the nation as a whole. Dr. Krejcir reports that, “Most of the

It is important the church develop a response to the growing humanist mindset creeping into the minds of millennials in this generation. It is important the church have a biblical foundation on what true discipleship should look like in this generation. Our current generation is leaving the church once they graduate high school because, “university level questions are puncturing their Sunday school level faith.” We must study this generation and our particular cultures to see what best fits our culture and use that to teach this generation genuine discipleship.

Finally, Millennials filter their world through the lens of trust. Due to their existence online, Millennials have developed keen instincts for integrity. A young college student described it as “a radar that can spot a sale’s pitch a mile away” (M. Newaye, M., personal communication, October 25, 2017). The level to which Millennials feel comfort for openness and honesty depends upon the level of integrity and competency the sense in the church and its leadership (Waters, & Bortree, 2012, p. 203). Integrity, the belief that people will be fair and just, serves as the foundational any leader’s influence in the lives of others. Maxwell and Dornan (1997) describe this as “essential for anyone who desires to become a person of influence” (p.

When most people hear the label Generation –X they think of a hopeless generation of youth that have given into the pressures of the world. I would like you to think of the X as the Greek symbol for “Chi” which is used as a symbol for Christ. In this decade the youth involved in the Christianity has grown significantly. Youth are responding to the church in ways that the past generation did not. Where mom and dad embraced the tumultuous sixties their children have taken hold of Christianity. The youth organizations that promote the Protestant doctrine have seen the youth membership grow by 50% since 1990. Catholic Churches have witnessed their youth involvement double in the last decade. The youth are coming from all

The emerging church movement consists of a diverse group of people who identify with Christianity, but who feel that reaching the postmodern world would requires it to radically reshape the chruch’s beliefs and practices to conform to postmodernism.[14]