The Table Briefing: Ministering To Millennials

By Darrell L. Bock and Mikel Del Rosario

[Darrell L. Bock is Senior Research Professor in New Testament Studies and Executive Director for Cultural Engagement at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. Mikel Del Rosario is a doctoral student in New Testament Studies, Project Manager for Cultural Engagement at Dallas Theological Seminary, and adjunct professor at William Jessup University, Rocklin, California.]

Millennials have surpassed boomers as the largest living generation in the United States.[1] The Pew Research Center defines millennials as people born between 1981 and 1996.[2] This presents a growing challenge, as many in this demographic hold a negative view of Christianity. How can the church respond?

Millennial Views Of Christianity And The Church

On an episode of the Table called “Engaging with Millennials,” Q Ideas Founder Gabe Lyons joined Darrell Bock to discuss the situation.

Lyons: David Kinnaman and I did a research project that led to a book called Un-Christian.[3] That pretty well laid out that the next generation perceives the Christian faith as being very judgmental, too political—meaning right-wing politics oriented—only interested in converting people, proselytizing, [and] anti-gay. . . . They just have negative views about the Christian faith in general. . . .

Millennials now are finding it very easy to disassociate from faith and religion [altogether]. Some of that can be chalked up to the culture they’ve inhabited that sees religion as . . . shaming people [instead of being] a life-giving source for our communities. . . . In some cases, their parents were very hands-off when it came to the faith discussion and religion in general. . . . There’s a lot of value given to [being] open to all ideas and all expressions. And so parents really stepped way back from encouraging their children towards a specific path. And I think we’re seeing some of the fruit of that.

Bock: So we’re in a situation where “the nones”[4] are growing in significant numbers and the church is wrestling with “How did this happen?” and “Is there any way to stop it?”

Lyons: Yeah . . . thirty-four percent of eighteen- to twenty-two-year olds don’t identify with any religion. . . . [But a] significant number of them still believe there is a God. [They] still desire some sense of spiritual formation or transcendence, and yet they’re not finding the church as the place that would ever lead them towards that. . . . The church [must identify] methods we’ve institutionalized that may not be aligned with what Scriptures ever taught . . . but it’s just something that we do—whether it’s our liturgies and how we think about a church service, [or] how we accentuate teaching and preaching. [The church must identify] when we’ve started to replace the Gospel with our own sort of practices and things that don’t relate to a new generation. . . .

[We must ask], “What are we doing wrong? Where have we gotten off track here, either in our teaching, theology, or in our practice?” and then [ask], “Where can we reform?”

If someone perceives Christianity as primarily an uncaring, judgmental, politically-oriented institution, it is not surprising that he or she would disconnect from the church. On an episode called “Ministering to Millennials,” Senior Pastor of Cleveland’s Parkside Church Alistair Begg suggested emphasizing relationship, reconciliation, and the diversity inherent in a biblical view of the church.

Begg: If we’re talking about somebody . . . with no real understanding of church, I might [explain what the church is by starting] at the very end: The ultimate purpose of God [is] to put together this company of people that comes from such a diverse background. There is an inherent diversity that is built into the plan of God, and the unity he creates is in relationship to different nations, peoples, languages, and tongues.

Bock: So you’re talking about Revelation 4 and 5, where all the nations are gathered, praising the name of God and what he’s done through Jesus Christ. . . . Diversity sometimes is a hard word for the church, but that’s a very biblical diversity and that’s a very healthy diversity.

Begg: Yeah, the local church . . . is supposed to be a place that gives a kind of microcosm of what God is ultimately planning to do—a charcoal sketch of what will finally come in glorious Technicolor. I try and think of it in those terms so that I don’t think about it first of all in institutional terms or in architectural terms, but in relational terms.

Bock: Paul describes the ministry that he’s engaged in as a ministry, ultimately, of reconciliation . . . bringing people together who in one sense or another have been estranged—estranged from God on the one hand; estranged from one another on the other. . . . I like the picture of a place of gathering where eyes are all pointed in the same direction. We’re all looking to the same leader—Jesus Christ.

Begg: I think that comes across so clearly in Ephesians,[5] where he talks about the wall of partition has been broken down and now the two have become one new body.

Bock: That’s right. . . . The one new man that it talks about is not something that’s going on inside the individual; [it’s] actually a corporate entity. . . . The metaphor is groups of people that are gathered together in a community that is different than the way the rest of the world is living. That’s what the church is supposed to be. . . . and [we’ve been] given the Spirit of God to enable us to be that.

Three Key Millennial Values

While the church must avoid over-generalizations, it is also important to understand the sensitivities many millennials express and consider how to better minister to them. Here are three key millennial values that emerged from recent conversations: cultural engagement, selfless service, and authentic relationships.

Cultural Engagement

Rather than blaming the culture or promoting an “us” versus “them” mentality, millennials especially value engaging the culture as active members of society. Some look to the church to lead the way, and many crave a safe space to explore controversial issues. In a popular blog post titled “12 Reasons Millennials Are OVER Church,” Sam Eaton expresses this appeal to the church.

We want you to talk to us about controversial issues, because no one is. . . . People in their 20’s and 30’s are making the biggest decisions of their entire lives: career, education, relationships, marriage, sex, finances, children, purpose, chemicals, body image. We need someone consistently speaking truth into every single one of those areas. . . . We have to create a place where someone older is showing us a better way because these topics are the teaching millennials are starving for. We don’t like how the world is telling us to live, but we never hear from our church either.[6]

Eaton joined Darrell Bock and Nika Spaulding, the St. Jude Oak Cliff Director of Missional Life, in an episode called “Millennials Leaving the Church,” discussing the struggles many young people express.

Bock: The idea of stepping back from controversial issues, because it’s too political or whatever, I don’t think that works for [millennials]. They’re looking for help. They don’t want us to speak into the politics; they want us to speak into the spiritual dimensions of what’s going on, and how to assess it.

Eaton: We’re living in a culture that says the biggest car, the biggest house, the best body, is the way to happiness. And we know that’s not true—at least, we’re starting to figure that out, ’cause we’re coming to church. . . . We need the truth. We can’t sugarcoat what’s going on and we can’t avoid these things. Tell us what the Bible says about these issues, and then give us some space to wrestle with it ourselves, and let us talk to God about what the Bible says on homosexuality or any of those issues. We want to talk about these things.

Spaulding: There isn’t a safe space [where] I’m not going to get bombarded by some question of what happened in the news, anytime I’m with young people. So, if I’m going to discuss it with my friend over coffee and my friend’s not a believer and they ask me, “Well, what do you believe as a Christian?” [but] I come to my church and I don’t feel like I can get help, that feels really scary. It almost feels like it puts me in a position of defeat.

Bock: Yeah, I think it raises the question [of] whether the church has anything to say into that space, and that’s a terrible place to be.

Spaulding: Absolutely. [David] Kinnaman talks about the three different types of Millennials.[7] Only one of the three, [the] prodigals [are] leaving Jesus; the other two are staying with Jesus; they’re just leaving church. And what they’re doing is they’re [listening to] podcasts—they’re listening to you, they’re listening to others who are willing to take that conversation on. . . .

As [future pastors] get equipped [they will] have to be told, “Hey, you’re going to have to be courageous enough to talk about these issues that may land you on the front of the Dallas Morning News, but your people need it.”

Rather than focusing strictly on cultural critique, millennials value cultural engagement that exhibits a spirit of humility. They are concerned that biblical teaching result in corporate, selfless service to their communities.

Selfless Service

Younger people often perceive the church as too internally focused. Some wonder how well their local church is living out the messages they hear each week. Eaton writes,

Let’s clock the number of hours the average church attender spends in “church-type” activities, Bible studies, meetings, groups, social functions, book clubs, planning meetings, talking about building community, discussing a new mission statement. Now, let’s clock the number of hours spent serving the least of these. Oooooo, awkward.[8]

Begg responds to Eaton’s observation by highlighting both salvation and the good works that result. Perhaps some in our local congregations are unaware of ministries already happening outside of Sunday morning.

Begg: It’s almost a false dichotomy if the church is dealing with [preaching and service] correctly. For example, people came to hear Spurgeon preach, but he’s the one who established the orphanages. He’s the one who [helped] people out in the rural villages. He’s the one who was saying when the gospel takes root in a culture, it does all these [compassionate acts of service]. . . .

I have to say to my young friends, “Now wait a minute. The real poverty, the real poverty that we’re dealing with is the poverty of soul.” . . . That’s not an argument for not engaging with the poor, but it is an argument for making sure that we distinguish between the nature of the saving work of Christ and the expressions of what it means to be gospel-oriented as a result. . . . We’re not saved by [good works] but we’re saved for it, Ephesians 2:10. Where there is an absence of that, we’ve clearly misunderstood the nature of what it means to be in Christ. I would imagine [Eaton] is responding to a complete absence there.

But it’s got to be genuine, you know. It’s not setting up soup kitchens to try and get the millennials off our back. We’ve got to be engaged in this because we truly understand that this is the call of Christ to us to go to the least, the last, and the left out.

Bock: Churches sometimes feel like they have to reinvent the wheel to make this happen. But there actually are a lot of extant organizations . . . where this is already being attempted and done.

Begg: [We need to] let the congregation itself know everything that’s going on. . . . There’s tons of stuff that is being done selflessly, but . . . we don’t constantly put it up on the screen. . . . In terms of unwed mothers, in terms of the Boys Club of America, in terms of food at five o’clock in the afternoon for kids that haven’t eaten at all that day, members of my congregation are involved in all of these things in an unheralded way. And one of the things that would be encouraging to someone who asks a question like this is just actually to take the lid off as it were and just say, “Look at what’s happening.”

Bock: Yeah, you can see what’s going on. In our church, we have a testimony periodically about the way people are involved in the community to give a [visible] portion of the service that says, “This is something that can be done.”

While some ministries to the poor and marginalized may go unnoticed, Eaton’s characterization of millennial perceptions must be acknowledged. Many millennials see studying the Scriptures without a resulting life of selfless service as analogous to sitting on the sidelines rather than getting in the game. Polished Ministries Director Kat Armstrong joined Bock, Eaton, and Spaulding to discuss this.

Eaton: I’m not saying we shouldn’t study the Word of God, . . . but if that’s it, you’re kind of missing the point of this book. I just don’t know how you can read James, or Matthew 25, “the least of these,” and then just go back to your normal American life and not live it out.

Armstrong: [Millennials are] saying, “Okay, I’ve read the book. I’ve read the Good Book. I’ve sat in a lot of sermons. I’ve filled up on the truth. And now I need to go out and do it.” So, I think they’re really aligning their values with their speech. . . . [That’s] integrity.

Bock: One of the tensions that I think we have is that churches tend to create activities that operate around the church, but ultimately the church is designed to have an arrow that’s going out. . . . It actually is designed to be engaged in mission, engaged with other people, engaged in taking the gospel out.

Spaulding: When [millennials] talk about poverty, they’re not just looking in the local context. They’re looking across the globe. . . . They feel the need. They’re traveling. They’re seeing things that [many people] in past generations [only read about]. . . . Younger generations deeply feel that burden for the poor.

Such sensitivities are alert to Jesus’s modus operandi. For example, the Lord did not merely proclaim Isaiah’s words of good news to the poor and freedom to the oppressed in the synagogue. He went out and healed people, demonstrating a ministry of both proclamation and selfless service.[9] Rather than focusing on an inner relationship with God to the exclusion of external acts of service, millennials are eager to participate in God’s redemptive purposes. Most are discontent to be passive listeners. They want to be practitioners of the Christian life. To this end, Lyons and Bock discuss the importance of communicating the whole gospel:

Lyons: If we’re teaching people about just a vertical relationship with Christ, and we’re kind of hanging on [so that] as we see the world start to slip, we go, “Man, I can’t wait to get to heaven one day. Things are going to be great,” [then] we’ve missed the entire point of how God wanted us to live out our lives with our neighbors here on earth. And that is to be a part of his redemptive purposes, which I believe God will use to draw people towards himself in a way that our words and our beliefs and [merely] talking about those [things] will never do.

Bock: Yeah, think about the great commandment. It doesn’t read, “Love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and make your reservation in heaven.” The two parts are love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then the whole picture and ethic of the New Testament is clear. It’s also in the Ten Commandments. If you orient yourself properly to God, that impacts the way you’re relating to others, and it’s designed to give you a quality of life that’s not just eternal in duration but eternal in quality in its roots. [It] takes you back to being made in the image of God. So . . . you’ve got creation. You’ve got the fall. You’ve got redemption, and then you’ve got the ultimate restoration and reconciliation. Those are the four parts [of the gospel]. In the “half stories”[10] . . . you just talk about the fall and the redemption and you don’t bookend it with creation and the way God designed us, why he designed us that way, what he hopes our place on earth is and will be and the fact that he has a place he’s trying to take us.

Since many millennials tend to perceive the church as too internally focused, pastors may need to elevate the visibility of existing ministries to the marginalized. Some churches may need to consider beginning such an outreach or partnering with a local organization already making an impact in the community. Regardless, inviting younger people to participate in compassion ministries that care for the poor in tangible ways can help challenge a false dichotomy between teaching truth from the pulpit and loving our neighbors well.

Authentic Relationships

Millennials are looking for authentic, meaningful relationships with mature believers who love them well as they navigate the tensions of life and seek to grow in their faith. Rather than being most concerned about a pastor’s Sunday sermon, many young people are desperate for discipleship. Eaton writes,

We want to be mentored, not preached at. Preaching just doesn’t reach our generation like our parents and grandparents. . . . We have millions of podcasts and YouTube videos of pastors the world over at our fingertips.

All people crave the kind of community that can only happen off-line, in the real world. They need biblical messages delivered by spiritual role models and mentors who know them. Bock and Begg discuss this, noting the problem with juxtaposing preaching with mentorship.

Bock: Everything is being put in this kind of binary category. I often tell my students, sometimes binaries don’t help us. . . . If we aren’t mentored, if people aren’t coming alongside of us to help us in a personal and intimate kind of way and we’re just being preached at, that doesn’t help us. Amen, right?

Begg: Yeah. [But] I don’t like the terminology ‘preached at.’ The preposition is wrong and it speaks to a very skewed view of what is actually happening in preaching. If we see preaching in terms of Ephesians 4, that we are edifying the saints . . . feeding the flock . . . if there is a pastoral tone that pervades the preaching act, [it] is a short step from there to out of the pulpit and now following through. So, yeah, I think the antithesis is unhelpful there.

Regardless of life stage, mere cognitive transfer cannot result in spiritual growth. We all need meaningful life experiences with other believers as part of our formation. This idea can be seen in God’s commands to Israel about having practical conversations with the next generation about his word as a part of everyday life: “These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, and you must teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up” (Deut. 9:6-7, NET).

Eaton says, “Millennials crave relationship, to have someone walking beside them through the muck.”[11] The desire for participation, interaction, and discipleship likely stands behind a frustration with churches that seem to focus primarily on the Sunday sermon. Eaton and Bock interact with this idea:

Eaton: I’m not saying don’t preach the Gospel. . . . Keep preaching but come around us [and] mentor [us]. Mentoring is discipling, right? That’s what we’re talking about. . . . Teach me how to live these things out, don’t just talk at me.

Bock: The important thing here is that, what the local church can give that a [YouTube sermon] may not be able to . . . is a localized form of the walk of faith, which is important in actually being in context . . . engag[ing] with people in their local setting. [We need] to think about how to put together the relational aspects of what church is supposed to be, next to the message and content that’s coming.

On an episode called “Reaching Millennials in a Shifting World,” Barna Group Presenter Mark Matlock notes the value of relationship even when discussing the Great Commission. He joined Bock and Professor of Educational Ministries Jay Sedwick:

Matlock: If our only transaction is to try to proselytize or convert somebody, then that becomes the basis of the relationship. And somehow I think there has to be something more than that. . . . This generation is going, “Well, are you willing just to be with me and walk with me?”

Bock: Yeah. I don’t want to be a notch on a gun belt, a number on an evangelistic list.

Matlock: Some of the greatest innovation is going to come from smaller churches that are willing to literally take a walk around their community and say, “God, what are you doing here and why are we here?” Not trying to get people to come in from 20 or 30 miles away, but literally in our neighborhood, our walkable radius.

Sedwick: Like the old parish concept.

Matlock: Exactly. I think we have to go back to that if we’re really going to be effective.

Sedwick: [The local church must] represent who Jesus is not just in word [but] in terms of all of our deeds and all of our relationships. Most millennials aren’t attracted to a church brand. They’re more attracted to a cause. They want to be involved in something that actually does something that makes a difference that they can see tangibly; this is helping people; this is changing the way things are. And churches that are involved in the community, that are making a difference, are very attractive to millennials.

Meaningful relationships are a key part of helping millennials connect with the church. Young people actively mentored by pastors, elders, or other mature believers are often excited to tell disillusioned millennials about their positive church experiences. Moreover, they encourage their peers to be the change and step into service in their existing contexts. Christian millennials are a key part of the church, and the church’s ministry to the world includes the good they do in society. Their desire for participation suggests that they share more in common with older generations than might initially be perceived. This invites an assessment of how shared values may help bridge the generational divide.

Seeking Common Ground

Although boomers and millennials may not view the church the same way, listening to these concerns can help churches become more sensitive to young people who share a desire to advance God’s kingdom in their communities—including areas often thought questionable.

Lyons: The older generation would be offended sometimes at the types of sin or corruption or even parts of town that they weren’t going to go to because it represented a lack of holiness. The next generation sees those places and they feel called by God to actually go into them, . . . to engage some of these spaces that otherwise felt very off limits to Christians.

Bock: Yeah, I’ve been in the seminary here for 34 years. I know [young people] are highly motivated and have the same gospel commitment I do. . . . Out of that, builds a desire to hear how they are seeing things because I know their goal isn’t to undermine what I believe in. Their real goal is to try and further what I believe in. [My] part [is saying,] “Hey, you know I’m here to listen and hear. Your experience isn’t my experience. Your age group does react to things differently than I do. I’m all ears.”

Lyons: [You choose] to trust, knowing occasionally there are people that probably don’t agree with everything that you think theologically, [but] you don’t start the conversation there. You start with, “What can I learn from you? What are you thinking?”

Much is learned by listening and seeking common ground in order to better minister to millennials. How should the church respond to the growing numbers of millennial “nones?” In the end, Lyons says, “we have to trust that God’s faithful with a new generation. It’s not all up to us being clever and trying to come up with new methods and methodologies to ‘reach people.’ . . . The Spirit of God [is] moving throughout every generation, [but we must ask,] ‘Are we really living out the good news in the gospel?’ ”

Although the number of religiously unaffiliated millennials is growing, those in the church are looking to engage the culture in constructive ways, enter into discipleship relationships, and serve others. In an era when sermons, books, and Bible study resources are readily available online, spiritually sensitive millennials understand the path to discipleship includes more than downloading great content. They are looking for mature believers to help them become more like Jesus as they actively participate in church and make a positive difference in society.

Notes

1. Richard Fry, “Millennials Overtake Baby Boomers as America’s Largest Generation,” Pew Research Center, April 25, 2016, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/25/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers/.
2. Michael Lipka, “Millennials Increasingly Are Driving Growth of ‘Nones,’ ” Pew Research Center, May 12, 2015, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/12/ millennials-increasingly-are-driving-growth-of-nones/.
3. David Kinnaman, Gabe Lyons, and George Barna, unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity . . . and Why It Matters (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012).
4. Short for religiously unaffiliated people, including atheists, agnostics, and those indicating their religious preference is “nothing in particular.” See Lipka, “Millennials Increasingly Are Driving Growth of ‘Nones.’ ”
5. Eph. 2:14-15.
6. Sam Eaton, “12 Reasons Millennials Are OVER Church,” Recklessly Alive, accessed May 31, 2017, http://www.recklesslyalive.com/12-reasons-millennials-are-over-church/.
7. David Kinnaman and Aly Hawkins, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church . . . and Rethinking Faith (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2016).
8. Eaton, “12 Reasons Millennials Are OVER Church.”
9. Luke 4:14-44.
10. Based on the view that the entire gospel story has four parts (creation, fall, redemption, and restoration), “half story” refers to a gospel presentation that exclusively discusses only two parts: fall and redemption.
11. Eaton, “12 Reasons Millennials Are OVER Church.”