Note to Readers: What follows is a bit of a departure from what I usually share in Jeff’s blog. Namely, it is much lengthier. If it is too lengthy for you to read, please feel free to scan and/or come back to this post when you have more time or curiosity about the subject. Also, I am hoping to spark some interesting conversation so please pay attention to the comments as they are approved by Jeff.
with love,
Josh
Intro to the Conversation
As you may know, I work as the Young Adult Director at Woods Chapel Church. My mission is to work to connect young adults to Christ. I am consumed by thoughts of how to do this in the way that best reflects the love of Jesus Christ. In this post, I am attempting to spell out some of the underlying reasons why I think connecting with my generation is a crucial issue facing the church. Whether you want to read my thoughts or not, I am inviting you to weigh in with your thoughts about young adults in the church. Feel free to skip down to the discussion points at the bottom and join the dialogue.
Either way, I invite you into an ongoing conversation with me, whether it’s on this blog or in person. Please feel free to contact me any time at joshs@woodschapelchurch.org or hit me up on Facebook.
Church Crisis
I am not a statistical person. I prefer a good story any day. Sometimes statistics tell a story, though. As I shared yesterday, I consider it my current mission in life to understand – and ultimately respond to – the story of how my generation (18-29 and called “Millenials” for people that like labels) relates to the church in my culture. Here are some statistics that tell a story.
According to USA Today, 18% of Millenials in the U.S. attend church weekly. In fact, the church in the U.S. has been in steady decline since the 1960s. The average age among Methodists is 57, and we are steadily getting older. Out of 16,000 UMC clergy, only 850 are under the age of 35.
Someone recently balked at my usage of the word “crisis” to describe the situation in our church. The more I think about the statistical story, the more I stand by this word. We have an age crisis. Because we have an age crisis, we also have a leadership crisis. Not only will there be fewer leaders in the future as experienced clergy retire or die; there are also fewer leaders who are able to speak to the Millenial generation now. I call this a crisis.
The future doesn’t seem much brighter. Many American missiologists (people who are smarter than me and study the church’s efforts to reach out in mission) look to the church in Europe to predict the steady decline of the church in the U.S. Currently in the United Kingdom, only 2-3% of Millenials attend church. Europe, the home of the original towering “mega-churches”, has now become the home of towering mega-church museums. The church in the U.S. is dying. The church in Europe is dead.
That’s the story.
Spiritual Hunger
To hear this story, one might conclude that the Millenial generation is simply no longer seeking God – that we have lost our spirituality. However, the statistics are telling another story. 72% of U.S. Millenials call themselves “more spiritual than religious.” Thus, they have not turned away from spirituality. They have turned away from the church as a relevant teacher of spiritual matters.
If the term “spirituality” is too generic for you, then consider this. Dan Kimball recently wrote a book called They Like Jesus but Not the Church. It’s about – you guessed it – the overwhelming amount of young people in our culture who resonate with Jesus, but don’t resonate with the church. Together, these two groups are telling us a story of a church who has not only lost its way spiritually, but who has lost its way in following Christ.
I’m listening to this story.
What’s Our Story?
If a group of people who are spiritual seekers and who like Jesus Christ can’t find a home in the church, then I take that as an indictment against the church. We have failed to communicate the true Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ. In reading through the New Testament recently, a theme I have come across time and time again is the theme of “Life in the Spirit.” What could be more spiritual than living together in the Spirit of God? This is a Story we can share.
Instead, in my lifetime, the American church – not everyone, but in large part -- has seemed more interested in telling the story of cold rationale or political power or “creationism versus science” (as if such a polemic must necessarily exist) or modern-day Pharisaism that has created an “us, the good ones and them, the bad ones” split. Meanwhile, we have – again in large part – ignored the sufferings of people around the world, while secular organizations and people outside the church have responded much more quickly. I do not blame my generation for seeing this and concluding that Jesus may be doing more outside the church than through the church.
Re-think or Repent?
For years, the church in America has noted the decline and has attempted to respond. At times, though, our response is more about re-marketing than repentance (which means to turn back; to change your ways for the better.) Appropriately noting the bad PR of the church, we have attempted to correct the PR instead of simply correcting our behavior. The church’s PR problem cannot be corrected cosmetically. I do not believe it can be corrected through top-down programmatic change.
I propose a different solution, one of bottom-up change. Forget the PR problem, I say. I won’t try to take the splinter out of my brothers and sisters in the church, when there is a log in mine. I won’t try to tell you what to do about this crisis. But as for me, I intend to take the criticisms to heart so that they break my heart. I am convinced that my repentance and resultant love for others will do more to draw others into the church – that is, the people, the Body of Christ, not the building – than any cleverly designed marketing campaign.
Embodying the Story
Along the way, I am continually finding others who have let this story break their heart. And we are joining together, because it’s all we really know to do. In our relationships with each other and with others, we are able to share a new story.
Won’t you join us?
Woods Chapel Young Adults
There are local churches all over the U.S. and throughout Europe who are wrestling with this crisis. I am proud to be a part of one of those local churches. After awareness comes action, and action is beautiful. It is beautiful because we are able to come together to face these challenges as a community. I have a feeling this is exactly what Christ envisioned for his church.
I know from everyday experience that Woods Chapel is striving to tell a different story from the one I described above. I have nothing but fervent hope as I see us coming together. We can have hope because we know that death is not the final story for God. The Good News of Jesus is that just when we think Death has spoken the final word, God speaks up with Resurrection. And because I’ve read to the end of the Book, I know that the church never dies, no matter how bleak things may appear. That is why I have hope, and why I love to share the reason for this hope.
At Woods Chapel, I am just one voice among many voices of people who have witnessed the increasing alienation of my generation from the church. Everyday, I find myself in conversations with people who are thinking and dreaming about where we go from here.
Invitation to Dialogue
I invite you to share your thoughts by commenting here. It’s okay if your perspective doesn’t coincide with mine. If you want to go off on a tangent, that’s fine, too. If not, here are a few questions related to my thoughts above.
1. I cited a few statistics about the ongoing decline of the church in the Western world. What are your thoughts on this? Would you consider this a crisis? What should be done? What can YOU do?
2. What are your thoughts on young leadership in the church? What can we do to find and empower young leaders?
3. Do you have stories to share about your experiences as a young person in church? How about stories about experiences relating to young people in and out of church?
4. In what ways might Woods Chapel come together to connect young adults to Christ?
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13 comments:
As far as where my personal perspective is coming from, Woods Chapel Church is the first church I have ever stepped into by my own will and curiosity 6 months ago. That said, I can certainly relate to the thoughts and feelings of the 72% of millenials that have found spirituality outside of the church.
My personal reasons for spending so much of my life outside of a church were that I didn't feel like I needed the church to have a personal relationship with God. In all honesty, part of me does still feel like my personal relationship with God and Jesus is bigger and more intimate than what any church could house and I feel that is true with a spiritual person and a avid church goer as well.
Where I see the breakdown between our generation and the church starting (by no means the answer) is with association. I didn't associate God and church growing up because I was never in a church, yet God was still with me. Someone who grew up around practicing members of a church associate a personal-intimate relationship with God with the practices of attending church and studying of The Bible with the same feelings of God being with them.
I think the mentality of our generation is that the church is almost seen as a "middle-man" to a connection with God. That it's not needed...
Thats where I feel the Mission of Woods Chapel is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen and what has kept me (a former 72% millenial) coming week after week. Is that at Woods Chapel the "ego" has been taken out of the church. This idea that "you have to go through us to be close to God" is non-existant. Just as you said Josh, that kind of PR cannot be a cosmetic fix. People will only be able to change their idea of the role the church plays once they have rubbed noses with one that is actively playing a different role. That PR is slower, but its deeper and that I think is the goal that you and any member of the church has-to connect people to Christ. One connection was made right here with me and all of my friends that I use to share the same spiritual ideas with know I go to church. They know how I feel about this church and how I believe in its mission and when I speak about it I doubt it will change of world, but it might resonate with someone who use to think like I did. In doing so the Mission grows and so does Woods Chapel :)
Young Shepherd,
I believe the older generations ---x, baby boomers, WW2, care deeply about passing on the faith to the next generation...we know and realize that it is the "youth" that bring the passion, unbridled faith, they are still asking the big questions. What are the things that are important to millenials? Is it the environment? Is it a more international rather than Americanized perspective on life? Making an impact among the poor? Being authentic? My hunch is that the things that they care about, if they are passionate about Jesus, are also things that WE care or should be caring about.
Young Shepherd --I pray that God would make Woods Chapel a fertile ground where the millenials could light a fire in hearts of our boomers and the boomers could take a look at what aspects of the faith they have done well and pass it on. I believe that we have the opportunity to do this as we are a inter-generational church.
Keep the fire burning, and if it burns us a little then that's good. We might take a closer look at the fire.
the Levite
Let me weigh in on leadership...
Someone has said, leadership is earned, not given.
So how does one earn the responsibility/opportunity to lead?
They live as a leader. This is embodiment. This is incarnation.
It might look like this...
Leaders particpate in creating and critiquing the Church.
Leaders serve and challenge and provoke.
Leaders accept hardship and setbacks and struggle and difficulty are all part of drawing people into a new reality.
Leaders are humble.
Leaders ask questions.
So where does that leave us?
Leaders come in all shapes and sizes and even ages. If we want more young adult leaders, we should be looking to create speace and opportunities for them to grow in demonstrating the qualities listed above (and probably a bazillion others). We have to allow them the opportunity to earn leadership - to live as leaders.
Young adults [my age [25] and younger] are asking me regularly if there are any job/intern/volunteer opportunities at Water.org. They are [I am!] hungry to be a part of something bigger that is making a difference in our world.
Should this not be the Church? Why are We not meeting this need??
You raise crucial points!!! I think we should be concerned about the crisis...but we should not address it in "crisis mode". Maybe this is a chance to start fresh, for God to realign our perspective, motives, and actions...So we can build with intention, but relationally, by listening, engaging, and providing relevant opportunities in answering the questions above that The Levite raises...authentically, through prayer, example...God-led.
I don't care how hip or edgy or cool a church is, its marketing, its building. Most young people I know don't care either, and in fact are skeptical of or repulsed by that.
Our generation wants relevancy, authenticity, change, action, leadership, to be stimulated intellectually, spiritually, emotionally; to be challenged, to learn, to be a part of something big, to make our world better...is this not a picture of Jesus?...
Erin
Young adults [my age [25] and younger] are asking me regularly if there are any job/intern/volunteer opportunities at Water.org. They are [I am!] hungry to be a part of something bigger that is making a difference in our world.
Should this not be the Church? Why are We not meeting this need??
You raise crucial points!!! I think we should be concerned about the crisis...but we should not address it in "crisis mode". Maybe this is a chance to start fresh, for God to realign our perspective, motives, and actions...So we can build with intention, but relationally, by listening, engaging, and providing relevant opportunities in answering the questions above that The Levite raises...authentically, through prayer, example...God-led.
I don't care how hip or edgy or cool a church is, its marketing, its building. Most young people I know don't care either, and in fact are skeptical of or repulsed by that.
Our generation wants relevancy, authenticity, change, action, leadership, to be stimulated intellectually, spiritually, emotionally; to be challenged, to learn, to be a part of something big, to make our world better...is this not a picture of Jesus?...
Erin
Josh, I too believe that the world is in a crisis concerning the church as we know it.
I am a "baby boomer" and will go to my grave knowing that I contributed to this decline. I can't speak for my entire generation, but I can speak honestly about why I have 3 (millenial) daughters that do not attend church. I was an agnostic for much of my adult life. I needed answers to questions no one seemed to be able to answer and I was not big on faith. I spoke openly about this and debated the subject many times in front of my girls not realizing how very impressionable they were. Now I know.
I don't take all the blame though. I also believe the media is contributing to this crisis. I won't get into all of that, but I will say that my girls are still very impressionable. I am so thankful that I (finally) found WCC and that my girls do attend services occasionally and that I am having great success with passing on my faith to my grand children. There is hope--it just may be in a generation I may not be around to experience.
Levite,
I think you're right. The flip side that I tried to describe in my "Timothy" post the other day is that people my age also need to learn from the wisdom, experience, and maturity of older generations. I also love the opportunities that we have as an inter-generational church. This is why I believe strongly that we need to be careful not to compartmentalize different age groups.
I would love to see all age groups worshiping together, dreaming together, learning together, and serving together. Any ideas that people in our church have about ways for the different ministry groups to come together would be welcomed.
One of the things I struggle with as student ministry director at our church is seeing our kids graduate and go off to college. It's not just because I fall in love with these kids and will miss seeing them regularly, but also because I know that once they come back on breaks (or stay in our community for the work force or local education), there aren't many options for them at church. Don't get me wrong, we're getting better and better about this in ways that excite me. But many times I will have college freshmen, sophomores, and even juniors who will come to senior high Sunday School rather than jump into coorporate worship, let alone visit/join an adult Sunday School class. And if they do get involved in church once they get into their early 20s, a lot of times churches in our country don't know what to do with them until they have kids of their own. (WCC is now an exception because we are connecting 20s into the Body of Christ, in addition to bringing them together.)
So, from my perspective, this is a crisis. Those statistics you shared about Millenials' church attendance reminds me a little bit of stats we hear about how many Africans are dying of AIDS. We get numb to it and because we're plumb out of ideas on how to do it, American churches aren't reaching college age and 20s very well. We've got to change this. I'm glad we're making steps to do that in our context.
Thank you Josh for that wonderful post. I will put my two cents in for now and add more later if I have time. With my own experience and talking with others my age, I feel our generation is about "making a difference" be that through local or international missions. We also are a generation that values relationships over being a workaholic (because of the divorce rate being what it is, we have seen the fallout of not focusing on relationships).
That being said, the church, as a whole, is old school. They are more focused on numbers and tithes than reaching out to people and living a humble and Spirit-filled life.
I recently went back home and visited my church that I went to growing up. There was not a single person there under 30, except for myself. The congregation is dying and the church is considering closing their doors for good. It's hard to pinpoint the exact reason why, but my guess is the political ramifications for allowing gay pastors to have open homosexual relationships. This turned alot of people away...but that's a different discussion. :)
Nonetheless, I remember my church being filled with friends as a teenager... what happened?
According to the statistics, they are out there... we just need to meet them on their turf. The coffee bars, sports bars, campus libraries, etc. Build relationships with them and then rest will naturally fall into place. :)
Molly
I think that this is a time where God is rebuilding the Church. Things do need to change and new leadership does need to be in place but not only because our churches are getting older. There is a new need. A new spirit. God is stirring in the hearts of young people and starting a movement that is different than any generation has ever seen.
Come visit a high school some time and you will constantly hear kids talking about going to this club for this cause or playing in a tournament to support this cause or planning a benefit concert for this cause. Kids are craving purpose in their life. They are starting to see that the world is bigger than them. Look on t.v. There are so many ties to missions and cooperatives now. Its amazing! Some secular and some not. It doesnt matter. The point is, is that there is a new movement starting. It almost form of social reform in a way. The Green campaigns and Toms shoes and the a new interest in nature.
If we want the Church to be reaching people who are part of this new America, then we need people leading the Church who share those same interests. Who know what the world is talking about and can relate.
Im not saying that the older congregation cannot do that. They are definitely needed so dont get me wrong on that. But I think that churches sometimes overlook the younger generations because they are less experienced and their ideas seem radical. Thats because times are a changin'! Haha. But in a really good way.
God renews things all the time. He is an amazing, multi dimensional God. Ezekiel 37 talks of the valley of dry bones and how God is going to use Ezekiel to give them a message. A message of life and revival.
The Church is in need of a revival. And He is using young people to start it.
I agree that the church as a whole is facing an ever growing crisis, particularly in the Methodist denomination. What should be done, you ask? The young adults who already attend WCC should be invested in, mentored/discipled by older leaders, invited and ENCOURAGED to participate and share their voice and perspective at meetings and events. But it has to be taken one step further--young adults have to be respected and listened to, not just indulged by letting us sit at the "grown ups" table. My own part in this is to continue to show up at meetings and activities, to be a presence and voice my thoughts despite previous years of feeling un-encouraged, mostly ignored, indulged when having participated, and not listened to.
From my personal experience as a young adult and from my interactions with other young adults, I know that the following are some common ideas that we share as to what we want from our church:
* Relevance--to our lives, and to the world, not just suburban living
* Challenged--not just told what good WCC Christians we are
* Mission that doesn't care whether people know we are helping them because we love Jesus, but because we know Jesus loves people and would want us to help them and do the right thing (i.e. provide medical care, clean water, food, shelter, etc.)
* Genuine fellowship, authentic & intimate worship experiences with God and others--not a huge auditorium, fancy lights & sound system, etc.
* A church that cares about its environmental impact when they build, if they build
* A church that is innovative in responding to space issues, and very cautious when considering building expansions
I've heard it said that our church's new building project is to make space for others, specifically to target and attract young adults. What I find interesting is that no one, other than Josh, has asked the young adults what they think. Do we need new space to draw our young friends to church--is it the space that is preventing our non-believing friends from coming to WCC? If it is the space that's the true barrier, who has asked young adults what kind of space they think would be most appealing to other young adults, particularly the non-believing ones?
Let me be clear: I love our church. It is not perfect (what church is?). I think we are doing MANY things well. WCC has blessed me in many ways and on several levels. WCC has truly helped me know Jesus at a deeper level than when I first walked through its doors.
deep thoughts to ponder. I'm in the baby boomer generation but understand what you are saying. Post high school is a very difficult time. The world as you have known it has been blown apart, you hunger to 'go home', but when you try to go back you find no connection.
Thinking about it, i wonder why didn't our youth department continue to followup with us after we left. Why not continuing get togethers, something to connect us back to each other. The desire to connect is certainly there.
Even when i tried several times to go back to church, there was no one there welcoming me. No one followed up on any visits i made, no one tried to connect me to others my age.
After my children were born, i found commonality once again in the church.
I think we question church at every age. Even today i wonder, can real worship break out during a regular church service. we can get so stagnant, unafraid to move, raise our hands and our voice. Watch people singing, how many adults really feel the message of the song, or are just going through the motions. What do we fear
deep thoughts to ponder. I'm in the baby boomer generation but understand what you are saying. Post high school is a very difficult time. The world as you have known it has been blown apart, you hunger to 'go home', but when you try to go back you find no connection.
Thinking about it, i wonder why didn't our youth department continue to followup with us after we left. Why not continuing get togethers, something to connect us back to each other. The desire to connect is certainly there.
Even when i tried several times to go back to church, there was no one there welcoming me. No one followed up on any visits i made, no one tried to connect me to others my age.
After my children were born, i found commonality once again in the church.
I think we question church at every age. Even today i wonder, can real worship break out during a regular church service. we can get so stagnant, unafraid to move, raise our hands and our voice. Watch people singing, how many adults really feel the message of the song, or are just going through the motions. What do we fear
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