Reaching the Millennials

The millennial population is probably most effected by Post Christian Era culture. More important, millennials have direct influence of the next generation of children. Educating them brings opportunity for that education to be passed down to the next generation.

“Educating the millennial generation and bringing them to Christ provides an opportunity to significantly impact our next generation.”

The Church Must Support and Encourage Resilient Disciples to Grow Their Faith

Historically, Gen Z and Millennials are less likely than older generations to be connected to a church. In Faith for Exiles, Kinnaman and Matlock share that the church dropout rate among 18–25-year-olds has increased from 59 percent to 64 percent in the past decade. Data featured in Gen Z also sheds light on the fact that the emerging generation is less likely to see church as important, with those who hold this perspective admitting “Church is not relevant to me personally” (59%), “I find God elsewhere” (48%) and “I can teach myself what I need to know” (28%).

Over the last few years, Barna has invested in listening to young people and figuring out what makes for a holistic faith that lasts, in an effort to help pastors and parents partner with young adults in their spiritual walk. Data from Faith for Exiles highlight that most fall into the categories of habitual churchgoers (38%) or lapsed Christians (30%). One in five young adults with a Christian background (22%) has left the faith. However, there is much to learn from the 10 percent of Christian twenty-somethings who are what Barna refers to as “resilient disciples” and who counter the trend of leaving the Church.

22 % Prodigals, or ex-Christians, do not identify themselves as Christian despite having attended a Protestant or Catholic church as a child or teen, or having considered themselves to be Christian at some time.

30 % Nomads, or lapsed Christians, identify themselves as Christian but have not attended church during the past month. The vast majority of nomads haven’t been involved with a faith community for six months or more.

38 % Habitual churchgoers describe themselves as Christian and have attended church at least once in the past month, yet do not have foundational core beliefs or behaviors associated with being an intentional, engaged disciple.

10% Resilient disciples are Christians who (1) attend church at least monthly and engage with their church more than just attending worship services; (2) trust firmly in the authority of the Bible; (3) are committed to Jesus personally and affirm he was crucified and raised from the dead to conquer sin and death; and (4) express desire to transform the broader society as an outcome of their faith.

Interesting statistics that demonstrate the magnitude of the decline in Christianity. The combined Prodigals, Nomads, and Habitual churchgoers represents 90% of the young population who are NOT EXPERINCING THE BENEFITS OF FAITH that their peer Resilient disciples do....

So what does it mean to be a resilient disciple? As defined in Faith for Exiles, individuals in this group: have made a commitment to Jesus, who they believe was crucified and raised to conquer sin and death; are involved in a faith community beyond attendance at worship services; and strongly affirm that the Bible is inspired by God and contains truth about the world. In addition, they agree with one or more of the following statements that speak to the exilic conditions in which their faith still thrives:

• I want to find a way to follow Jesus that connects with the world I live in.

• God is more at work outside the Church than inside, and I want to be a part of that.

• I want to be a Christian without separating myself from the world around me.

EVANGELISM IS A CHALLENGE AND EVEN MORE SO IN THE POST CHRISTIAN ERA

We’ve entered a post-Christian era in which traditional approaches to evangelism (a key part of whole-life discipleship) are largely ineffective. That being the case, we are challenged to answer an important question: How can we, as followers of Jesus, participate with what the Holy Spirit is doing to evangelize people who lack any semblance of a Christian worldview?

WHAT IS EVANGELISM?

Let’s start with a simple definition: Evangelism involves sharing the gospel with people and helping them respond by becoming followers of Jesus.

We probably all agree that evangelism is a process—the ongoing ministry of the Spirit as he works in the lives of people over time, relentlessly drawing them to Jesus. We are called to participate in what he is doing, but how? How do we evangelize people who have little interest in the things of God—people who are not yet asking searching questions about God? We already have relationships with some of these people, while others are merely passing acquaintances. How can we participate in what the Spirit is doing to evangelize them?

FACING REALITY

Let’s face an uncomfortable reality—as Christians, most of us are out of touch with the worldviews (beliefs, values, ideals) held by the non-Christians around us. Perhaps we’ve read some things (book knowledge) or heard some things (often biased and limited information) or gained some (limited) knowledge from our direct experience. But because we’re deeply entrenched in church life, most of us are far removed from the non-Christian world around us. While this is natural, it limits our ability to participate in Jesus’ mission to a largely post-Christian world.

ENGAGING NON - CHRISTIANS

The first step in evangelism is to connect with non-Christians. But doing so is a challenge for most Christians because the worldviews held by non-Christians seem strange to them. Therefore, engaging a non-Christian takes a willingness to be uncomfortable, and it also takes work—perhaps that’s why most Christians shy away from evangelism.

As Christians, we often judge (condemn) or merely dismiss those aspects of non-Christian worldviews that we don’t understand or like. If that assessment seems harsh, remember it’s how Christians are perceived by most non-Christians. So, what do we do? A good place to begin is to cease separating ourselves from the non-Christian world.

This separation likely came about unintentionally as we engaged in church activities that were largely inwardly focused. The more we engaged in such activities, the more we detached from unchurched people. This led to us becoming uncomfortable in their presence, finding it difficult to relate to and engage with them. The way we reverse this unfortunate situation is by first humbly admitting that the separation exists, then stepping out of our comfort zone (sequestered behind church walls). If we don’t take these steps, it’s highly unlikely that we’ll be able to share our hope and faith with any non-Christians.

Engaging non-Christians (even those who are anti-Christian) at a personal level requires lots of patience and rather thick skin. “Going deeper” relationally with people who do not think like us, and who disagree with us on many issues, is not for spiritual “wimps.” Keep in mind that the “judgment radar” of most non-Christians is sensitively tuned. We Christians too easily fall into judgmental patterns that shut down communication with non-Christians. They hear judgment from us even when it isn’t there—it’s in our looks and tone of voice. We sometimes can’t help ourselves.

For instance, how do we react to and converse with devout Buddhists, Muslims or atheists? How do we react when someone uses foul language, makes crude remarks, or acts in other ways that contradict our Christian beliefs and values? How do we react when someone expresses support for abortion, for LGBTQ lifestyles, or for political viewpoints different from our own? We don’t have to take a compromising stand on these issues, but sometimes the way we react when presented with these worldview issues make us appear uninformed, disconnected from reality and judgmental.

As humans, our sense of personal identity is deeply bound up with our worldview—our core values, deeply held beliefs and key understandings. Because most of us have spent a good deal of time and effort thinking about such things, we tend to view criticism of our worldview as an attack on our personhood. This is true for Christians and it’s also true for non-Christians. Thus, when worldviews clash, our interactions can become quite volatile. My point here is that in order to engage people who hold non-Christian worldviews, we Christians must exercise a great deal of understanding, tact and humility. We need to love our non-Christian neighbor as ourselves!

In discussions with non-Christians, referring to the Bible or to Jesus gets a bit tricky. We may assume that they are acquainted with biblical concepts or terms and have at least a basic biblical understanding with which we can address their questions or issues. But we are mistaken in that assumption. We live in a world that is now largely post-Christian—a world where most non-Christians are not only unacquainted with what Christians believe but are apathetic or even antagonistic toward Christians. They have little interest in What Would Jesus Do? (WWJD) or other Christian platitudes. They are not interested in hearing what the Bible says. Without becoming defensive or frustrated, we have to back off and identify a basic starting point with them—asking good questions, then listening carefully.

ASK GOOD QUESTIONS

Many of us don’t have a good working knowledge of the many worldviews held by non-Christians. This lack of understanding underscores the need we have to ask good questions and then listen carefully to their answers in order to gain understanding concerning what they actually believe. Our preconceptions concerning their beliefs may be mistaken. So rather than jumping to unwarranted conclusions, we need to patiently and graciously seek clarity. Doing so often takes a great deal of time.

It can be difficult to listen to ideas that are not only radically different from our own, but often are illogical and fanciful. But it’s vital to take time to understand what they actually believe (some research on the side may be necessary—see the references listed at the end of this article). With that knowledge we can then identify points of connection between their worldview and ours—points of agreement that can serve as a bridge of connection, opening opportunities for us to influence their worldview in the direction of Christ. As we listen deeply, we may be amazed at what we learn, and how our own views on some things may change along the way.

THE VALUE OF A SILENT WITNESS

In seeking to understand the worldview of a non-Christian acquaintance, its sometimes best to ask or say nothing, taking time to develop relational credibility before bringing Jesus or the Bible into the conversation. In doing so, we need not think we’re failing to stand up for Jesus—he stands for himself just fine! We also don’t need to feel that by not speaking up we are missing an opportunity to “witness.” In our post-Christian world, a silent, nonjudgmental witness is often more effective than words. Silence is often a more powerful way to declare “the right thing.” Simply loving people—being available to them when opportunities arise—is often the best way to help non-Christians come to know Jesus. Silence may be a spiritual gift we need more of as we trust the Spirit to do his often-mysterious work of evangelism.

BE READY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS

As we connect relationally with non-Christians, we’ll encounter some who, further along in their journey with Jesus, by the Spirit, are asking questions, wanting to know about God, the Christian faith and the Bible. It may be that the Spirit has led such people to us to help them unravel the tangled web of their current worldview, and are open to the simplicity, hope and joy of knowing Jesus. How can we be of help at that point? What can we do to evangelize them?

Again, we start by seeking to understand what they are currently thinking and believing. Then we look for points of commonality between those beliefs and the Christian faith. We then proceed, gently helping them see the points of illogic or futility in their current beliefs and sharing with them the simple truths of the Christian faith: who God is, his love for them, and how they don’t have to jump through hoops to be accepted by him. This is the time to share with them a simple presentation of the gospel. It’s not a time for making profound, complex theological statements.

Remember, we are relating to people who are early in their Christian journey. They will not likely relate to language and concepts that are second nature to us. Our challenge is to meet them where they are—to understand their questions and needs and then speak accordingly, using terms and thought-forms they understand.

I’ve been told on several occasions by non-Christians that Christian answers to difficult questions typically sound simplistic. Let’s avoid that by answering their questions in ways that share the gospel without coming across as offering simplistic solutions to complex problems. As people respond positively, we can then help them take additional steps. We can continue meeting with them one-on-one, then invite them to a gathering of church friends, a small group meeting, or a church service. The goal is to continue journeying with them.