5 Things Millennials Wish the Church Would Be
New Barna research reveals the questions church planters should ask to authentically and effectively engage young adults
Marian V. Liautaud
Millennials (today’s 18- to 30-year-olds) are leaving the
Church in record numbers … and they’re not returning. Of course, this is
far from new information. In the past decade, Christian research
experts like
Barna Group,
LifeWay Research, and
Rainer Research have widely reported on this reality.
But a new study—
Making Space for Millennials, a joint project of Barna and the
Cornerstone Knowledge Network—uncovers
key findings that help reveal unique characteristics about the
Millennial generation, plus practical ways churches can connect with and
engage today’s young adults. Below, we offer five questions to ask
yourself and your team as you pray and plan to reach this unique group:
1. Is our church real or relevant?
Millennials are looking for authenticity. Unfortunately, a lot of
churches today are striving to win over young adults by being relevant.
Consider what
Leadership Journal Managing Editor Drew Dyck identifies as the potential point of connection:
“Millennials have a dim view of church. They are highly skeptical of
religion. Yet they are still thirsty for transcendence. But when we
portray God as a cosmic buddy, we lose them (they have enough friends).
When we tell them that God will give them a better marriage and family,
it’s white noise (they’re delaying marriage and kids or forgoing them
altogether). When we tell them they’re special, we’re merely echoing
what educators, coaches, and parents have told them their whole lives.
But
when we present a ravishing vision of a loving and holy God, it just might get their attention and capture their hearts as well”
(from the blog post “Millennials Don’t Need a Hipper Pastor, They Need a Bigger God”).
The Church’s reason for being is the same as it was when Jesus gave
us the Great Commission: Make disciples. And yet many of today’s leaders
aren’t sure how to grab hold of this generation and help them catch a
vision for following Jesus. They’re unsure how to convey
authenticity. After all, what does it mean to “be real?”
Taylor Snodgrass of
Church of the 20somethings
offers some firsthand insights: “Our generation has been advertised at
our whole life, and even now on social media,” he says. “Consequently,
when a company isn’t being authentic with their story we can easily see
through this. If the church isn’t giving you the whole story, if it’s
sugarcoated and they’re trying to put on an act on stage, people in
their 20s will see through this. This causes us to leave. We’re good at
seeing when people are lying to us.”
Brian Coffey, senior pastor at First Baptist Church East in Geneva,
Illinois, and himself the father of four Millennials sons, agrees,
“Millennials don’t like to be programmed to. They can hear honesty. They
have a radar for that.”
This fall, Coffey’s co-pastor, Jeff Frazier, launched a new worship
experience service in the church’s newly renovated space. Called New
Word and Table, the service will be simple, says Frazier. “We’ll meet
twice a month, and it’ll have tables for people to share communion.
It’ll feature one person on a piano or guitar. It won’t be driven by the
pipe organ or by one worship leader or praise team, but by the
content,” he says.
“The single voice is plaintive and honest,” Coffey adds. His hunch is
that this new “ancient-modern” service will draw former Catholics,
Millennials and people who want a more contemplative worship.
“The days of the light and fog machines and overly produced church
services are a gone era,” says Tony Ranvestel, lead pastor at Clear
River Church in Lafayette, Indiana, located near Purdue University.
“Young adults are used to Photoshop. They want reality TV. They want to
see real people and what they go through. The building we’re in is an
old auto body shop. It’s kind of ‘janky,’” he admits. “But it feels
real. We try to do this with our teaching too, being authentic.”
2. Is our church clear in our visual messaging?
One of the key ways your church can
convey authenticity
is by ensuring that what a person sees and experiences when he or she
walks into your worship service is consistent with the messages heard or
communicated in the service. The new Barna/CKN study refers to this
consistency between experience and messaging as
visual clarity.
“Visual clarity is huge,” says Snodgrass who led a
church road trip
to discover churches that were doing a good job of reaching
20-somethings. “We walked into a few churches that didn’t have good
signage, and we just wandered around. We weren’t sure where to go—and
Millennials don’t want to ask. We just want to go in and experience the
space without having to ask someone, especially if it’s our first time
at church.”
Practically speaking, Millennials in the Barna/CKN study expressed an
appreciation for clear signage for where to go once they enter the
church and where to find information.
“We don’t want to feel stress when we go into church,” Snodgrass
says. “The logistics of a building shouldn’t be a barrier for people
coming into church.
The biggest thing is to create a welcoming space that isn’t confusing.”
“More philosophically, Millennials want to be able to answer the
questions ‘Where am I?’ and ’What’s expected of me?’ by looking for cues
in their surroundings,” says Barna Group President David Kinnaman.
“Old church [buildings] were built to connect people to God,”
Kinnaman says. “The altar, the stained glass windows, the soaring
ceiling that pointed to the heavens—every element was designed to create
a link between human and divine.”
“The cathedral is powerfully symbolic, connecting our world to the
one above,” says Derek DeGroot, a church architect for Aspen Group. “But
it’s also a common symbol of church in the secular world, frequently
featured in TV shows, movies and in literature. Perhaps this standard
Hollywood depiction has allowed the traditional church to be a standout
symbol of Christianity, where the modern day church works so hard to
blend into its culture.”
Many modern churches are explicitly constructed not to look and feel
too much like a religious place. “A modern church is designed to host
activities, and these activities point the people to God. But strip away
those activities, and you might as well be at a community college or a
performing arts center or, heaven help us, an airport terminal,”
Kinnaman observes.
Clarity, not more cathedrals
So do we need to start building cathedrals again just because so many unchurched people are fond of them? Not so fast.
When Barna Research asked Millennials to choose from word pairings to
describe their vision of the ideal church, a two-thirds majority or
greater picked “community” (78%) over “privacy” (22%); and “casual”
(64%) over “dignified” (36%).
Words like “sanctuary,” “classic” and “quiet” could be associated
with more traditional church buildings—yet less than half of survey
respondents preferred the word “traditional” over “modern.”
“Though many of them aspire to a more traditional church experience,
in a beautiful building steeped in history and religious symbolism,
they are more at ease in a modern space that feels more familiar than mysterious,” says Kinnaman.
Instead of building cathedral-type structures, churches would do well to focus on designing for clarity.
“Someone once told me that when you walk into a space, you decide
within three seconds if you like the space or not,” says Snodgrass.
“It’s true. I’d walk in and say, ‘I hate this space,’ or ‘I love this
space.’”
He recalls a visit to Door of Hope in Portland, Oregon, a church
housed in an old church building without “slick Helvetica signs.”
“But it wasn’t a problem because there was just a flight of stairs to
walk up into the worship area,” Snodgrass says. “No lobby. Upstairs
there was a rag-tag bunch of chairs set up everywhere and a drum set
that had never been used, and people walking around with coffee. There
were no pews. Something about it was very Portland.”
Door of Hope didn’t offer any traditional visual cues of it being a
church, and yet Snodgrass’s experience highlights the power of
visual clarity—when
people can tell immediately what a space is for and what they should do
next, and the physical space rings true to the culture of the church
itself. This is another example of how Millennials say they sniff out authenticity.
Good design can make it crystal clear who they are, what they believe
and what they are there to do. “Budgets are and may always be the
biggest hurdle to overcome in creating great space,” says DeGroot.
So how do you create great spaces on a shoestring budget that resonate with Millennials?
DeGroot advises churches to first concentrate on one or two areas and
make those spaces feel special. “Instead of spreading funds equally
throughout the facility, make your spaces utilitarian in general but go
the extra mile in a few areas. Keep your structures simple, and instead
invest more of your building budget on finishes, furniture and
technology that display great thought and care. Limit expensive
materials to a few choice facades or a special landscape feature.”
Landscape features, it turns out, may be a one of the best areas for a
church to invest design dollars. According to the Barna/CKN research,
nature is a key way Millennials connect with God.
3. Is our church setting a place of action or rest?
One of the ways churches can help point people to God regardless of
their facility’s architecture is by bringing nature into the church
setting. Millennials say nature helps them connect with God and it helps
provide an antidote to a need they voiced in the
Making Space for Millennials research—the need for respite.
“Our culture is highly fragmented and frenetic, and there are few
places to take a breather and gain much-needed perspective,” Kinnaman
says. “Ironically, most churches offer what they think people want: more
to do, more to see. Yet that’s exactly the opposite of what many young
adults crave when it comes to sacred space.”
Most church buildings today are places of action, not rest, and spaces to “do” rather than “be.”
The activities, of course, are designed to connect people with God and
each other— and some Millennials hope for that, too—but many just want
an opportunity to explore spiritual life on their own terms, free to
decide for themselves when to stay on the edges of a church experience
and when to fully enter in.
“As church architects, we’re exploring what a church that’s designed for
non-activity would look like,” says DeGroot.
With so much emphasis on being the hands and feet of Jesus and
putting love into action—all of which is well-intended activity designed
to help people grow as followers of Christ—church buildings still need
to be a place where people can experience Jesus’ invitation: “Come unto
me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
“Most of our modern churches have excellent areas set aside for
corporate worship, group learning and community building. But they leave
something to be desired when it comes to personal reflection and
prayer,” Kinnaman says.
Incorporating natural elements such as bamboo flooring instead of
carpet, and even design features that imitated nature such as leaf
motifs in light fixtures, help to hint at the created world and
ultimately remind people of the Creator.
“Many churches think of their facility as everything inside the
walls, but it is worth considering how we might make better use of our
external spaces,” says Kinnaman. “Instead of using landscaping simply as
a frame for the building, could we use it as a legitimate ministry
space—a sacred place in its own right?”
4. Is our church being Jesus?
At Clear River Church where 80% of the congregation is 39 years old
and under, activity takes a backseat. “We don’t do a lot of activity,”
says Lead Pastor Tony Ranvestel. “We call people to follow Jesus; that’s
our primary activity. If you follow Jesus, this leads to serving and
justice.”
About half of Clear River’s congregation is comprised of college
students who live and work in the community. All who attend worship are
encouraged to become members and join a small group. That’s it.
Clear River’s approach, though somewhat countercultural even in the
church world, has struck a chord with Millennials. The church is
unapologetically a place of worship, learning and experiencing
community.
Young adults in this congregation have found a place that’s decidedly different from any other aspects of their life. In other words, the church is offering something they can’t get anywhere else.
“Every young adult is trying to figure out what they exist for.
What’s my purpose in life?” Ranvestel says. “We present this and try to
show them the goodness of God, the goodness of being in community. We’re
heavy on person-to-person discipleship and believe this happens best in
relationships. We take young people and talk with them about real
things—here’s why you should stay sexually pure until marriage. Here’s
why it’s good to tithe.”
This kind of real-world teaching gets at another aspect that attracts Millennials: challenge.
“Twenties want to be challenged to think about difficult messages,”
says Snodgrass. “We don’t just want to have easy topics each week. We
want to dive into difficult-to-understand topics and passages and
explore how they apply.”
“The challenge for faith communities is to help young adults identify
what pieces of ‘church’ are inadequate, misshapen or missing in their
modular lives and help them rebuild or fill in the gaps—and connect the
pieces of family, work, church and faith into a cohesive, whole,
Jesus-shaped life,” says Kinnaman.
Shawn Williams, campus pastor at Community Christian Church-Yellow
Box (so named for its yellow exterior) in Naperville, Illinois, agrees
with Kinnaman, adding that Millennials want a role to play. “They don’t
want to sit on the sidelines and observe. If they’re going to be part of
a church, it must have value and meaning. In generations like the
Boomers, people attend church out of some moral obligation to do so.
Millennials won’t have any of that. If it doesn’t provide meaning and
value to them, they won’t participate. They’ll go and find something
that does have meaning and value.”
Williams’ perspective jibes with Barna’s research. Millennials want to be taken seriously
today.
They’re not interested in earning their place at the table at some
future date; they want a seat there now. Their desire to be taken
seriously and to be given real responsibility is something Kinnaman says
churches should take note of—and be eager to fulfill.
“What better place for young Christian Millennials to
feel they can truly make a difference with their gifts and talents than
at their churches?”
5. Is our church helping Millennials find mentors?
Millennials don’t feel the same sense of obligation to attend church
that previous generations may have. At the same time, being part of a
faith community can provide young adults with exactly the mentorship and
guidance they crave from older adults.
Barna’s research shows that young adults who remain involved in a
local church beyond their teen years are twice as likely as those who
don’t have a close personal friendship with an older adult in their
faith community (59% vs. 31% among church dropouts). They’re also twice
as likely to have had a mentor other than a pastor or youth minister
(28% vs. 11%).
“Mentoring and discipling this next generation is everything,” says
Aspen Group CEO Ed Bahler, a founding partner of the Cornerstone
Knowledge Network. Baby Boomers, Bahler says, hold all the financial,
intellectual, professional and relational capital.
“The golden
opportunity for the Church is learning how to tap into all of this
capital and leverage it to equip the next generation to lead in the
church.”
When Community Christian Church unveiled its major renovation at
their flagship Yellow Box campus recently, it included an innovative
training center. With floor to ceiling glass walls, the center gives
everyone a glimpse into what it looks like to train and equip future
leaders.
Lead Pastor Dave Ferguson, known for his napkin sketch concepts on
reproducing churches and president of Exponential, a ministry for church
planters, says, “The sanctuary we just built seats up to 1,200. It’ll
help us reach hundreds. But
the training center is a space that
will help us reach tens or hundreds of thousands because it’s used to
mentor and train new pastors and leaders. I think we’ll look back and see that our greatest investment will be in the training center.”
Effective ministry to Millennials means helping young believers
discover their own mission in the world, not merely asking them to wait
their turn, Kinnaman says. It also means calling out Millennials to
share their knowledge about how to navigate life in this digital age.
The term “reverse mentoring” describes the reciprocal sharing between
young and established leaders. and Community Christian’s training center
is an excellent example of how churches can literally make space for
this type of intergenerational connection.
Ultimately, says Bahler, the future of the Church rests on our
ability to connect the generations. “It’s not about attracting
Millennials to church,” he says. “
It’s about making a remarkable hand-off. How we do that as Boomers is our legacy.”
And as one church leader told Taylor Snodgrass on his cross-country
church road trip, “At the end of the day, if you don’t have Millennials,
you don’t have anyone to hand-off the church to.”
What is your church plant doing now to ensure it thrives for generations to come?
To learn more about how to reach Millennials and make room for them in your church, register for the Alignment Conference, October 21, at Community Christian Church in Naperville, Illinois.
Marian V. Liautaud is a former editor at Christianity Today and now serves as director of marketing for Aspen Group, a church architecture firm focused on building space to radically enhance ministry impact.
As
winter creeps up on us, it is more and more expensive for us to
maintain the Stand True Missionary House with heating bills
skyrocketing. But once again a generous donor is giving Stand True
Pro-life Outreach a $4,000 matching donation and will double every
donation we receive through November up to $4,000. For the past four
years this Stand True supporter has given this amazing challenge to help
us raise the money we need to close out the year.
Stand
True Pro-life Outreach’s mission is to Educate, Activate and Equip this
generation to be the generation that will abolish abortion. This
matching grant donation will help make sure we are able to fulfill our
mission and expand our outreach.
One
of the most important, if not the most important thing we need to
remember is that everything we have really belongs to God. When we give,
especially to God's kingdom work, we show that we value the Lord above
all else. So loosen up those purse strings; it will help loosen the grip
money might have on your heart.
October
23, 2014—Much has been made of the growing post-Christian sentiment
among America's youngest generation of adults. But how has this
well-documented turn away from religion affected Millennials' views of
Christianity's most sacred text?
Failure to thrive
We
all know what transformative life change can occur when someone comes
to accept Christ. Though the power of the church, Christ-inspired
members have caused a massive shift for the betterment of local
communities. We believe local church pastors can play a very strategic
role in worldwide evangelism and community transformation for God´s
Glory. The time has come to inspire, equip and mobilize a new generation
of healthy pastoral leadership, committed to growing churches to train
and mentor other pastors. This movement will result in church-to-church
partnerships to reach people groups who still have no believers, no
Bible, and no body of Christ.
