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Olu Lawal
I drink coffee. I love Jesus. I played clarinet in my middle school band.

Millennials and the Church

I have come across so many articles online (here’s one) about how millennials are leaving the church in droves. It’s a major issue within the church, so it’s great that people are trying to understand it. The funny thing is, a lot of these articles seem to be written by people who can’t really identify with the millennial generation themselves. Hmm.

While reading theses articles online, I have learned that only 20 percent of millennials believe in the importance of church and over one-third (35 percent) of these young people would classify themselves as anti-church. I find that truly unfortunate. I’ve talked with quite a few people over the last couple years who have told me, “church just isn’t for me,” or “I’m just sick and tired of church.” I’ve heard so many reasons for leaving the church, many of which I believe to be true. I’ll list 7 of them for you…

  1. It’s too corporate.
  2. The people aren’t real.
  3. I don’t fit in the cliques.
  4. They’re too judgmental.
  5. I can’t freely discuss my problems.
  6. They don’t spend much time outside of the building.
  7. They aren’t too welcoming of people who are different.

Now of course not all churches are going to deal with the 7 reasons I listed above, but I think we can agree that there might be quite a few who do. And that’s the reason I’m writing this. It’s something that should be talked about.

Let’s Keep it 💯

If churches want to see an increase in attendance from millennials, what’s needed are real relationships and real conversations. The lights and smoke/fog machines are cool, but they aren’t going to help this generation grow in Christ.

The 1st century church is a perfect example of what’s needed in the church today:

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. — Acts 2:46–47

And this is what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, What shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. — 1 Corinthians 14:26

That’s what it’s all about, building each other up! Iron sharpening iron.

We have to understand that low church attendance by millennials is a problem. But we must also understand that just because millennials aren’t showing up to the church building doesn’t mean they don’t have or want a strong relationship with God or other believers. If it’s difficult to have real relationships and real conversations at the local church, maybe it should be moved elsewhere. The move of God should not be limited to a specific location.

-Olu Lawal