Earlier this year, I conducted an interview at my campus radio station with my soon-to-be former pastor (he is moving to another state in November). We discussed a number of cultural issues. One topic of particular interest was millennials (generation Y) and religion. I mentioned to him that, according to a number of polls recently conducted by various organizations, it appears that many young Americans under 35 seem to be either ambivalent about or less inclined to attend church regularly or embrace religion.
Always candid and forthright, he responded without hesitation that he did not dispute such findings and harbored no illusions about the fact the church is facing a potential crisis in regards to millennials as the institution moves further into the 21st century. I concurred with his assessment.
The reasons for this current situation are varied and there is likely to be no one singular factor to focus in on. However, given the type of pluralistic world (at least in theory) that many millennials have grown up in, there are likely to be several.
Thom Rainer CEO of Lifeway Christian resources cites several reasons for this current disconnect. Among them being:
· Millennials perceive established churches to be too limited in their outlook.
· They (millennials) perceive that churches exert too much effort pacifying certain members’ personal preferences.
· Many younger Americans are turned off by denominational churches, seeing them as out of touch.
