By Jeff Brumley
Easter, it turns out, may be just what the church needs most in luring Millennial and other young Christians into their sanctuaries, some Baptist pastors say.
“If there is a Sunday that should resonate with people who don’t go to church regularly, it would have to be Easter Sunday,” said Jason Coker, the pastor at Wilton Baptist Church in Wilton, Conn.
The message of “relentless hope that even death cannot conquer” has an appeal that’s hard to beat, Coker said.
“I don’t think the message has to be compromised or changed” to accommodate any of the growing numbers of religiously unaffiliated Americans, Coker added.
But that hasn’t always been the case across some quarters of American Christianity.
For years now, churches spanning the denominational spectrum have been bending over backward to lure Millennial and other young Christians into their sanctuaries — or to keep them from leaving them.
Everything from music to preaching style has been changed in some congregations to cater to that demographic.
And no wonder. For years now, a relentless series of blogs, books and polls have depicted younger generations of Americans becoming increasingly turned off by organized Christianity.
But research by the Barna Group suggests that many Millennials are even more turned off by churches that seem too businesslike in their efforts to grow memberships.
The March 3 report, “What Millennials Want When They Visit Church,” presents a range of attitudes that generation has about church.
Among them, Barna researchers said young people are especially wary of slick marketing techniques designed to attract them to worship.
“And many of the very people churches are trying to reach — Millennials — are hyper-aware and deeply suspicious of the intersection of church and consumer culture,” the report said.
Not catering to generations
That information isn’t surprising for Baptist ministers who, like Susan Sparks, are accustomed to large numbers of young and old visitors who are lukewarm at best about church.
And that can be even more true on Easter.
“I’m always conscious that there are a lot of people in that audience who are searching, and a lot who are there because they have to be, not because they want to be,” said Sparks, the senior pastor at Madison Avenue Baptist Church in New York City.
There are ministers who respond to that part of the congregation by trying to preach an Easter message they think is especially appealing to young people.
“But it may not be the most powerful way,” Sparks said.
Neither theology nor music are used to cater to those young visitors, she said.
“We’re not going through Spotify to find the top music to play for the [Easter] service,” she said.
Instead of watering down the Easter message, Sparks said she tries to “power it up” with language and illustrations that connect Christ’s resurrection with those listening.
“They want relevant, personal messages,” she said, “something that they can take out the door and use in their lives.”
Seeking authenticity
In Boulder, Colo., Bob Ballance has turned a once-aging American Baptist Churches USA congregation into a mixed generation church dominated by Millennial and other young Christians.
He said they don’t want watered down messages, but they also don’t care for sermons about doctrine.
“I find Millennials don’t care so much for sermons about … substitutionary atonement, they’re more into the metaphor of it all,” said Ballance, the senior minister of Pine Street Church.
Ballance said his group isn’t necessarily representative of all Millennials, and that many others may in fact prefer more traditional, doctrinal messages.
But those who frequent Pine Street Church want to hear the Easter message in everyday terms.
“I think they’re into the anger and hostility that Jesus experienced … that leads to his trauma and death and how the goodness of God brings victory over all of that,” he said.
The “nones” and others usually don’t have an issue with the Easter story, Coker said. What turns them off is when it’s used to preach against something or someone.
That age group is also about authenticity, he said.
“The Easter message, the life of Christ, I don’t think that’s a problem with … Millennials or ‘nones. It’s how the message is lived out” by the church that matters.