The U.S. church is in swift decline. Congregations and ministry budgets are shrinking. Churches are closing every year.
The culprit? Sometimes the economy gets the blame. Others accuse outmoded worship styles and ministries. It’s a lack of congregational diversity according to some, or cultural irrelevance to others.
But a lot of fingers these days are pointed at Millennials, that generation born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s. The prevailing wisdom is they share an aversion to church attendance, membership and giving.
In fact they’ve got pollsters, congregational coaches and occupants of the pulpits and pews trying to figure out how to lure these 20- and 30-somethings through the doors and, in so doing, make church great again.
Knowing all of that both annoys and amuses many members of that generation.
Corinne Causby
“Something people always ask me is where are all the young people,” said Corinne Causby, a student at Wake Forest University School of Divinity.
“I understand the anxiety because the old ways are changing and the way the church looks is changing,” she said.
But it can be insulting, too, because those doing the asking don’t understand the multitude of economic and social factors that contribute to trends attributed to Millennials, Causby said. Those charges range from rejecting church to being undisciplined givers.
“Millennials get scapegoated for that,” she said. “It’s worth noting that Boomers are leaving church, too — it’s not just a Millennials thing.”
Causby joined several other members of her generation to lead a workshop at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly last month in Greensboro, N.C.
Titled “Listening to Millennials: Why Church Matters (and Doesn’t) to Them,” the panel discussion covered topics ranging from institutional suspicion, inclusive hospitality, interfaith dialogue and race and privilege.
Saddled with debt, working Sunday mornings
Non-Millennials often are surprised to learn that Millennial behaviors around church are often driven by economic realities, said John Thornton, a Duke Divinity School graduate and pastoral resident at First Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C.
American churches were built on a post-war economic model that has steadily eroded over the past 30 to 50 years, Thornton told Baptist News Global. Add in the recent recession and Millennials are hardest hit by unemployment, low-paying jobs and huge amounts of college debt.
Americans 65 and older now have more disposable income than those under 35, he said.
John Thornton
Many Millennials do not attend church on Sunday mornings because they are working at that time, Thornton said. Those factors also affect their tithing.
“Student debt has gone way up. I tithe more regularly to my student loan servicer than I do to my church.”
Meanwhile, rents keep rising while wages remain stagnant. And Millennials are prone to giving inconsistent amounts because their paychecks fluctuate from week to week.
Millennial-friendly churches could ask for smaller amounts and definitely offer tithing apps or provide easy-to-use online giving, Thornton said.
“I really try to push back against this thing that Millennials are entitled and narcissistic — that narrative gets trotted out often.”
One myth Thornton said he’s heard is that Millennials will attend church and give more when they get older and land higher-paying jobs. Churches shouldn’t count on that because another fact about the generation is its distrust of institutions.
“I don’t buy the narrative that we’ll just settle back into what church was for our parents and grandparents when we get to be that age.”
“We have been advertised to our entire lives and can smell that a mile away.”
No corner on the truth
That fundamental suspicion of institutions stems from growing up being bombarded by television and then Internet advertising, Causby said. It sends up red flags when churches go out of their way to engineer services and fellowship just to attract them.
Authenticity is a big selling point, she said. Emotional manipulation is a turn off.
“We have been advertised to our entire lives and can smell that a mile away.”
The decline of the family, recent wars and high-profile church sex scandals also erode Millennials’ trust of institutions, Causby said.
Congregations interested in impressing Millennials should focus on who they are and doing what they do best, whether it’s contemporary or ancient worship. What they can adopt is being more engaging and hospitable to newcomers regardless of age, race or sexual identity.
“That’s what Millennials love about the church — when it’s a place where you can be yourself,” Causby said.
The generation also values honest conversations about race and sexuality, she added. Congregations uncomfortable engaging topics like same-sex marriage and white privilege won’t hold Millennials’ interest for long.
The same attitude holds about interfaith dialogue, which Millennials hold in high esteem, she said.
“We know we don’t have the truth cornered and my friends who are Millennials would say they are deeply suspicious of anyone who says they have a corner on the truth.”