How Shall the Church Secure Young Hearts?
The facts are really alarming. Most younger people are not interested in church or organized religion. Some have never been exposed to it, while many of those who were raised in it are exiting the sanctuary immediately after crossing the stage at their high school graduation. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 70% of Americans under 40 will not attend more than a few religious services in a year. There is a meteoric rise of “nones,” people who profess no particular religious persuasion. We’ve known for a while that Americans in Generation Z (born since 1996) could not imagine a world without smartphones or WiFi. But it turns out that they are perfectly fine imagining a world without Bibles or Qurans.
This is not to say that Generation Z is at fault or that they are the problem. They are a highly educated, ethnically-diverse population with a profound sense of justice and social openness. And in their defense, many of the churches that raised them didn’t seem terribly interested in keeping them. Many churches offered Atari answers to TikTok questions. Who knows how many pedantic doctrinal debates preoccupied church leaders while youth group alumni drifted for the exits? But no matter who is at fault or who is to blame, the fact remains: many churches have about as many people in their 20s as a game of Bridge on an Alaskan cruise.
This is unacceptable. God’s vision for the kingdom is one where old and young participate together. In some cases, older people lead the younger (Titus 2). In other cases, sons and daughters prophesy (Acts 2:17); younger people set an example to their elders (1 Tim. 4:12).
There are two questions a church should always ask: are we reaching all nations (Mt. 28:19-20) and are we reaching all generations (Eph. 3:20-21)? If our faith is inaccessible and irrelevant to people in their 20s, we need to make changes. Many of the characters in the Bible would be considered Millennials and Gen Z by our standards. The Old Testament often portrays leaders in their youth: David, Esther, Jeremiah, Ruth, and Daniel. John the Baptist started a revolution in his 20s. Jesus died at 33. The Bible is an intergenerational book, so the church should be no different.
This is one reason I’m so excited that we’ve brought on Isaac Davis as our Young Adult Ministry Apprentice. Isaac is a high energy leader who brings an incredible relational IQ to our ministry team. His mission in this role will be to build spiritual friendships with people in their 20s, both at White Station and beyond. He will lead and teach in a way that offers spiritual community to those who may have never found belonging in a church or who left their last one in disappointment and despair. These friendships will hopefully lead those in his age cohort to consider what it means to join God’s kingdom work in Memphis.
Please pray for Isaac’s work. Pray for WS members in their 20s, whether they live here or elsewhere. And please pray for every person in this city who is looking for God, but might not know where to look. Pray that God will lead them to us. And pray that God will lead us to them.
Bob Turner
Senior Minister
March 1, 2021