3 Reasons not to fear when we hear 59% of Millennials raised in church have dropped out... Vol. 1 Chap. 34

I recently read this article: 59 Percent of Millennials Raised in Church Have Dropped Out ⏤And They're trying to Tell Us Why?   (Millennials also known as Generation Y)

And what a wonderful article it is!
This article is filled with good information. The information has been given well.

But how is it different from when I was 22 years old? Are we so myopic in our culture that we can't step back and recognize, this is not the first, nor will it be the last time 22-35 year old people will question the Church?

#1 Are we afraid churches will disappear?
#2 Are we afraid we are going to lose souls? What is the real problem? Are 22 year old people any different today than when I was 22 years old?
#3 Are we afraid because Millennials are seeking?

I sense a bit of fear in this article. I see this young person questioning what is going to happen to all of these people. They are not satisfied. Their needs are not being met behind the church doors and this needs to change or we will not have churches anymore.

But, I see Millennials asking good questions, beginning to seek for depth of relationship with God. It makes me excited when I think that Generation Y is dissatisfied. I remember those times in my own life.

In 1980, age 22 I had my second child. I had dropped out of University with my first child and stopped working with my second because the cost of daycare was more than my paycheck! I was exhausted, dealing with a difficult relationship, and wondering how in the world I got to such a point of confusion in my marriage, emotionally, and spiritually. At age 25 I had my third child. By the time I was 27 I was beginning to look into church again.  BUT, I did not go back. Not yet. I just started questioning. And I was not alone. Many of my friends were questioning as well.  The same age as the beginning ages referred to in this article. We were dealing with divorce at record rates. We were dealing with sexual promiscuity, and drug addiction. We were not shoving things under the rug and we were scared the church wouldn't meet us right where we were.

•  #1 Reason not to fear, the Church (Jesus Christ's Bride), has been mutating for centuries. Denominations have morphed and been reinvented for centuries. Denominations have fallen to their knees and flung themselves into the Bible and found rejuvenation and impact in their hearts and lives for centuries. I'm old enough to remember the Jesus Movement of the late 60's and into the 70's. We found organized religion stale, dead, unaware, out of touch, not caring.  There are other decades, other centuries that have had similar *comeuppance. And there always will be. And the church groaned and began to mutate.

I also sense a bit of fear for the souls of these Millennials.  For that I say, "REALLY?"

Do we need to rush into a restructuring of denominations so people don't fall between the cracks? Do we need to remove all the leaders with gray hair and replace them with young men and women that seem to be on fire for God - inexperienced as they might be? Do we need to light candles? Sing different songs? Stand up here, sit down there ...dissect our  denominations? Or is the answer to the problem a bit more basic?

• #2 Reason not to fear. It is a better option to trust God. Do we actually believe that God isn't aware of every heart, every child, every soul? Do we really think that because we are not 'doing church right' we are going to lose souls? I contend that we will not deter God from doing God work. He is in the business of soul saving. We can trust HIM to do HIS work. Church as a whole in 30 years will look different than it does now. And some churches might not.  This isn't a bad thing.
  

In 1990, I began to re-invest in reading the word of God. I began to wonder what He wanted from me. I began to wonder if I was even important to Him. I began to wonder if He wasn't ready to throw me out with the bathwater. I wasn't worthy, I wasn't measuring up to the standards, I wasn't involved in church, I didn't fit anywhere!  After a mess of a life (divorce, single with three children, no career, no job) I found myself in University struggling financially and emotionally. I sought with my heart and with my mind. Why? Because I needed something beyond myself.

Is it such a bad thing that the Millennials are seeking?

• #3 Reason not to fear. God is in charge of building His church. There have been times when we, in our humanity have run away from Him. We are fickle! But that said, are we not aware that the Church has been (and still is) a growing, living, and powerful organism? And it is Jesus Christ's Bride!

I know I began to seek in my 30s. In the midst of the chaos. I had walked away from churches. I remember saying to my then husband, that there had to something more than church. I wanted to give more, I wanted to do more, I wanted to live more actively for God. I was in such confusion but I started to open the Bible. It was the only thing that brought me peace. I had been raised in a Christian home. I returned to what I knew to be stable. I returned to God.

Think about this.

In a traumatic situation, I began to seek what I knew had secured me in my childhood - God! I had what is commonly known as a crisis of faith. This threw me right back into the arms of God, into the words of the Bible, and into bit-by-bit leaning on God, The Word and Prayer to get through some very tough  times. And as I entered His word I found He led me to a home. It wasn't my old church denomination. It was a new type of church. And I began healing, a fresh walk, and a life of service from that point on. And I know many 60+ year olds that did too. God is as trustworthy today as He has always been. And the Church doesn't belong to us. It belongs to the Bridegroom.

As John the Baptist said:
John 3:28-30 NASB
You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent ahead of Him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease."


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Blessings
See you next week. Here on Mondays.

Robyn Rochelle Cox

RR&BC, LLC
https://www.readthebiblewithrobyncox.com/

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