It's no secret that churches in America are getting older. As children grow up and get older, they decide it's not for them, and they don't come back.
Over at Ron Edmondson's web site, he shares some reflections by Jordan, a millennial who grew up in a church and still attends one. Her take: Church is fake. People don't talk about their problems, own up to their weaknesses or admit to their struggles. Everything is happy in Jesusland, and as phony as a three-dollar bill.
I'm not a Millennial, so perhaps my perspective is going to be off-kilter, but I don't know that authenticity is really the issue here, as much as relevance.
The evangelical church has done its best to drive away both myself and my fellow Gen X-ers from the time we came of age to the present. It attacked our gay friends and our commitment to women's equality. It ignored the sins of accumulating wealth and power. And it did it by retreating into behind cloistered walls with its own culture, entertainment, language.
A lot of people in my generation asked, "What's the point of that?" and I think Millennials are simply following suit.
We can argue whether this is fair, but today the church in America is known for hating gay people, and for being an angry electorate.
Jesus, meanwhile, was known for hugging lepers, partying with drunks, and befriending prostitutes.
Jesus also healed the sick, and came to restore the relationships humanity has with God, and that humans have with one another. My daughters' youth group does gross games with Jell-O and marshmallows, and gets talked to every week about stuff that my girls find of no practical interest.
So really, what's the point of church?
The church could do things like Jesus did, things that matter. We could make it a point of building homes for the homeless; feeding the hungry; protecting the rights of women, gays and minorities; reducing waste and trying to mend broken ecosystems. Church youth groups could do this too.
We could, and if we did, I think we could answer that question "What's the point?" by showing it. But while some churches do things that, and while some organizations do things like that, it's not what the church as a whole is known for.
Jesus came to mend a broken world. If we followed his lead, we'd find a lot more people willing to hear what we have to say.
Copyright © 2014 by David Learn. Used with permission.
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