Millennials are often seen as arrogant, smug, selfish people who don’t care about anyone or anything but themselves. They come across as if they want everything handed to them. They are also seen as spoiled, rude and self-involved.
Of course, not every millennial is like that. Some of the reasons millennials are so self-involved may be from their own choices, but it could also be the way they were raised by their families. Another reason that they feel so upset could be because they feel left out of their home church.
So many millennials aren't going to church anymore. There are many different reasons as to why that is. It could be because of the church they go to. Maybe they don't feel like they are able to get involved with the activities in the church or how to volunteer with the church. Maybe they feel as if they are being excluded from their church. Or, maybe they are afraid to get involved because they think people, including their friends or family, will look at them differently. Millennials often feel left out of their church, and therefore, avoid it all together.
It was hard for me to get involved with my church until I found the right area to get involved in. I joined my church praise team six years ago and now lead worship every Saturday night. It is a joy to lead worship every weekend, even if it's hard work.
The more time millennials spend in church, the more they will learn about God. The more time they spend with people at church, the more they will learn about what is offered at their church. Millennials shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions about their church or to find out what is offered at their church. I think the reason that millennials stop going to church is because they are bored with the material that is covered in each sermon. It can also be the briskness of life that causes them to grow up much faster than they should. The peer pressure in this life is overwhelming as well. There is so much peer pressure on the millennials to leave the church.
They are constantly told by other peers, that church isn’t the “in” thing in life, that going to church is boring, and that going to church isn’t even that cool. They may have even been told that going to church makes them look like they’re better than other people who may not go to church.
Maybe the people who don’t go to church are jealous. The millennials could feel as though they are pressured to leave their churches by peer pressure and fake friends. They may start to think it's cool and "in" to skip church.
Some others are used to seeing a certain style of worship such as the sermons seen at Grace Church or NEO church because it pertains to their generation more. The messages didn’t and don’t have that big of an influence on the people that are our age. The songs can also put the young generation to sleep.
Also, if there are people that came from a Christian school or private school they most likely will hear the songs of praise and worship in the same, stale way. Hearing the same songs over and over that the older generation likes can put a damper on the millennials' spirits. I speak from experience that after hearing the same worship songs, such as “Days of Elijah,” for years; I’m sick of that song and I don’t like to sing it in church.
If the message or the sermons don’t pull them in, they tend to leave the church, no matter the denomination. If they feel pressured to do stuff that they aren’t comfortable with, they also can tend to back away from church. The millennials may like the contemporary type of worship service over the old traditional service.
Still, there may be others who want to get involved with their church but are unsure of how to ask to be a part of the services, or who to even ask, so they tend to stray away from church altogether.
Also, if millennials went to a private or parochial school, then go to a public high school or college, they may feel like they are unwelcome in their former church. The uneasiness that may come with stepping foot into their old church can cause a wide range of emotions for anyone, but especially millennials. They may feel as though they’re being judged by God, the pastors and the congregation for returning after so long. Or they may feel as though they shouldn’t even be there because they left to continue their life. Now, they have returned and gotten a rude welcome.
More often than not, if someone is raised in a Christian school for their entire life, they may often find the need to rebel and stop going to church, just to feel normal again like everyone else. So many people stopped attending my home church after they graduated from elementary school and high school.
Some reasons from the experts as to why millennials skip church, according to Pew Research, are as follows. The survey of 35,000 American adults shows the Christian percentage of the population dropping precipitously, to 70.6 percent. In 2007, the last time Pew conducted a similar survey, 78.4 percent of American adults called themselves Christian. In the meantime, almost every major branch of Christianity in the United States has lost a significant number of members, Pew found, mainly because millennials are leaving the fold. More than one-third of millennials now say they are unaffiliated with any faith, up 10 percentage points since 2007.
Some other reasons as to why millennials are leaving the church are because nobody is listening to them and they are sick of hearing about mission statements and values. Some solutions they offer up instead of doing these things are stop creating more bible studies and Christian activity. Community happens best in service with a shared purpose. Millennials want their churches to create group service dates once a month where anyone can show up and make a difference (and, oh yeah, they’ll also meet new people).
The misconception that the church isn’t the place for millennials is the wrong way to look at it too — the church is supposed to be welcoming new members, especially millennials. If we, as the church, make them feel unwanted and unwelcome, then, as we have clearly witnessed in the recent years, they will leave and never think twice about returning.
Not going to church may seem like an easy way out for millennials, but they are missing some great opportunities to get to know God and other believers if they don’t take that leap of faith and try different churches until they find the one that makes them the most comfortable.
