Instead of finding a church community that loves their neighbor and helps the poor, Millennials are noticing a religious culture that instead breads pride and hypocrisy. This blatant double-standard has led many Millennials to harden their hearts towards church life, which in turn leads many of those young Christians to search for God alone, without help others.
For those young adults that identify with the statements above, I would encourage you to see church and the community it offers from a new perspective.
Is the church letting down its members? Yes. Is the church neglecting its social obligations? Yes. Are still churches out there that love God through their words and actions. YES! Churches like that might be far and few between, but the reward they bring to their members is incomparable to any other form of devotion. Even though society has conditioned Millennials to believe that one can thrive in their own individual worship, the truth is that God simply did not create humanity that way. In fact, the Gospel conveys a completely different message about community. One that does not involve independent praise, prayer, and devotion, rather unity.
Furthermore, Christ did not go through life on earth, death, and a resurrection so we could sit at home on our Bible apps. Here’s why.
Community brings about the spirit of Christ.
Matthew 18:20 clearly explains the importance of having other Christians to bounce ideas off of. In this passage, Jesus is explaining how to determine which path is the most pleasing to God. Just like today, Jesus saw division and false practices all around Him. He also saw that this pushed humanity to shut people giving the enemy a perfect opportunity to attack what one knows about God and others.
Church life was what Christ planned for after His departure.
Up until a certain point in Christ’s ministry, Jesus was the one that made disciples to teach them the way to His Father. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus establishes that responsibilty will soon be transfered to His disciples. Who will go out and create more disciples? If it is your belief that God calls us to love Him and others, it should also be your belief that community is non-negotiable.
Lastly, church life allows Christians to have access to all the spiritual gifts, not just their own.
1 Corinthians 12:7-11 addresses the root issue that many of us Millennials overlook as we worship God alone. As God created us in His image, He also created us unique. These unique qualities make it impossible to fully worship God alone. As some are blessed with interpretation, others are blessed with prayer, and so on. If God wanted us to worship Him in solace, He would have equipped each of us with the same characteristics and talents.
If you love God you will seek Him in the way He asks -- this means in a corporate church setting. So keep searching for your church home and have the faith to know that God is developing your soul through the process.
