It’s no secret that millennials are often viewed as the “lazy” generation. They are said to have no hope, no purpose, no respect and no direction.
Older generations are quick to criticize the activities, drive, passions and work ethic of millennials. They often shake their heads and point their fingers at this “new-age” generation that appears to be the greatest group of failures to ever walk the earth.
What older generations fail to understand is that millennials are the product of those before them. The years between 1980 and 2000 weren’t just full of water that birthed lazy, irresponsible, hopeless people who rejected God.
They were, however, full of Christian parents who preached the gospel but didn’t live out their faith in a way that provoked the next generation to love and follow Jesus.
Fifty-nine percent of millennials raised in the church, have dropped out, and only 4 percent of millennials claim to be Bible-based believers. This means that 96 percent of millennials don’t live out the teachings of the Bible, value the morals of Christianity and are likely to be found anywhere BUT a church.
The statistics are staggering, and two authors of a new book claim that the breakdown of the family is the single-most universal explanation as to why people have ditched their faith.
Alex McFarland and Jason Jimenez are the authors of Abandoned Faith: Why Millennials Are Walking Away and How You Can Lead Them Home.
It’s a pressing topic this day in 2017, because while millennials are more lost and broken than ever before, they’re relying on God less than ever before.
“I’ve got to say this as a pastor, as a researcher, as an educator, as just a Christian who cares: The single greatest contributor to the attrition rate [of the Christian faith] has been the breakdown of the family,” Alex McFarland told The Christian Post.
Jason Jimenez says that while writing the book, he dug deeper and had conversations with millennials about the factors that led them to leave their faith. He writes about the stories in Abandoned Faith, where many people described difficult childhoods, in homes where the Christian parents “trusted God,” but failed to live out their faith.
“I could see now why they questioned God, His nature and His unconditional love,” Jimenez writes. “If what their parents believed was true, why didn’t they live it? If God is so loving, why didn’t their parents show that same love to each other?”
Jimenez and McFarland’s research probes a different problem altogether. Not only did millennials grow up in homes where they couldn’t see God, and faith in their parents, but more than any generation before them, millennials grew up in homes where divorce was “normal.”
Fifty percent of marriages in the United States today end up in divorce. That’s more than twice as many marriages being destroyed during the upbringing of the millennial generation than when their parents were being raised in the 1960s. The two sets of data are key factors in determining what has changed, because we know it’s not God.
The Bible speaks against divorce in almost all circumstances. So if my parents believe in the Bible, teach me the Bible and tell me that I should follow it as truth, but then go and do the opposite of what the Bible teaches by getting a divorce, what reason do I have to take it as truth, foundation or even necessary?
None.
So many millennials have been left with nothing that would make them long for a relationship with Christ. After all, their parents supposedly had one, and look at where it got them.
Of course, divorce isn’t the sole reason that millennials have left the church and not all parents fall into this category of not living out their faith. It’s merely one of many examples that can be drawn from Jimenez and McFarland’s research, and the solutions they present throughout Abandoned Faith.
Now, hear me when I say there are plenty of God-fearing parents who have been great Christian examples for their millennial children who still choose to reject the faith. My heart breaks for them, and we will all be held accountable one day for our own decisions to accept or reject Jesus. Not all the responsibility rests on the parents, but I think we would be unwise to ignore this obvious trend that has often been overlooked.
One reader wrote that the book brought things into perspective, and encouraged her to dive deeper into reaching this young generation of adults who have ditched their faith.
“Do you have a millennial son or daughter? Work with millennials? Love a millennial? Actually, you probably encounter millennials everywhere you turn, and whether you are steeped in involvement with them or not, they are a force that the church must understand—and engage—if it is to keep its head above water.”
She continues:
“I am the parent to four millennials and mother-in-law to two. McFarland and Jimenez lay out clearly the reasons this generation is becoming disconnected with the church, such as superficial preoccupation with external regulations and hypocrisy among those who have influence over them. The authors point the fingers both back at parents and outward to pastors and church members. Ouch.
They also describe what it is young people are looking for in a faith experience, and this surprised me. They want a deeper, more hands-on church experience than we have given them. They care deeply about social justice and are a huge force just waiting to meet the needs of the poor and disenfranchised. However, because so often we just sit in our pews and then go home, they are left dry. They often turn to support social issues that condone what the Bible says are sin simply because we have left them not knowing how to connect otherwise. Ouch.
McFarland and Jimenez also spend valuable time describing what makes millennials tick. They live in such a different world than the one in which we grew up, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But they also carry heavy stresses that are unique to them as well. I definitely see my millennials in the portrait they paint.
There is much practical counsel in this book for parents, youth and young adult leaders, and those who simply know millennials who they seek to understand and assist. The tone is upbeat and honest, and I believe it will encourage you.”
Ultimately, the millennial generation is one that’s full of feelings and they express a deep longing for experience.
Abandoned Faith suggests that this longing is rooted in the childhoods where faith was an act, not an experience. It’s our job now as The Church to stop cultivating an experience of church, but rather seek new ways to help millennials experience the almighty, forever constant, indescribable love of Jesus Christ.
They’re not lazy or hopeless. Like anyone who has truly given their life to the Lord, millennials need to experience God and see the Holy Spirit move in ways they were never shown in their childhood.
