Reaching the iGen/Millennial/Next Generation

I am blessed to pastor at a church that is aware of life cycles in churches and as a result is fully engaged in raising up younger leaders to continue to guide and participate in the church and God’s work in the next generation. Every aspect of our strategic plan seeks to identify and empower the leaders God brings to the church in these ways.

As we think about and empower young leaders, we share articles and research among the staff. This week, one of the articles was titled, “Storming the Castle: Reaching ‘iGens’ Means Breaking through Inflated Self-Esteems” by Scot McKnight. McKnight identifies two aspects of today’s young adult culture and two ways in which he believes we can break through these new challenges. Challenges: 1) Young adults possess inflated self-esteems and high levels of self-acceptance that are nothing short of castle walls protecting them from a need for God’s grace. 2) iGens are pre-moral, in the sense that they don’t really have a sense of sin or feel guilt. Solutions: A) Start with Jesus instead of the person’s sin and alienation from God. B) Create a community marked by justice, peace, love, and holiness to connect with iGens.

As an “iGen” (whatever that actually means) myself and as a pastor who works with them on a daily basis, I want to question some of McKnight’s reasoning and assumptions, without actually challenging his conclusions. Perhaps this deeper understanding can help us reach this generation in more fruitful ways.

Yes, we grew up in a culture of affirmation. Sports teams celebrated participation more than winning. Elementary schools resisted giving letter grades or teaching games where a person or team lost. We were told that we can do anything we set our minds to do. We believe that differences are acceptable, or perhaps even good, and we are less likely to believe that the way we do something is the right way to do it.

In addition, many of us grew up largely unchurched. Our parents are children of the 60’s and 70’s, and their attempt to encourage creativity or “allow us to make our own choices” meant that we often grew up in homes where rules were absent and beliefs were allowed but not formed. While not all of our parents raised us without rules and beliefs, and our parents’ generation is no more monolithic than our own, these are true characterizations of many of our parents. As a result, you may have a difficult time convincing us of our sin. We don’t even know what that word would actually mean, so we certainly don’t feel guilty about it.

In both of his characterizations of iGens, McKnight is absolutely correct. However, I object to his assumption that that previous methods of evangelism were the correct ones. Since the Reformation, preachers have often preached a gospel that proceeds something like this: God loves you, but you are a sinner [this assumes that you understand enough of Christianity to know what sin is]. You cannot please God, and your sin (and therefore you) angers God deeply. You deserve God’s wrath, and he is angry. You can never do any good to get to God (or heaven), and you are trapped in hopelessness and despair [or you are stupid if you don’t recognize this fact]. But there is good news. Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless life, and then died on a cross where God (specifically the Father, although often unnamed) put all of his punishment and anger for your sin on Jesus. So believe that Jesus died for you and rose again from the dead, and God will accept you into heaven.

Laying aside for a moment the NUMEROUS problems with this conception of the “gospel,” we need to understand that for 500 years we have been preaching this message largely to Westerners who are churched/Christianized. We only have a conception of original sin, human depravity, right and wrong, and our sin because God has revealed to us what I means to be holy. When Luther struggled with his sinfulness, he was firmly planted in the Catholic Church. When Jonathan Edwards preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” he was preaching revival in the Christian communities of New England.

This message was incredibly effective. It brought people to their knees in repentance. You can remind people who understand what God desires that they are guilty. Convincing non-Christians who do not understand sin that they are guilty might be the wrong way to approach them – this message had been far less effective in unChristianized areas. There, the gospel spreads through life lived together, as God reveals himself to the people by bringing his Kingdom into their midst. We do not travel to Asia and assume that they already know that they are sinners and are looking for a way to be reconciled to God (or if we do, we are incredibly ineffective and most likely quite damaging!). Instead, we approach these people in relationship, love them, and life in God’s Kingdom in their midst. Over time, they encounter God and learn what it means to be holy.

I want to suggest that we approach this generation more like the peoples in our mission fields and less like our Christian grandparents. While our parents’ generation often walked away from the church in which they had been raised, they often chose not to raise this generation in the church. If today’s young adults don’t believe “anything” or understand their own sin, perhaps we need to remember that it was their parents’ generation which taught them to believe that no beliefs are necessary and there are no limits on their actions. We are reaping the fruit of our own actions. We have created the first unChristianized generation in American history.

This is where McKnight has everything right. We should be starting with Jesus when we reach out to young adults, not because they believe that they are perfect like Jesus (they don’t by the way), but because we should ALWAYS start with Jesus. Our attempts to tell a gospel message that make Jesus tangential to God’s work are perhaps more unfaithful than we realize. We just didn’t understand that in the midst of another paradigm that we called the gospel because it was effective in bringing those who knew the story to repentance. The Father reveals himself to us through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. Without Jesus, we have NOTHING to preach. We also present a compelling vision of the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice, love, peace, and holiness. The Kingdom is not an evangelistic tool to reach this generation; it is our reality as the people of God. The Spirit has drawn us into this new community. When we live this new life, it will always be compelling. When our communities do not look this way, we need to be reminded (like Israel of old) that we are saying formless words which God does not honor because our lives are not lived in obedience to him. When we live in God’s Kingdom and share the news of Jesus, we will find that this generation is transformed by the power of God.

The Leaders Among Us

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about the needs of our church leaders. I’ve had several conversations in the last three days that have made me realize just how much prayer our leaders need. Of course, I’ve always known that, and I’ve coveted those prayers for myself as I lead various groups and churches.

Leadership isn’t easy, and our leaders are isolated in so many ways. Think about the last time you had a conversation with a pastor or professor when you really heard what is happening in their lives, both joys and struggles. It doesn’t happen often. Our shepherds cannot lay their burdens on the shoulders of the sheep. That is not the call God has given to them. That also means that the shepherds rely on each other for strength and support. Hopefully they get the support they need. Either way, they really need our prayers.

I’ve been blessed by shepherds who were willing to be vulnerable (in appropriate ways of course) with their sheep. But that vulnerability reveals the spiritual warfare that they face every day. Temptation to rely on their own strength. Temptation to seek the glory of men instead of the glory of God. Temptation to lose focus and get carried away into sin or absurdity. Attacks from people who disagree with the decisions they make. Attacks from people who want to maintain control over others. Attacks from people who don’t understand the church or Christianity. Attacks from people who think that using gifts for the service of the church (either as pastors or professors) instead of to further an academic career is a waste of time. The loss of loved ones. Pressure to perform. Personal illness. Doubts. Demands to publish. Committee requirements. Family sacrifices. Mourning. Constant accessibility.

Even when we don’t know what is happening in the lives of our shepherds, they need our constant prayers. They need God’s protection over them to be healthy. So many of our shepherds struggle with major health problems. Perhaps like Paul, this is just a thorn in the flesh. But if these are attacks of the devil, we need to pray for release. I’m thinking about one of the church leaders who almost died five times shortly before he was supposed to answer a call to run a charitable foundation. This was no ordinary illness. We need to pray that God will sustain our leaders’ health to be able to fulfill the commissions God has given them.

We need to pray for renewal and rest for our shepherds. They serve on committees, make decisions, do research and study, spend hours in conversations with their sheep, and pour out themselves in the service and love of God and their neighbors. They are fulfilling a call, and they are blessed to be able to serve in their roles, but even a call can end in burnout if our shepherds do not have the space and resources to be renewed themselves. We need to pray that God will continually refresh them with the joy of their call. We need to pray that they will have the discipline to spend time seeking God and waiting on his voice. We need to pray that they will experience daily the life- and joy-giving presence of God in their lives.

We need to pray for the constant guidance and direction for our leaders. It is so easy to lose sight of whom we are serving and why. Too many of our shepherds “fall from grace.” It isn’t just the media cases who struggle with these temptations. Any one of our leaders can get too caught up with the praise or criticism of others. Any one of us can begin to think that we are important and draw attention to ourselves instead of pointing to God. Any one of us can choose paths that are easy instead of paths that are faithful. The kings of Israel provide ample examples of people who ended up falling themselves and often bringing most of Israel with them in the process. We need to pray that God will give our leaders the strength to resist temptation.

The last couple of days at WTS/SPS have been difficult as I have been faced with my own negligence in prayer for these shepherds in my own life. I have too easily assumed that things were smooth sailing because I did not know that they were difficult. I’ve watched the pain, uncertainty, and resilience in these shepherds faces as they shared their lives with me. I’ve heard the brokenness of people who watched their friends and colleagues fall into sin. I’ve seen the struggles of church leaders who work with churches in crisis after pastors make destructive decisions. Their stories speak volumes to their own need. Our shepherds need us to place them on our permanent prayer list and to pray for them by name every day. If we doubt that, we need only think of the prayers we would desire if we were in similar situations.