This is the third part of a series responding to an article that went viral about why millennials don’t attend church and what the church can do to solve this. Part 2 dealt with the argument that they need less mission statements and more opportunities for action.
The third reason offered as to why our young people are leaving church involves church not doing nearly enough to help the poor. The suggestion on how to solve this is to stop creating more Bible studies and Christian activities and create more opportunities for service.
This is the second time I am hearing that you want to serve people in your community, and I think this is great! My concern is that you might end up serving in superficial insignificant ways that pacify your guilt into thinking that you’ve done your part, checked it off the list, and for today, you deserve to drink your Starbucks.
I know you’re annoyed that I keep ragging you on Starbucks consumption. I’m not really sorry. Starbucks was notorious from its beginning for its designer coffee prices. I know you’re passionate about drinking GOOD coffee. But while you’re spending five to six bucks every time, you can’t convince me that you have a heart for the poor. Those two things go against each other.
There are many examples of things in society just like this where our actions are not in accord with our societal values. The author of that snarky article wanted to blame the church for not doing enough, in his not so humble tone. So I am going to tackle this issue with you, my sister, in mind.
Let me make my argument explicit: if people who come to Christ genuinely experience His transforming love when they accept Him in their hearts, then they will feel compassionate for those in society who lack, and will be moved to authentic actions.
Several things hinder this process and create less than effective service. Some people are of the mind that the church ought to set up service to the community for all to participate without giving permission to opt out. I have SUCH issues with that. If you do not choose what you will do to serve, the act has no meaning. Many churches believe that if you start the volunteering options, then you will hook people into activity based volunteer work and they will make friends, thus making them want to keep coming to church. This was also a suggestion from the article, that when activity based programming is available, millennials will actually talk to each other. If you could only see how I am rolling my eyes. If we follow this model, what makes volunteering with church any different than working at the YMCA?
At the risk of being unpopular, here’s what I think: it is the church’s responsibility to teach people how to actually live according to Biblical principles and then help them to actualize that. People who were nodding with me at the beginning of that sentence might be clicking on a new tab because of the end of the sentence. Hear me out. The problem I encounter the most with young people is beyond the salvation prayer, they are not being supported in building a lasting relationship with Christ that runs deep. That support sometimes literally means helping them break habits, and change old patterns of thinking through new-fashioned mentoring.
There are tons of great resources out there that can help, but the truth of it remains; resources and tools will not take away the pain and pressure of life. You have to go through it, usually on your own. By the time you are in a situation that begins to grind you down to paste, I would hope that you have made some friends in church who are mature Christians, so that you can have people rooting and praying for you. I hope that you would know more than 3 Keys for Financial Prosperity, or whatever alliteration forced catch phrase is being pushed. This isn’t an attack on thematic messages, or using alliteration in your sermons. This is a cry in the wilderness that young people need more than a few shallow lessons before taking off the training wheels.
We don’t need more meaningless Bible study. We needthematic sermons on a weekly basis that come from the pastor, who leads the church in line with the vision he has (smackdown: read part 2- oh yes I did!). Then on top of that, we need to be able to delve into deeper, more instructional/practical Christian living principles in small group. Then on top of that, we need to have friends- not a bunch, just a few- who have been Christians for a long time, who might be older and have some wisdom to offer for the road of experience they have walked. Those friends are the ones we can confide it about our situations and receive comfort and authentic support.
All of this before we even get around to talking about the poor! In fact, I don’t think I can give that topic its due respect attached to this, because that’s a whole other story. I will say this: a huge part of the Christian life is to take the focus off of your problems by giving it over to God and trusting Him to work it out while you, literally, give to others your time, money and gifts to build them up. These two things work together- if all you can think about is your situation, my feeling is that you are in crisis and need help to get readjusted. Then, you keep living your hard life and serving others. When you do these things faithfully, one day you find yourself looking up and your life’s storm has passed. Historically, the church’s mandate has always included supplying the needs of those who live in poverty. I can’t think of one church I know that does not have a missions program. Whether that program meets the goals you think it should might be one of the criteria you look for when you are considering joining a church.
As Christians, regardless of if we attend church or not, we need to do better in the department of virtue signaling. I wish the guy who wrote that article could read the tone of it from a different perspective- love Jesus and stop worrying about the size of the splinters in the eyes of others.
I won’t stay on this too much longer, but part 4 comes next week!