Searching for Sunday

"In the United States, 59 percent of young people ages eighteen to twenty-nine with a Christian background have dropped out of church. Among those of us who came of age aroung the year 2000, a solid quarter claim no religious affiliation at all, making us significantly more disconnected from faith than members of generation X were at a comparable point in their lives and twice as disconnected as baby boomers were as young adults. It is estimated that eight million young adults will leave the church before their thirtieth birthday."

"... I was recently asked to explain to three thousand evangelical youth workers gathered together for a conference in Nashville, Tennessee, why millenials like me are leaving the church.

I told them we're tired of the culture wars, tired of Christianity getting entangled with party politics and power. Millennials want to be known by what we're for, I said, not just what we're against. We don't want to choose between science and religion or between our intellectual integrity and our faith. Instead, we long for our churches to be safe places to doubt, to ask questions, and to tell the truth, even when it's uncomfortable. We want to talk about the tough stuff - biblical interpretation, religious pluralism, sexuality, racial reconciliation, and social justice - but without predetermined conclusions or simplistic answers. We want to bring our whole selves through the church doors, without leaving our hearts and minds behind, without wearing a mask.

I explained that when our gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender friend aren't welcome at the table, then we don't feel welcome either, and that not every young adult gets married or has children, so we need to stop building our churches around categories and start building them around people. And I told them that, contrary to popular belief, we can't be won back with hipper worship bands, fancy coffee shops, or pastors who wear skinny jeans. We millennials have been advertised to our entire lives, so we can smell b.s. from a mile away.

The church is the last place we want to be sold another product, the last place we want to be entertained.

Millenials aren't looking for a hipper Christianity, I said. We're looking for a truer Christianity, a more authentic Christianity. Like every generation before our and every generation after, we're looking for Jesus - the same Jesus who can be found in the strange places he's always been found: in bread, in wine, in baptism, in the Word, in suffereing, in community, and among the least of these.

No coffee shops or fog machines required."

"For me, simply reciting the Apostles' Creed on a given Sunday means drawing from every last reserve of my faith, which is probably why I find the Episcopal Church both freeing and challenging in its elemental ecclesiology. And it's one of the reasons why, when Dan and I go to church these days, we make the thirty-mile drive to St Luke's Episcopal Church, a bustling little congregation in the neighbouring town of Cleveland, Tennessee. I like the liturgy, the lectionary, the centrality of the Eucharist in worship, The Book of Common Prayer, those giant red doors that are open to all. Dan likes the kind people and the fact that his wife doesn't come home from church angry anymore."