Celebration of Learning

Where Are We Going? : A Critical Analysis of Millennials and the Traditional Church

Walk into any given Protestant church on any given Sunday morning, outside of Christmas and Easter; what you will most likely see is the pastor at the front of the congregation running through the week’s prayers, a piano/organ playing, a cross somewhere at the front, but what you will not see is a great multitude of young adults between the ages of 18-29 (Kinnaman). There is a problem with millennial church membership and it is deeply impacting our congregations and how faith is being understood today. Pastors, church leaders, and congregations have been trying to find ways to solve the issues of youth leaving the church by adapting to the most current context of culture within the United States. Churches over the past forty years have begun to get rid of older worship styles and begun to start adapting “secular culture” (that which we understand to be outside of the confines of church teaching) into the church changing how the church is now understood. Nondenominational churches and emerging churches have begun to take over the realm of church membership when it comes to young adults and young families. The formation of different types of church has been one attempt to fix the problem of millennial church membership. Many religious leaders and scholars alike (including myself) believe there are other means to bring young adults back into the traditional church. What I propose to bring back those that the church has lost is not to drastically change the church to the needs of each individual, but rather educating individuals on what it means to be a Christian.