Why Millennials Are Leaving the Church

I have this idea that I wanted to make a “YouTube” video that features our young school age children answering the questions: “Why do our older brothers and sisters ages 20 to 35 not attend church?

First boy says: “The church will never change and nobody cares what we think. When was the last time someone from our church asked us our opinion?”

Second young girl says: “Stop wasting our time with all your holy mumbo jumbo. The church makes things too complicated. Jesus taught: Love God. Love neighbor."

Third little boy says: "We are not impressed with how long you spend behind closed doors wrestling with Christianese dogma. We’re impressed with actions and service."

Fourth little girls say: "What you call Holy activities: Bible studies, bingo, fish fry’s, planning meetings is a distraction for having compassion for the poor."

Fifth boy say: "Church have always felt exclusive and ‘cliquey’ and we fell like outsiders and we have never been very good at that game so we stopped playing."

Sixth girl says: "What do you do with all that money that people  contribute. We don’t trust institutions that are hurting people."

Seventh little boy says: "We can download millions of podcasts and YouTube videos of pastors preaching. Instead of windy sermons, we prefer mentors walking beside us through the muck of life."

Eighth little girl says: "The church is always asking us young adults for help and making us feels guilty if we don’t give enough of our time."

Ninth boy say: We don’t like the way the world is telling us how to live in making big decisions about our careers, education, relationships, marriage, finances, children, purpose, chemicals, but we never hear from the church."
Tenth girl says: "Lip service about reaching out to young adults in abstract sound bites doesn’t cut it. If you want respect from our generation, practice what Jesus did in his life." 

Our final little person says this: "Our older brothers and sisters are not attending church but we have learned in our religion class that Jesus loves us as we are. No conditions. Despite the gossip in town about our church, Holy Family is all about action and service. We’re not just playing church, we are not doing the same things that we’ve have always done. We donated toys, food and clothes to kids in our county. We are building a hospice, we are feeding the poor, we are helping the addicted stay sober and clean and we want the millennials to know that we are here to listen and help you be the best person you can be filled with Christ’s compassion, kindness and mercy. We know that we are making a difference in this community because we practice compassion and kindness every day in our classrooms, in our homes and on our farms. Our doors and hearts are open and we like to invite you to join us.

Signed: Your loving younger brothers and sisters