Millennials are leaving the church because…
- Many are inclined to being spiritual but are not that interested in any one religion.
- They generally suffer with commitment issues in all areas of life.
- They are turned off by the church’s old-school music. Come on, this is 2019.
- They are turned off by the church’s showy new music. Come on, they would love the vintage hymns.
- They don’t like big crowds. Smaller, more meaningful conversations are their cup of tea.
- They don’t like small crowds. Remember, they are the least socially adept generation though the most connected.
- They’re fine. No worries. They’ll come back after they find themselves 10 to 15 years later.
Nope. Nope. Not it. Still not it. No. Still no. Noooo!
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Millennials are leaving the church because…
THEY HAVE NOT SEEN THE POWER OF GOD
ON DISPLAY IN THE LOCAL CHURCH!
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Have you seen or heard the Ad Council’s public service announcements encouraging people to adopt foster children? Their resounding statement is—“You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect parent.”
I can’t help but think of this statement when considering why churches are losing their young people in droves. You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect church. You just have to have the power of God.
Perhaps a bit of my story will help drive home this point.
My father was a Baptist pastor for most of my childhood. Each church that my Dad pastored was far from perfect. My Dad was far from perfect. Some of the imperfections were really startling. I have had a couple of people with knowledge of the shortcomings say, “I am surprised you didn’t give up on church after all of that.” Did I experience things at church that proved to be serious stumbling blocks for me? Yes, absolutely. But I also experienced some mighty moves of God that I will never be able to shake.
In the 90s, my Dad was preaching a revival in Easley, SC, each night from Monday to Friday. The services were amazing. When Friday’s service ended, they just couldn’t bear to see the revival end. So they extended it another week. And another week. And another week. Nearly two months later, we concluded an eight-week revival. People were trusting Christ to be their Savior. Marriages that were falling apart were being restored. People that had been holding grudges publicly apologized in front of the church and made things right. Christians were giving money to help those in need. It was the most beautiful sight for this little boy to see. But one thing stands out above all of the other stories that revival can tell.
Each night before the service began, the men would gather in a Sunday School room to pray for the revival. A few would give prayer requests. After a few weeks of the revival and several incredible answers to prayers that had been prayed in that room, one evening a man fought back tears and offered his prayer request to the group of men. It went something like this: “Men, please pray for me and pray for my son. I have not seen my son in 24 years. I wasn’t the Dad I needed to be. Now he won’t speak to me. I’m trying to make contact with him and want to make things right.” He couldn’t finish speaking because of the tears. At my age, I couldn’t fully understand the weight of his words, but they certainly grabbed my heart. I prayed earnestly that night for this man and his son. We all did. And the next night. And the next night. A few nights into this, back in that prayer room, the man told us that he had left a message for his son about how God had changed his life, how badly he wanted to see him again, and about how amazing this revival had been. We all prayed the more earnestly that God would allow these two to reunite. We finished the prayer time and walked back out to the sanctuary.
That man’s son was sitting on the front row. The dad lost it. The two hugged and didn’t let go for what felt like an eternity. That night’s service had not even started but “revival” was already in full force.
Sure, I saw some horribly imperfect things in and around church growing up, some things that I have made a priority to avoid as an adult, but I 100%, without a shadow of a doubt, saw the power of God.
It’s been a difficult question for me to answer as an adult. Why did God do some wondrously perfect things in some shockingly imperfect churches? While I cannot give you a complete answer on why God chooses to do what he does, one thing is certain. You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect church. You don’t have to be perfect to be a powerful church.
But…you know…we would be wise to look closely at the question again. Though our finite minds cannot fully grasp our vast and infinite God, there is so much to gain from investigating who he is and what he does. So I’ll ask the question again:
WHY DOES GOD DO PERFECT THINGS IN IMPERFECT CHURCHES?
After a good bit of study in both the Old and New Testament and from my own personal experience, I submit a very simple answer for your consideration:
GOD DOES PERFECT THINGS IN IMPERFECT CHURCHES BECAUSE THEY ASK HIM!
When we don’t understand something about God we are quick to point to Isaiah 55.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
So, in short, God is going to do things we do not understand, things we cannot understand. He will even do amazing things through people who are notably broken and imperfect. But the context of Isaiah 55 adds a lot to the passage. In what Matthew Henry calls a “covenant of grace”, the chapter details how God is calling his people to repentance and promising that his word will “accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” God is going to do a beautiful work of redemption through Jesus Christ. So what role does the church play? Tucked away in the middle of Isaiah 55 is the task committed to God’s people.
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.” Isaiah 55:6
If you want the power of God to be real in your church, you can have it. The next verse in Isaiah 55 provides the only prerequisite given to God’s people: Repent. God is not seeking churches with the best facilities, with the best programs, with the most qualified staffs, with the most perfect standards, with the purest doctrine, with the trendiest vibe. God is seeking “true worshippers.” Young people are leaving churches with great music, with great preaching and teaching, with great doctrinal statements, with great programs. Why? The American church has learned how to have all of those things without ever having the authentic power of God in their midst.
Among those 120 people in Acts 1 who comprised the first New Testament church, there were those who struggled with doubt and disobedience, some filled with pride and prejudice, and others tainted by fear and faithlessness. In fact, their track record after Acts 1 would make them look a lot better than their track record prior to Acts 1. But in Acts 2 the power of God fell on that group and the most amazing things started happening. The church exploded both in power and in number. Was it random? Now that Jesus was gone, were they just sitting mindlessly by waiting for God to provide further instruction? I remind you…
GOD DOES PERFECT THINGS IN IMPERFECT CHURCHES BECAUSE THEY ASK HIM!
“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.” Acts 1:14
After the Spirit came at Pentecost and Peter trumpeted the Gospel and 3,000 souls were added to the church (some other-worldly, powerful things), they continued to devote themselves to
“The apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:42
In Acts 4, after the lame beggar had been healed near the Beautiful Gate of the temple, Peter and John were arrested. The New Testament church faced its first real opposition. Once Peter and John were released and returned to the church, did the church cower in fear? No, they prayed! Stop now and go read Acts 4, specifically verses 23-30. They prayed! And what happened?
“And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” Acts 4:31
The next few verses that close out the 4th chapter of Acts reveal an incredible theme: powerful unity! Only the power of God can preserve unity within a church. And imagine the number of young people who are out of church today because they suffered through a disharmonious church battering and bruising each other.
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If you are truly concerned about retaining young men and women in your church, stop searching for the latest trends, stop arguing over music, stop sugarcoating the truth, stop ignoring your church’s shortcomings, stop strategizing. Instead,
START PRAYING!
It will not be your music or your preaching or your small group or your strategy that will grasp the heart of young people. It will be the power of God!
Is God’s power on display in your church? Do you see God’s hand clearly moving among your young people? If the answer is no, drop everything and get to praying. Don’t take another step until God has heard your church pour out its heart in desperate need of his move, of his power.
If God’s power is on display in your church, among your youth, bathe every decision in prayer. Cover every young person in prayer. Let every decision, every program, every strategy, every service, every trip, every lesson, and every word be the product of powerful prayer.
In the meantime, let’s all quit acting shocked that millennials are leaving the church in droves. Would you continue to go to a doctor if he never had any answers, visit a restaurant if it didn’t serve food, get into a car if it wouldn’t go forward, or give money to a charity if it never did any good work? The answer is obvious. Such is the case with the millennial leaving the church.
You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect church.
You just have to be powerful.
David Poston 