Discussion with a young millennial
Don’t you want to know why we all have such different views on Church and Christians? Are you curious as to how that relates to views of God?
I want to talk to a range of people and to get some insight into those questions. Maybe even help us relate and connect with people who believe differently to ourselves.
Churches seem to lose teens in a massive way and for the most part they can’t figure out why or what to do about it. Romans chapter 12, verse 4 says that all Christians are part of one body and all are needed for the body to be complete.
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Today I spoke with a teenager who grew up going to church but left when she was 14. She has no intention of going back.
As a child she believed God loved her. Despite this she worried about hell. She tried to cover her bases by asking for forgiveness for “anything she had done wrong” in case she was punished for something she wasn’t even aware of. She tried to be a good Christian but felt she wasn't living up to the standard.
Her experiences with Christians are that they are lovely and kind. Though she had a nasty experience online when a “Christian” attacked her choices and life and told her she was going to hell. Which given her childhood fear, must have been unpleasant.
She believes in God and refers to Jesus as a “cool dude”. But church was the most boring thing she had ever sat through and feels like a waste of time. I think she found that nothing at church was relevant to her life. It sounds like her church experience was a different world to the rest of her life.
Discussion
I think any church experience without a God experience is boring.
How can churches help teens to have a God experience in church?
I wonder if churches are doing what helps baby boomers and Gen X connect with God, but not finding out about the younger generations.
I think her fear stems from a belief that being a Christian is about following a huge set of rules, and if you don’t follow those rules you will be in big trouble. A lot of us adults believe that too. We try hard not to do wrong things or break a rule, which is exhausting. If you look at the bible as a list of things not to do, it’s pretty awful.
I want to focus on what Jesus told us to do, proactively, rather than what the bible tells us not to do. I have found that when I am focussed on doing the good, such as trying to be kind usually I don’t do the bad anyway.
It’s a lot like dieting. I struggle with diets. Trying NOT to eat something is hard, but I do better when I focus on eating good stuff. I naturally eat the bad less. (This is a work in progress!)
With regards to the nasty online issue, I would like to encourage you, my lovely reader that if you see a self-proclaimed Christian being horrible, that you gently remind them that one of the key messages of Jesus is to “love your neighbour”. Ask them how exactly they are showing love.
KG
PS - this last video is of a group of millenials explaining why they are not leaving chuch.
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