Millennials Talk Millennials Highlights Part 2

Let’s put a bow on the Millennials Talk Millennials series. Part way through, we gave you a “Highlights – Part 1.” Now, we’ll pair that with a Highlights from Part 2. These two posts work nicely as something to read together and discuss.

Regarding the challenges and identity millennials:

From Charles Williams (Charles’s full post)

By contrast, identity politics lets millennials answer the question (‘Who am I?’), much like attending an all-you-can-eat buffet. Here you can cherry-pick evolutionary theory, age, race, gender, sexual impulses, income, education, and even geographical locale as basic condiments to construct your own personalized persona. For sure, prior generations allowed other factors to determine one’s own identity, too, such as nationalism, political ideology, and family ties. These are not all bad things – some are quite good things. But the current climate has sought to untether the question of human identity from its created and historical moorings, such that many are living in self-deluded dream worlds.

And from Dan Adams (Dan’s full post)

Many millennials I work with struggle with a fear of missing out on everything life has to offer them. Because they have the ability to see all of the options of what life could be, many feel unable to make a decision about what is good and right for them. No longer do you just have the choice between mustard or mayo, but now you have to chose between chipotle-ranch, french dijon, sriracha ketchup, smokey mountain bbq, and that extends to just about everything. As one popular speaker, Jordan Peterson, has noted, freedom and choice do not lead to meaning, and ironically, to buy into that myth leads you into being crippled into indecision.

And from Mike Myers (Mike’s full post)

On the one hand, conservative society ridicules my generation as the selfie generation, entitled, lazy, and ever snowflakes. On the other hand, although born in 1987, I have been married for over a third of my life and am a father to half a dozen children. If that is not enough, I am a pastor in a denomination that is nothing if not staunchly propositional in its theology. Many in my generation think I am weird, and many outside my generation think we are lame. As a bit of an odd-millennial, I have something to say to both “sides” when it comes to reaching my generation with the gospel.

I have never known life without screens or, probably more importantly, without the internet. In that sense, my generation has really never been without the possibility of connection. Ironically, we face a massive crisis of disconnection. Despite (or is it because of?) the proliferation of connections, millennials are lonely. Even the terminology of friend or follow seems gutted of its former substance and meaningful quality. Instead, these important aspects of life have become digitized, which means at least partially, dehumanized. In no area has this become more evident than in relationships.

Some practical suggestions in concrete areas of ministry & outreach:

From Mike Myers (Mike’s full post)

I suggest that a solution to the challenges we face in my generation is one word. My friends, we need discipleship. For non-millennials, instead of voicing ridicule, hopelessness, or frustration, the church needs to engage with intentional discipleship in the context of meaningful relationships. Millennials, on the other hand, need to realize our need to be discipled. This will create an opportunity to address the relational challenges by providing a context in which real, personal interaction and growth can take place.

How your church pulls this off will be up to your elders. That our churches need to pull this off was established nearly two millennia ago by the Lord Jesus himself (Matt 28:18-20). Our great task is making disciples of the Triune God. True discipleship happens in the context of relationship, for God himself identifies so closely with his people that he places his name on them. It engages the heart through the mind as we are instructed, challenged, and built up in the fear of God.

And from Charles Williams (Charles’s full post)

Twenty years ago, bullies were largely the provenance of the physically strong, at least among males. Now, with the advent of social media, anyone can be a bully. It takes no time to create an anonymous Twitter account and slander those you hate. Not only can one hide anonymously, one can totally fabricate their own life. How easy it is to give the impression that you have the perfect life, and how easy it is to envy those lives as we scan their media feeds.

One way we have sought to address these issues at our church is by offering a Sunday School class where we applied the Decalogue to social media consumption: be it idolatry, pornography, trolling, coveting, or the like, God’s law is just as relevant in the digital realm as it is the rest of the world. The only way to pry their eyes off their phones is to set their sights on heaven (Col. 3.1-2). Christ’s glory must still be proclaimed.

And from Dan Adams (Dan’s full post)

If the OPC wants to see more 18-30s come into the church, we need to be willing to explain ideas and concepts that might seem obvious. There are a lot of insider language and cultural assumptions in Reformed churches in general, so we should strive to open as many doors (and windows if we have to). To do this winsomely and without a sense of superiority is key.

Strongly reformed churches need be stronger at understanding the culture around us, and seek to be more relational. I think there are a number of things happening around us in the culture that don’t make any sense to us, but are perfectly rational in the minds of the unchurched. In a more post-christian society, we don’t share as many values and beliefs that our neighbors do. Understanding their perspective will often take more work and be less obvious than it once was. Being charitable and asking a lot of good questions are critical.

Relationally, our churches need to be places that put to death gossip and pride. I think those two particular sins harm our witness the most, as they most look like the world. There is nothing countercultural about talking behind each other’s back, or talking about how great we are. We look like the world when we do that.

Being committed to the long run is also extremely important. The world is filled with so much change and is quick to discard you whenever you make a mistake. To have a community that is is centered on the task of genuine discipleship and grace will be genuinely countercultural and I think attractive to younger generations.

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