Earlier this year, the Pew Research Center, looking at U.S. Census Bureau projections for 2015, pronounced, "This year, Millennials will overtake Baby Boomers." Defining millennials as those between the ages of 18 and 34, Pew researchers projected millennials will rise to 75.3 million, versus 74.9 million baby boomers. Generation X is projected to outnumber boomers by 2028. Today's column examines some reasons for this demographic shift, plus new research on millennials, and the effect it will have on churches.
In many Anchorage church services, millennials are largely absent. Over the past few years, many in-depth studies have been focused on millennials, their buying habits, cultural shifts and religious impacts. Last year, the Barna Group, a major religious demographic organization, released an update documenting key reasons millennials opt out of church participation, titled: "Americans Divided on the Importance of Church." In it, five reasons emerged relative to millennials.
Barna's report authors clearly state, "Millennials who are opting out of church cite three factors with equal weight in their decision: 35 percent cite the church's irrelevance, hypocrisy, and the moral failures of its leaders as reasons to check out of church altogether. In addition, two out of 10 unchurched Millennials say they feel God is missing in church, and one out of 10 senses that legitimate doubt is prohibited, starting at the front door."
As I visit churches, the absence of boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials is obvious. Many churches seem to be predominantly peopled with congregants of "the silent generation" (age 70-87), the greatest generation (age 88-100) and some boomers (age 51-69). Where did everybody go -- especially the millennials, who should be the lifeblood of churches?
Christianity, especially Evangelicalism, is beating its breast overtime about this issue. However, a fascinating new perspective was raised a few weeks ago by a study published in PLOS | ONE by San Diego State University researcher Jean M. Twenge, titled, "Generational and Time Period Differences in American Adolescents' Religious Orientation, 1966–2014."
In it, Twenge asserts millennials are the least religious generation in the last six decades and possibly in our nation's history. "Unlike previous studies, ours is able to show that millennials' lower religious involvement is due to cultural change, not to millennials being young and unsettled." Continuing, Dr. Twenge notes, "Millennial adolescents are less religious than Boomers and Gen X'ers were at the same age. We also looked at younger ages than the previous studies. More of today's adolescents are abandoning religion before they reach adulthood, with an increasing number not raised with religion at all." As a teacher in our local school district, I see how true her statement is.
"These trends are part of a larger cultural context, a context that is often missing in polls about religion," Twenge says. She further notes, "One context is rising individualism in U.S. culture. Individualism puts the self first, which doesn't always fit well with the commitment to the institution and other people that religion often requires. As Americans become more individualistic, it makes sense that fewer would commit to religion."
In his latest book "God in the Whirlwind," Gordon-Conwell Seminary cultural theologian David F. Wells writes, "Now, our national issues are debated on TV. When a nation becomes absorbed in trivia, Neil Postman said (in 'Amusing Ourselves to Death'), when life is reduced to nothing but entertainment, and the public discussion of our nation's well-being is carried out in the baby talk of small TV sound bites, then we are getting the first whiffs of cultural death. No longer is there a way to talk about what is good for society, and no longer is there an appetite to talk about any good other than that of private self-interest."
When Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and other social media sites dominate the lives of millennials, Xers, and boomers, it's not difficult to see why no need exists outside the here and now, especially for faith and religion. I rarely hear deep and meaningful discussions by these demographic groups. As Postman so aptly wrote, "Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas, they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials."
Consequently, some churches desperately attempt to grab the attention of millennials and Gen Xers, only to see those efforts fail. Basically, this research and related observations tells the story of a narcissistically obsessed generation. Many of today's churches try to pattern worship experiences catering to this narcissism. Unfortunately, caring, committed Christians flee from these same churches because the resulting dreck served is unsatisfying, and an insult to grounded Christians.
Reflecting on Postman's comments about the shallowness of our culture reshaping entire demographics in unfortunate ways, I believe many of today's faith communities reflect the culture individual participants bring. Consequently, faith is being reshaped by culture rather than reshaping culture. To me, it's no surprise adolescents are less likely to respond to faith and religion, when their parents and grandparents have also not responded to strong faith precedents. A major sign of recent cultural influences is the breakup and destruction of the traditional family as we've known for hundreds of years.
In his powerful book "To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World," James Davison Hunter observes, "In the seeker-church movement, the emphasis away from the use and explication of creedal confession is obvious, since the whole point is to focus on the 'felt-needs' of the person in the pew -- especially the felt-needs of nonbelievers. The rationale is that the church and its main service are evangelistic in nature. Because nonbelievers simply cannot penetrate the arcana of historic Christianity, the felt-needs of people become the point of entry into conversation with them." Christianity in America and Alaska faces stiff challenges in dealing with millennials, Gen Xers, and boomers.
I'm convinced narcissism cannot by addressed by narcissistic displays by churches and their leaders. J.B. Phillips translated a different solution from 1 John 2:15-17. "Never give your hearts to this world or to any of the things in it. A man cannot love the Father and love the world at the same time. For the whole world-system, based as it is on men's primitive desires, their greedy ambitions and the glamour of all that they think splendid, is not derived from the Father at all, but from the world itself. The world and all its passionate desires will one day disappear. But the man who is following God's will is part of the permanent and cannot die."
Chris Thompson is a religion scholar who visits local churches and writes about his experiences and matters of faith on his blog, Church Visits.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.