Our Time to Shine

I have asking myself why we seem to be losing people in the Millennial and Gen Z generations in our churches.  For reference, I am in the Generation X era. As for me growing up, church was hit or miss, dependent on where my mother was playing the piano or going with the grandparents. So, church was not a priority for me growing up. But when my children were growing up, my husband and I got very involved in church, and our children became very involved. They were both saved, and they loved going.  We had friends who had children the same age as ours, and we raised our children together in the church. But somehow along the way, I watched some fall away, a few stayed, and some have come back to church. But the majority or staying away.

It has really bothered me, so a couple of months back, I decided to ask on Facebook a question.  What is keeping our twenty- to thirty-year-old believers from attending church? The responses were overwhelming from all generations. Some posted directly to the post, and others sent private messages. I am only going to hit the highlights, but my public page on Facebook is Dawn Early, if you want to read the answers in detail. The answers were very detailed and explained well. Some had been hurt by the church, one had a preacher directly call her out in front of the whole congregation, some are new parents trying to balance home life and work, one said people act different in church than they do in public, it was suggested church was not a priority anymore, and one said the older generation did not like modern changes. The answers just kept coming, and my heart was broken by a lot of the responses. But the question is “how do we fix this problem?” We had an open discussion on our Wednesday night service, were I presented all the answers I was given by people from all ages. We had a really deep conversation on how to show Jesus in an instant gratification world.

I think we all can agree that Jesus is always the same, but the world changes daily. We know that looks, money, and power are pushed daily on social media and reality TV. So how do we draw people into the church? First, we have to examine ourselves thoroughly and ask God to help us not to be a prideful person and not to be prejudice to those that are different then us. We have to kind, compassionate, and Christlike, all without becoming worldly. It is a difficult balance at times striving to be more Christlike, and not becoming holier than thou. We have to humble ourselves and allow the Spirit to guide us. Once we get ourselves right, then we can start breaking down those walls dividing us with other generations.

Our Wednesday night group has put a lot of thought on how we should approach all generations. There was all types of opinions and suggestions to draw people into the church. We know we cannot compromise ourselves, so what were our answers to draw people in. We all agreed on several things. We should stay prayed up, have a good two-to-three-minute testimony, be inviting, be kind and compassionate, stay true to the word by reading and studying it, and let the Spirit lead us. The way to Jesus is so simple, yet we can make it so complicated. We, the church, are losing ground every day. The church as a whole is declining.

When you study the New Testament and church history, there are many people along the way that stood up knowing their life could end. I ask you to examine yourself to see if you are doing everything in the above paragraph, but most importantly are you seeking God’s will. We can study the bible, the apostles, the martyrs, and the apologetics all day long, but what good is knowledge if you do not use it. God is infinite. He will always have a way for his word to be known with or without us. But we should hunger for being an active part of his kingdom on earth. This is our time to shine for him. It is literally our responsibility to act when the Holy Spirit leads us to witness. The consequences of action or inaction is the difference of someone entering heaven or entering hell. Let’s shine!