You simply cannot avoid them! Whether it’s social media comments, blogs, or business articles, the subject of “millennials” is everywhere.
They are set to be the dominant demographic in most cultures by 2025, and they are markedly different from the generations before them, particularly in their values and spending habits. Most millennials are shunning the acquisition of material possessions, such as houses and cars. With the exception of technology, they would rather purchase intriguing experiences and unique memories.
As a result, millennials have ushered in the era of the “experience economy.” And a well-kept secret is that this group is better suited for radical mission than many previous modern generations.
In the UK, the rise of millennials has provided wonderful opportunities to recruit into church life high-caliber graduates who can be discipled to be the next generation of church leaders, church planters, and key influencers. One of the ways we’ve seen this impact is through young people wanting to participate in our church internship programs.
These programs offer young people a role to serve on the staff team of the church for 1-2 years, exploring both their gifts in building up the church, as well as receiving theological training and personal discipleship. Such is the level of Gospel need in the UK, we need a correspondingly large pool of trainees to become the next generation of pastors, planters, leaders and church members, and that will mean adapting internships to be more attractive to wider proportions of the millennial and generation Z populations.
In both the US and the UK there has been significant concern over surveys that suggest young people are abandoning the church once they leave home. Before we press the panic button, it is worth reflecting on the fact that millennials place a high value on authenticity and relationships. When it comes to “real life” experiences that contribute to the benefit of humanity, the great news is that the church has these in abundance.
I remember one prospective student asking what they could expect if he applied for our internship in Manchester, and my response was straightforward. You can expect to see the underside of life and weep with people during their darkest moments; equally, you will be there when they have those light-bulb, life-changing realizations they’ll never forget. That student signed up for two consecutive years to be an intern because that is exactly the type of experience he saw first-hand in the lives of numerous individuals in the church.
For those seeking to forego salary size for meaningful service, churches need to clearly leverage their significant market advantage. Now is the time to encourage young people in our congregations to consider participating more thoroughly in the life and service of the church, including being part of church plant launch teams.
When I graduated from university, I was persuaded by a friend to defer my career path into the British Foreign Office for 12 months in order to be part of the launch team of a small church plant in Liverpool. At the time, I would never have imagined that this would be more than a brief sojourn on my way to London. I stayed for more than 11 years and have never left the North West region of the UK since I arrived at university in 2001.
I am thankful for those leaders who took the risk of utilizing the unrefined enthusiasm of young person, and who took the time to patiently involve me in the inner workings of the church so that I could see its beauty and catch the vision from the front row. I still believe that such intentional and deliberate investment in involving young people in the service of the church is the best way to for each successive generation to catch the vision, too.
http://lmpc.org/world-missions-conference-2019/