Reaching Millennials

In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely.
Titus 2:6

I participated in a conference in Jos, Nigeria which had the theme of “Keys to Winning with the Millennials” recently. The conference discussed generational differences going back to the Silent Generation who were born between 1915 and 1945. From there, they described uniqueness of the Boomers, Generation X, Y and Z. I joked that I was so old that I should be Generation “A”.

My presentation included a study of the Millennials and now Generation Z and highlighted the differences between them (and there are differences). The audience had about 75 people including at least 25 millennials. Most were pastors or church leaders from Nigeria and surrounding countries.

One of the best sessions at the conference was given by a panel of five millennials. One of them was John Mark Hopson, a young man I have been meeting with in Pinehurst for the past year. This year, he had a role in leading the worship sessions, as well as participating in the panel discussion. I thought he added a lot to the discussion and he grew a lot from the responsibility.

The millennials desire to be actively heard, but that in many cases, they are often shut out from participation in their churches. They are about to be the largest single population segment in the U.S., and to an extent, they feel they are mis-understood and often marginalized.

What they were really saying is that they want to participate with other generations in their church, but that they often don’t have the opportunity. On the flip side, the church (generically) is trying to figure out how to connect with this digital generation. Some ideas of “keys” came up which bear mentioning.

Sitting in a church and listening to a sermon that lasts more than 10 minutes is passé. The next generation doesn’t have the attention span to stay engaged, and most millennials will soon be on their phones texting or on an App like Snapchat.

Some things that look promising, but the church has to creatively embrace them. Media has already embraced millennials: many news programs have segments that focus on millennials – often showing YouTube videos sent in by millennials.

John Mark discussed something that a pastor did in our church. Our senior pastor realized that there were no real offerings aimed at the millennials. That was a need that was not being met.

He decided to form a small group of millennials at his house. They had a meal that millennials provided by each of them bringing an ingredient. The participants scattered around his house in small groups. Instead of teaching a bible study, he gave the millennials the right to choose their topics. Instead of being a lecturer, he became a facilitator by guiding the discussion to keep it on track.

It has been a success. Millennials learn best by collaborating. They like to be able to discuss an issue, and not be lectured to. The study has now advanced so that some of the topic presentation and preparation is now being turned over to the millennials. The pastor, as leader, becomes even more passive. They love it, and it has already impacted a lot of lives.

The challenge here is to reach and engage the next generation. One takeaway from the conference is not the “what” to discuss, but the “how” to deliver it. I will address some of these ideas in future posts.

MENTOR TAKEAWAY: One thing that has never gone out of style is mentoring, and the next generation are crying out for mature adults to invest in their lives. You can make a big difference, but you also need to encourage others to join you as mentors.

PICTURE: This is a picture with Anita Nkwete Etanga, a millennial who lives in Cameroon, and I’ve known for 3 years although this was the first time we spent more than 12 minutes together after we first met in Limbe.

FURTHER STUDY: Here is a YouTube of one of my presentations on Millennials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOUp42rgVtE&t=14s

WORSHIP: One of the songs we sang at the conference was !0,000 Reasons by Mat Redman.
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