Millennials are choosing pizza, push-ups and video games over church

The New York Post ^ | August 2, 2017 | Lauren Steussy

[TBP]

Millennials are losing their faith and replacing it with pizza, pushups and profound digital connections.

Just 27 to 28 percent of people in their 20s and early 30s attend religious services regularly, according to the latest figures from the Pew Research Center. Compare that to the 38 percent of baby boomers who log time in houses of worship, and 51 percent of folks in the silent and greatest generations who still show up for services.

Instead, millennials are getting their spiritual fix from secular pursuits such as fitness classes and Facebook groups — community-driven activities that create a sense of fellowship, inspire meaningful reflection and sometimes include uplifting music.

“They were raised to think for themselves,” says New York University sociology professor Mike Hout. “Millennials are skeptical of authority, including religious institutions.” They’re also redefining sacred rituals on their own terms, as these stories show.

[TBP]

This is a disturbing trend. How do we go about reversing it?

[gaijin]

1. De-feminize Church

2. Talk about things that are NOT okay. Cuz some areN’T

[faithhopecharity]

skipping church/synagogue for Pizza, I can understand!

but skipping church to do physical exercises? My Lord but those sermons must be just AWFUL!

[hinckley buzzard]

Good question. It is a reflection of the historic tendency for faith to dwindle in times of relative prosperity and material comfort. Millenials for the most part are well-insulated from the hard realities of life and cannot conceive of needing to place their faith in anyone or anything nonmaterial. Only a bruising failure of secular institutions could result in another Great Awakening, and I don't see that happening short of nuclear exchange.

[gaijin]

Jesus is yer boyfriend

everything is fine

501c3 so We having NOTHING to say about Da Gummint

Stuff in the cinema and on TV..? Oh, that’s all fine with the Pastor.

I’LL PASS

[TalBlack]

They WERE NOT raised to think for themselves. They were TOLD what think PERIOD. What they were told will eventually fail them. Their story ain’t over yet...

[Amendment10]

"“They were raised to think for themselves indoctrinated to let the institutions and corrupt media do their thinking for them,” says New York University sociology professor Mike Hout."

There! Fixed it.

[FES0844]

Bring back the fire & brimstone & those wonderful nuns in traditional habits!

[lightman]

My Antionchian Orhtodox parish has received two large Millenial families (4 children each!)in the past year with another (3 children) soon to follow.

And we are as traditional as it gets:

All male clergy. Liturgy that is chanted by clergy in vestments with incense. No pandering to the LGBT or feminazi agenda. Rigorous fasting for about 1/3 the days of the year.

And the folks are coming in droves. We may soon need a larger building....again.

[Bryanw92]

>>This is a disturbing trend. How do we go about reversing it?

Nothing new here. The distractions are different, but this has been a problem since the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century. Man learned to “rationally” decide that God was disinterested, then unnecessary, then a psychological construct, and finally a work of fiction.

As another poster pointed out: De-feminize the church! That means throwing out weak Arminian theology of a God that is pining away waiting for us to call him. God is a creator, a royal builder, and can speak a universe into and out of creation. Christians are his heirs. We need theology that stands on that basic truth.

There can be a Great Awakening if God so chooses. He can reverse this trend as he did in 1740. He did it then to awaken the spirit of freedom and the knowledge that there is no such thing as earthly nobility. He gave the people in a certain place and at a certain time the confidence, as heirs to the kingdom of God, that we can throw off our Kings and Queens and rule ourselves on this earth.

But, as scripture tells us, there will be a falling away in the end times. The next Great Awakening may not come until Jesus himself brings it with him.

Until then, the elect must remain ever faithful. Jonathan Edwards put it very well in his first two Resolutions:

Resolution 1: I will live my life for God.
Resolution 2: If no one else does, I still will.

[Jim W N]

I think there is a general rejection of the unscriptural mixture of legalism and grace taught in church. People want answers, not more problems.

But there is a move of God across America and around the world. It is called the Grace Revolution. It is what Jude described would happen in the last days which we are in.

earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints

Jude 3.

Grace, truth, no condemnation, and justification from all things comes by Jesus Christ. The world needs to hear that message - a message of love and grace because of Jesus' perfect sacrifice and shedding of his blood on the cross. The world is sick of the mixture of grace with religious laws and condemnation.

[Angels27]

Millennials are the dumbest generation EVER. I have a few in my family and they are just pathetic. The ones I have to work with are worse. Lazy, unmotivated and always playing the victim

[Wallace T.]

We had a strong uptick in church attendance following the 9-11 attacks, but that lasted for a few months, at most. And that was 16 years ago. One thing to consider: Millenials, like Baby Boomers and Generation X, may grow more conservative as they age. This was true also of the GI, or Greatet, Generation, which voted strongly for Johnson in 1964, but later move strongly to Reagan in 1980 and 1984.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

I think you summed it up well. Of course death for all and old age for the strong and lucky await everyone, but the young think they can ignore that for the moment.

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; ~ Ecclesiastes 12:1

[A_Former_Democrat]

Meanwhile, the deep state pulls the wool over their eyes

Good luck with jobs, demographics, free speech and freedoms.....idiots

[Izzy Dunne]

They WERE NOT raised to think for themselves. They were TOLD what think PERIOD.

The story of the church.
Any church.

[ameribbean expat]

Begin by looking at the parts of the brain engaged by the three activities pursued. Then ask if that’s a reaction to a social media culture which values external validation.

The church, the university and the military have been debased, by the leadership of those institutions.

What is striking, and not discussed, is how socially conservative these kids are compared to their parents. Drugs, sex, booze, abortion. All lower.

I don’t think the kids are the problem. If they’re exercising despite physical ed being cut in school, if they have found the last refuge of masculinity in the culture— video games, if they’re attracted to a food that has at least three and maybe four of the major food groups, good for them.

[GOPJ]

Do about it?

Really - do YOU want your kids, friends or parents getting ‘spiritual’ advice from the Socialist Pope - the ‘saint’ of Venezuela? Your family is better off playing video games.

Same with most of the MSC (Main-Stream Churches) - they teach ‘accept everything’ and ‘forgive’ any and all monsters even before repentance or even giving a damn.

Keep the kids home...

[maddog55]

Who’s doing the push ups? Sure as hell ain’t them.

[SVTCobra03]

I see many millennials attending apostate, Laodicean, emergent, new age, lukewarm mega-churches that offer nothing but entertainment, self-help and pop psychology.