Editor’s Note: This letter appeared on a blog post I read from Keith Harvey, a pastor concerned about reaching Millennials, “the lost generation”.
Dear Millennials,
This is the Church writing to you. We have been trying to reach you for decades, although admittedly with little to no success. We have tried all kinds of methods to connect with you.
We have dumped our traditional service, fired our organists and replaced them with a praise band leader and more edgy music. Still you do not come.
We have put away our suits and ties and dress more casually, yet you still do not come.
We have moved our worship service out of the sanctuary into the gym, added mood lighting, changed worship time to later on Sunday, and still you do not come.
We have abandoned the assigned Scripture readings for Sunday, and replaced them with sermon series more in touch with today’s challenges and you know what happened?  You still did not come.
So this is an open letter to youriptu with a simple plea. Help us figure you out.
Signed,
The Frustrated Church
In his blog post Keith offered five suggestions to attract and keep Millennials. To read the full post, click here.
For His Glory 
God intended for his “children” to worship him every day in their homes as families around their tables with the “goods” that he had provided for them through his grace and love. There is no way to build an effective church program or ministry that is going to glorify God if it is only implement once a week in a strange service of “performers” and “spectators”.
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I asked my son, age 38, why he does not attend church services. He was raised in a church, he was an acolyte for years, attended sunday school, Vacation Bible school, etc. He said “the church is no longer relevant to my life. I needed counseling when my wife and I were having problems and was told I needed to be a better Christian, that I needed to read my Bible more, that I needed to pray more. NONE of that helped me get through to my wife. Then the preacher started talking the Sunday after I saw him in private and announced we were having marital problems and needed prayers! I spoke to him in CONFIDENCE and he betrayed my trust. Why the hell would I want a repeat of that?”
Granted this is just one example of one person’s experience. but my boy is on FB and twitter and spoke on social media of his problems with the church which then multiplied throughout his friends etc. People have a negative view of Christianity because “Christians” act anything but Christ-like. Good faithful Christian churches don’t seem to stand a chance when others browbeat people into submission and use the Bible as their weapon. I don’t have any answers.
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Suze, I’m so sorry for your son’s experience with church. That pastor did more harm than good. That’s a shame he did that. I don’t blame your son at all for leaving. I agree with you about how “Christians” many times put on a “holier than thou”attitude towards people who are not like them or not lovable. You are absolutely right. Many Christians act anything but Christ-like. Browbeating people into submission with the Bible and using it more like a weapon than the word of God won’t solve any problems, nor will it draw anyone into loving fellowship with true believers. Great thoughts, Suze. Thanks for sharing. I’d like to see your son’s facebook page to read some of his thoughts. To keep his name confidential you can email me at stevesaw@gmail.com if you’d like.
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Hi, Steve the last blog in this series is on worship. Here is the link:
http://revheadpin.org/2016/05/17/simple-plan-to-worship
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