For as long as anyone can remember, it’s been this way in the South — being a church member didn’t just bring spiritual blessings, it also was a great benefit to your business, your social life and your standing in the community.
But that day is “certainly changing,” said Jason Dees, pastor of Valleydale Church, Birmingham. And as the culture shirks church and its beliefs more and more, the younger generation finds itself without an easy, comfortable home in Christianity, he said.
So one of two things happen: they either dig in or fall away, Dees said. “Christianity either has to be true and real, or it’s really a waste of time.”
And that’s why the younger generation values deep sermons more than most people realize, he said.
Doctrine in sermons
“I think there is a deeper desire among younger people for doctrine in sermons, a deeper desire for conviction,” Dees said. “I think that people in my generation want to know what the Bible has to say and how it works and fits together.”
Sometimes churches tag Millennials as being more interested in entertaining worship services or social justice causes than Bible study, but Dees said he sees something different happening.
“When you live in a culture that is contrary to Christian beliefs, you really have to know why Christians hold to what they hold to,” he said. “We live in a world that is forcing harder questions and needs more thorough, in-depth answers.”
He said that’s why he thinks pastors who preach long, challenging sermons — sermons that really dig into the Word and tackle tough questions head on — have “captured the hearts” of the younger generation.
“Real ministry and real justice and godliness is always driven by the pulpit, and I think that’s true in any generation. The pulpit is the engine of the church,” Dees said. And the pulpit, when harnessed properly, can offer meaty answers to a hungry generation, he said.
Dwayne Norman, pastor of Bush Memorial Baptist Church, Troy, said he sees the same hunger for “meat and doctrine” in the college students who make up ome-third of his congregation.
“They aren’t just looking for felt-need sermons. They’re looking for God. They’re looking for something different. They are wanting to go deep,” Norman said. “And that’s my desire — to give them God’s Word.”
Right now he’s preaching through Mark verse by verse, and the students “are loving it,” he said.
As the culture changes, church attendance numbers may be dropping for the younger generation as a whole, but “the ones who are coming, they are serious,” Norman said. “They are going deep in the Word and then looking for hands-on opportunities to flesh that out in their community and through missions. If we as a church will put those two things together, Millennials will eat it alive.”
Desiring authenticity
They want to know their faith and put feet to it, and they desire authenticity, he said. “They’re looking for real. They can see right through things that are fake.”
Norman is trying to harness that desire for realness and action by initiating a culture change in his church starting from the pulpit and trickling down.
As he’s been preaching intentional discipleship from the pulpit, “you can see some lightbulbs coming on,” he said. “People are catching that vision and wanting more depth.”
Bush Memorial Baptist recently started disciple groups of three people each that meet weekly, and college students have been mixed in with older believers to form those groups.
“They want that intergenerational connection and wisdom. They enjoy that,” Norman said.
And they’ve been challenged to, after six months, each go and start discipling two more people.
“If we will focus on making disciples, it will take care of all the other things,” Norman said. “That cuts through every generation, and we’re trying to build it into the culture of our church.”
Jay Wolf, pastor of First Baptist Church, Montgomery, said he also feels the responsibility to help people of all generations go deep in the Word.
“God’s Word is like the ocean. You can wade in the shallow shoreline or you can launch out and explore the depths,” he said. “My job is to expose God’s truth to everyone with clarity and creativity while simultaneously counting on the Holy Spirit to seal His truth to receptive hearts.”
And as God moves, Wolf said he’s seen that happen among the Millennials, who range in age from 12 to 32.
“For instance my four children are all Millennials and they all appreciate different types of presentations as long as the focus remains on God’s Word and not simply an ear-tickling message on positivity,” he said.
And last summer during Vacation Bible School, 80 preteens showed up each day for an hour of pure Bible teaching and they would “drink it in and take notes,” Wolf said. “Their attendance affirms their desire to learn God’s Word so they can live God’s Word.”
The Bible’s truth has power, he said, and the Millennials who come to church want to hear it and be changed by it.
“It’s important to share God’s truth in an unvarnished fashion,” Wolf said. “It touches every receptive person at the point of their greatest need.”
Share with others: