Issue link: http://denverseminary.uberflip.com/i/199485
MAKES YOU THINK authority, questions are how Millennials discover who they can trust, what they can trust, and why they should believe one worldview over another. Their questions come out of a desire to seek truth and understanding more than they arise out of defiance or respect. Outside of church, they have been taught to question everything, but 50 percent of Millennials with a Christian background reported, "I don't feel that I can ask my most pressing life questions in church."2 So, when the Church meets them with the short answer of "just believe," it is easy to see why they might be skeptical and disillusioned—as such a response communicates that what the Church has to offer is not solid enough, trustworthy enough, or secure enough to handle their questions. In order to engage this generation, we need to meet them in their questions, engage their doubt, and allow faith to be messy, grey, and risky. We need to keep in mind that faith in Jesus is not a momentary decision where someone prays the "right prayer" with the "right words" and his life becomes perfect. Instead, it is a lifelong process of a student becoming like the Teacher (Matt 10:25). Likewise, as church leaders, we need to know that the Gospel is strong enough, trustworthy enough, and secure enough to handle Millennials' questions and stand up to their doubts. We need to be willing to step into difficult questions of cultural relevance, morality, and social justice without pat "Sunday school" answers. 50 percent of Millennials with a Christian background reported, "I don't feel that I can ask my most pressing life questions in church." preparing the next generation to follow Christ faithfully in a rapidly changing culture."3 As we look at Millennials and their absence from American churches, we need to approach this situation as cross-cultural missionaries, seeking to respect and understand the new culture we find ourselves a part of in order that we might present the Gospel in a way that speaks directly and relevantly to this culture (1 Cor. 9:22). In order to engage the Millennial generation, we must respect, understand, and attempt to disciple them within their own cultural framework. EMPOWERING MILLENNIALS TO LEAD The culture into which we are sending young adults is vastly different from the culture Gen‑Xers or Boomers stepped into: It is distinctively more post-modern and post-Christian. The Millennial generation is large, diverse, and amazingly networked all around the world, and the potential influence that they bring for the Kingdom is significant. We as the Church need to begin to see them not as the leaders of tomorrow, but the leaders of today—able and willing to go out and make a difference within their culture. We need to be willing to lay aside old ways of explaining truth and executing "church," and begin listening intently to their questions in order to partner with them in redesigning the ways in which we engage larger culture. When we can hear their questions as heart cries for truth, meaning, and identity rather than challenges to doctrine, authority, or tradition, we can help to empower and launch a mighty generation of disciples who understand the why of their faith, not just the what. Elisabeth Nesbit, PhD The Apostle Peter calls on us to always be prepared to give the reason for our hope, and to do so with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). As a Church, we need to wrestle with what it looks like to hold fast to biblical truths, without compromise or apology, while being open to new and creative ways of presenting the Gospel with compassion in order to speak relevantly to the heart and the brokenness of this new culture. David Kinnaman, in his book You Lost Me, reviews Barna Group research exploring why Millennials are leaving the Church. I wholeheartedly agree with one of his conclusions that "the dropout problem is, at its core, a faith-development problem; to use religious language, it's a disciplemaking problem. The Church is not adequately ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COUNSELING Dr. Elisabeth Nesbit is an assistant professor of counseling. Originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, Dr. Nesbit is an alumna of Denver Seminary's counseling program (2004) and joined the Denver Seminary faculty in 2011 after earning her doctorate in counselor education and supervision from the University of Arkansas (2010). In addition to teaching, Dr. Nesbit maintains a counseling and consulting practice in Littleton, Colorado. Her research interests focus on generational differences, and she provides consulting services in both secular and Christian settings regarding effective ways of managing and capitalizing on generational differences. 2 Ibid., 190. 3 David Kinnaman, You Lost Me (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011), 21. ENGAGE 9