Simon Cox Blog: A Millennial Anomaly? Why I’m Still In Church

Thursday, 3 August 2017

A Millennial Anomaly? Why I’m Still In Church

Just because Millennials aren’t at your church doesn’t mean they’ve forsaken church.

Hi, I’m Emily, and I’m an anomaly. (Hiiii, Emily.) I’m a Millennial who’s staying in church. I understood (and believed) the gospel when I was just 4, and I’ve been going to church ever since. Sure, I’ve thought about leaving more than once. But let’s just be honest—we all have, haven’t we?

So what’s keeping me, a Millennial—The Generation of Lost Sunday School Boys and Girls—in church? Three things, really. While I can’t speak for all Millennials everywhere, I can tell my story.

Here are the top three reasons I’m staying in church as a Millennial.

1. I’m staying because I love Jesus and Jesus loves the Church, and He isn’t finished with us. When I went to Bible college (Clarks Summit University), I learned a lot about Jesus and the Church. He loves us each individually and He loves all Christians collectively—the Universal Church—as His bride (Eph. 5; Rev. 21). He’s working right now to make us a beautiful bride to present to Himself someday. He loves us, and I work—somedays it’s harder than others—to love the Church because Jesus loves the Church.

When you love Jesus and your heart gets tangled up with His, you start to love what He loves. So despite my frustrations with the local church—a lack of general awareness, a lack of compassion in social justice, a lack of practical love for those struggling or who are different, and a lack of authentic community—I’m still going to a local church because we’re part of the Universal Church, whom Jesus loves.

2. I’m staying because I believe in storytelling in the Church. Let’s face it: we can know a lot of theology and ...