Feb
25
Written by:
Dennis Atwood
2/25/2010 3:47 PM
I saw in the newspaper this morning another signpost… “for those who have ears to hear.” The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, has found that more than one-quarter of Americans age 18 to 29 have no religious preference or affiliation, and fewer than one in five attend services regularly. That makes them easily the least religious generation among Americans alive today, perhaps the least religious ever. (see www.newsobserver.com/2010/02/24)
However, The Pew study also found that, although young adults—the so-called Millennial generation born after 1981—are shunning traditional religious denominations and services in unprecedented numbers, their faith in God and the power of prayer appears nearly as strong as that of young people in earlier generations.
"Millennials are coming of age less affiliated than any recent U.S. generation," said Alan Cooperman, associate director of research for the Pew Forum. "And ... I would say there's no reason to think that they're going to become more affiliated."
The church today must work hard not to remain rooted in the way things worked in the past, but rooted in the Christ “who was and is and is to come.”
It’s both a challenge and a privilege to stand in the middle of such a great transition in church life as the world around us changes so rapidly. I’m thankful that we are seeing such a positive response from young college students and families with children at First Baptist.
Our challenge is to continue to re-imagine the gospel of Christ being implemented in the year 2010 and beyond. .. “for those who have ears to hear.”