Millennials, those born between 1980 and 2000, are not anti-Christian or anti-religion, but they are, in general, just not interested in religion, says a new book based on a survey of members of this generation.
An apathetic attitude towards religious and spiritual matters is common among members of this generation, according to The Millennials by Thom Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Research, and his son Jess, a Millennial born in 1985. Members of this generation are likely to care less about spiritual matters than those from previous generations, the Rainers wrote.
Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of this generation rarely or never attend religious services, according to the survey conducted by LifeWay on 1,200 Millennials. And spiritual matters was ranked sixth, below friends and education, in a list based on an open-ended question on what is important to respondents.Rainer suggested that the church has become less effective in reaching the Millennials because members of this group tend to be a high commitment generation and they see most of what takes place in churches as low commitment so they are not interested. Another possible reason is that three-fourths of these Millennials come from an unchurched background, meaning they have no Christian faith background.
The survey also found that Millennials are “a confused generation spiritually.” Although, 65 percent of this generation describe themselves as Christian – notably many of them do not know or practice the basic teachings of the faith – only 26 percent say they believe they will go to heaven when they die because they have accepted Christ as their savior.
Millennials are also confused over who Jesus is. They were divided on whether Jesus is the only way to salvation and if he was sinless. An astounding 70 percent of Millennials agree that American churches are irrelevant today.
