"Ethics for Millennials"

I enjoy trying to keep up with how people of different generations-- specific ages and stages of life-- approach things differently. Being an ordained pastor in a denominational church, I am particularly interested in the positions and patterns of millennials, individuals born from around 1980 and up until 2000. My interest is largely fueled by the fact that the churches I have served recently as an interim pastor are not faring well with keeping any adult under forty, with only a handful of faithful young and early middle adults being present in these congregations. This is causing a crisis for these churches, with small Sunday Schools at best, and some churches not even able to have a youth education program. As part of trying to get a handle on how to attract and keep more people of these ages and stage, I want to understand what is important to them in life. What, if anything, is different about how they look at faith? Do they have a different view of how faith should be related to life?

The first thing that is clear to me about the millennial generation is that they do not accept authority just because it has always been there. This does not mean that members of this age group don’t include respect in their ethics, but it does mean that name brands don’t mean much to them. Consequently if Mom or Dad went to Quarter Mile Lutheran Church by the river and they hear that this conservative Lutheran Church synod does not have female pastors, they will likely never darken the door of that church when given a chance. Second, worship services may not interest them very much. They are far too passive, and they talk too much about interior things, like sin and guilt. Millennials are more likely to view a church through its activist programs. A mission trip—doing something about changing the world-—is far more interesting to them.

Third, there is a clear difference in how millennials gather information. For most of their lives millennials have had cell phones and internet access. They are most active on social media. Consequently, millennials will respond to needs expressed on social media and are less likely to value face-to-face appeals. If churches or not-for-profits want to motivate millennials, they must have a social media presence.

The three characteristics above are some of what separates millennials particularly from baby boomers and those who went before. I believe, however, there is much more that unites these two largest groups of identified groups of people today. Personal ethics and values are just as important as ever. Millennials do care about raising their family in the right way (even though their family may vary from a mother and father and two or three children). Although they may not buy into all aspects of traditional ethics, they care about justice for all. They are, by and large, more considerate of rights for all people—not holding on to “old-fashioned traditional family” make-up, but accepting of all as natural choices people make. This leads them to cast negative judgments upon those who are not so open, leading traditional churches who are respectful of their elders to not be their choice for their place of worship. In fact, millennials do not value joining organizations as much as the generations that went before them, since they are more based on what they hear on social media than what they get face to face.

Those who are concerned about how people live in generations to come can rest easy that millennials do care about justice and mercy. If they have children, they will try to raise them in the best way possible. Being part of larger families, they will care about their largely baby-boom parents. Joining them in the pew in the “establishment church’ of their parents may not be part of their following, except on Christmas and Easter.

Each generation has its particular strengths and weaknesses. If one is trying to reach millennial generation people today, we must communicate to their strengths-- activism, social media sense, and earned respect-- knowing that members of other generations can value from these key elements as well. After all, what is more important than having faith and relating it to our daily lives?