generation

Any missionary will tell you that in order to effectively speak Jesus into a culture, you first have to understand that culture. And the culture that millennials have grown up in has changed a lot, hasn't it? 

That's led to tons of churches, maybe one just like yours, that are struggling with young people leaving, frustrated that nothing they've tried has worked, and worried if their church can survive this trend.

That's why my team developed The Seven Core Values of Millennials™ training. Because we know that by helping you build a broader understanding of Millennials, you will be able to build better ministries for Millennials.

I have chosen three values on focus on here, but you can read about each value here. 

​Core Value #1 – Diversity

If you've been frustrated by any aspect of the millennial generation, particularly as a pastor or church leader, chances are it may have something to do with their mindset (or preference) for diversity.

But the reason for millennials valuing diversity is simple:

They are the first generation to come of age in a truly global world.  Whereas previous generations had limited (albeit expanding) access to information and opinion, millennials grew up with the Internet... limitless access to information and opinion.

(And for younger millennials... those in their late-teens to mid-twenties... they literally grew up with the Internet in their pockets!)

Unlike Builders, Boomers, or even Gen Xers, the millennial generation has never known a world limited to one single, trusted source of information. Instead, they have always been exposed to choice, relativity, variety, and globalization.

You can't blame a fish for living in water... even though it seems like a horribly silly idea to the rest of us! Neither can you (or should you) blame a millennial for seeing the world through a diverse, globalized lens.

It is literally the only environment they've EVER known!

In other words, understanding the core value of diversity begins with the recognition that we cannot assign a moral value to the lens through which people see the world. 

Core Value #2 - Entrepreneurship 

Are you doing ministry like an angry tourist? It’s a serious question and an important one to answer if we are to have any hope of effectively communicating to a new generation of millennials.

Let me explain:

Imagine yourself on vacation in a foreign country. Maybe your mind’s eye takes you to an urban metropolis where you take in the sights and sounds that only a place like Paris or Shanghai can offer. Or perhaps your dream destination is a nearly-secluded tropical villa serving umbrella-laden drinks all day long.

Got your vacation destination locked in? Good.

Next, imagine yourself browsing around some of the local shops. It’s probably one of those tourist trap places filled with cheesy “I went to [insert location] and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” shirts and stuffed animals embossed with whatever the city’s tourist slogan happens to be this year.

You’ve found a few items that pass the grunt test and you go to the cashier to pay—only, there’s a problem with your credit card machine. Suddenly, you and the cashier are trying to communicate with each other to solve this life-defining transaction of plush toys and tourist apparel when you realize that they don’t speak a word of English.

And that’s when it happens: you become an angry tourist.

In this moment of frustration at the inability to effectively communicate, you start to yell, scream, and insult their intelligence simply because they don’t know how to speak your language even though you are in their country.

It can be difficult news for people of faith to admit, but we now live in a post-Christian era, a time in history when the gospel narrative is no longer the story that our culture or country holds in common. In many ways, we must now consider ourselves foreigners speaking a different language even within our own country.