Connecting Millennials: What Are You Doing That’s Working?
What are you doing to connect Millennials? You know the generation, right? Sometimes referred to as “Generation Y”. Everyone seems to have their own idea about the actual years included in the generation, but if we say they were born between 1982 and 2004, they are roughly 10 to 32 years old today. And by the way…there are over 80 million of them in the U.S. alone.
It helps me to think about the Millennial generation in two main brackets: 16-24 and 25 to 34. Can you picture them?
You can learn a lot about them from Barna’s Millenials Project. For example,
“The first factor that will engage Millennials at church is as simple as it is integral: relationships. When comparing twentysomethings who remained active in their faith beyond high school and twenty-somethings who dropped out of church, the Barna study uncovered a significant difference between the two. Those who stay were twice as likely to have a close personal friendship with an adult inside the church (59% of those who stayed report such a friendship versus 31% among those who are no longer active). The same pattern is evident among more intentional relationships such as mentoring—28% of Millennials who stay had an adult mentor at the church other than their pastor, compared to 11% of dropouts who say the same.” 5 Reasons Millennials Stay Connected to the Church
But…my question today is what are you doing to connect them?
What is working? Have a question? You can click here to jump into the conversation.
Great topic! As a millennial, besides joining a small group, I unexpectedly found a mentor through serving in the youth ministry. This was also key for me to feel connected to my church. In this case, it was the youth pastor who took an interest in me 8 years ago and we’re still great friends to this day.
Thanks for jumping in here Tony! According to the research (and many stories), building relationships is certainly is one way we should be connecting Millennials. I’m on a hunt for strategies that are working. If you think of others…jump back in!
mark
Sure! Something I would try is to engage with millennials where they are already at – social media. So paying attention when people tag or mention the church and then having staff or high level leaders within the church follow and engage with those people. Get to know them over time and build trust online and then find relevant ways to engage with them offline, such as meeting up on a Sunday morning, some type of group event or simply grabbing coffee.
Great suggestion! Thanks Tony!