5 Ways to Bring Millennials Back to Church
2. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS
Apologist Alex McFarland, co-author of Abandoned Faith: Why Millennials Are Walking Away and How You Can Lead Them Home, previously told The Christian Post that the breaking apart of families is one of the leading causes of millennials born around 1982 to 2004 falling away from the church.
For this reason, McFarland believes a key to drawing millennials closer to God is building genuine relationships with them and gaining their trust in the process.
"We have to love people, build relationships, cultivate that trust, honesty and respect even if they never come to Christ," McFarland said. "But the more our culture has drifted from any acknowledgment of a Christian foundation, the more you have to build a trust, a respectful relationship before you begin to even hope to share any content."
Sarah Jakes Roberts, the millennial first lady who co-pastors megachurch One Church LA in Los Angeles, California, and is scheduled to release her book Don't Settle for Safe: Embracing the Uncomfortable to Become Unstoppable on April 18, told CP that she prays for church leaders and members to be mindful of how they relate to others.
"I just pray that God continues to challenge the hearts of our church leaders and our church members to be a more gracious body of people, [so] that we become more appealing and irresistible to our hurting world," she said.