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Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - fsquid - 05-12-2015 10:37 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jesus-doesnt-tweet/2015/04/30/fb07ef1a-ed01-11e4-8666-a1d756d0218e_story.html?tid=pm_pop_b
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - UCF08 - 05-12-2015 10:40 AM
The free and simple spread of information is bad for religions, it's unfortunate but it's true.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - shiftyeagle - 05-12-2015 10:43 AM
Some good points. My niece was "baptized" a couple weekend ago at some non-denominational church of sorts. I had never seen a "service" like this in my life. It was comprised of nothing but a new-age rock band playing music so loud we couldn't talk to the person beside us, then some snake-oil salesman giving a motivational speech and only referencing a single verse of the Bible whilst making it a point to slander all things Catholic. To each their own, and I guess its better than nothing, but I could hardly sit through that nonsense.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - shiftyeagle - 05-12-2015 10:45 AM
My sister-in-law, before the service, said and I quote "The point of church is fellowship." I've never had a tougher time biting my tongue than I did that day.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - UCF08 - 05-12-2015 10:47 AM
(05-12-2015 10:45 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote: My sister-in-law, before the service, said and I quote "The point of church is fellowship." I've never had a tougher time biting my tongue than I did that day.
Why does that bother you? It's a common notion among protestants, who find their own personal relationship with god more important than church sanctioned dogma or beliefs.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - shiftyeagle - 05-12-2015 10:48 AM
(05-12-2015 10:47 AM)UCF08 Wrote:(05-12-2015 10:45 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote: My sister-in-law, before the service, said and I quote "The point of church is fellowship." I've never had a tougher time biting my tongue than I did that day.
Why does that bother you? It's a common notion among protestants, who find their own personal relationship with god more important than church sanctioned dogma or beliefs.
Who said otherwise?
A personal relationship with God is not "fellowship."
You have a problem with reading comprehension.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - Niner National - 05-12-2015 10:51 AM
Saw a news article earlier today about America becoming less religious. Didn't really want to start a new thread about it, but this one seems appropriate.
Quote:NEW YORK (AP) - The number of Americans who don't affiliate with a particular religion has grown to 56 million in recent years, making the faith group researchers call "nones" the second-largest in total numbers behind evangelicals, according to a Pew Research Center study released Tuesday.
Christianity is still the dominant faith by far in the U.S.; 7 in 10 Americans identify with the tradition. However, the ranks of Christians have declined as the segment of people with no religion has grown, the survey says.
Between 2007 and 2014, when Pew conducted two major surveys of U.S. religious life, Americans who described themselves as atheist, agnostic or of no particular faith grew from 16 percent to nearly 23 percent. At the same time, Christians dropped from about 78 percent to just under 71 percent of the population. Protestants now comprise 46.5 percent of what was once a predominantly Protestant country.
http://www.kait8.com/story/29037803/study-americans-becoming-less-christian-more-secular
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - UCF08 - 05-12-2015 10:57 AM
(05-12-2015 10:48 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:(05-12-2015 10:47 AM)UCF08 Wrote:(05-12-2015 10:45 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote: My sister-in-law, before the service, said and I quote "The point of church is fellowship." I've never had a tougher time biting my tongue than I did that day.
Why does that bother you? It's a common notion among protestants, who find their own personal relationship with god more important than church sanctioned dogma or beliefs.
Who said otherwise?
A personal relationship with God is not "fellowship."
You have a problem with reading comprehension.
I politely asked you a question, no need for the snark, and I think you need to read my response again because it didn't say what I think you might have thought it did.
To many protestants, church isn't inherently part of their personal relationship with god, or at least not a requirement for it. Hence, the meaning of your SIL's comment about church = fellowship. Try to keep it polite.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - HeartOfDixie - 05-12-2015 10:59 AM
It's quickly becoming an advantage, in my own life at least, that I do go to Church. It's an important part of living in a community and it offers a lot of social and even economic benefits.
The poor get poorer in more ways than one.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - Owl 69/70/75 - 05-12-2015 11:32 AM
Too many churches have become a mile wide and an inch deep, apparently in an attempt to attract more members, wealth, and power. The mega-church is the leading example of this philosophy gone too far. Even mega-churches do good things. I have a number of friends who go to Joel Osteen's Lakewood, and their lives have been hugely transformed for the positive. But overall I do not think it a healthy trend.
We see all sorts of things blamed for what appears to be a failing moral climate--permissive laws, secular humanist teaching, you name it. But I would assign a large part of the blame to the departure by churches from being churches.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - UCF08 - 05-12-2015 11:35 AM
(05-12-2015 11:32 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: Too many churches have become a mile wide and an inch deep, apparently in an attempt to attract more members, wealth, and power. The mega-church is the leading example of this philosophy gone too far. Even mega-churches do good things. I have a number of friends who go to Joel Osteen's Lakewood, and their lives have been hugely transformed for the positive. But overall I do not think it a healthy trend.
We see all sorts of things blamed for what appears to be a failing moral climate--permissive laws, secular humanist teaching, you name it. But I would assign a large part of the blame to the departure by churches from being churches.
I don't think it's religious, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are significant implications just on fellowship/economic advantages of knowing similar people/more positive social pressure/etc. I think you'd find many of the same benefits in a community which interacts more with each other in similar manner, but without the guy in the sky. Still, I know my life was better for being involved in the church, even if I never really bought into it.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - shiftyeagle - 05-12-2015 11:35 AM
Joel Osteen lives on a $10.5 million estate. That's all I really need to know about him.
I agree with what you're saying though.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - shiftyeagle - 05-12-2015 11:37 AM
(05-12-2015 11:35 AM)UCF08 Wrote:(05-12-2015 11:32 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: Too many churches have become a mile wide and an inch deep, apparently in an attempt to attract more members, wealth, and power. The mega-church is the leading example of this philosophy gone too far. Even mega-churches do good things. I have a number of friends who go to Joel Osteen's Lakewood, and their lives have been hugely transformed for the positive. But overall I do not think it a healthy trend.
We see all sorts of things blamed for what appears to be a failing moral climate--permissive laws, secular humanist teaching, you name it. But I would assign a large part of the blame to the departure by churches from being churches.
I don't think it's religious, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are significant implications just on fellowship/economic advantages of knowing similar people/more positive social pressure/etc. I think you'd find many of the same benefits in a community which interacts more with each other in similar manner, but without the guy in the sky. Still, I know my life was better for being involved in the church, even if I never really bought into it.
I grew up nominally Catholic, was an atheist for eight years, and recently came back about two years ago more devout than I ever was before.
Our lives are often a roller coaster ride. I know mine has been.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - Niner National - 05-12-2015 12:16 PM
(05-12-2015 11:35 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote: Joel Osteen lives on a $10.5 million estate. That's all I really need to know about him.
I agree with what you're saying though.
You could take a Joel Osteen sermon, replace God the few times he uses it with another word and stick him in a motivational self help seminar and nobody would even know the difference.
That said, he's easy to listen to. I'm not religious at all, yet I've found myself on more than one occasion listening to one of his sermons for a solid 20 minutes.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - shiftyeagle - 05-12-2015 12:20 PM
(05-12-2015 12:16 PM)Niner National Wrote:(05-12-2015 11:35 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote: Joel Osteen lives on a $10.5 million estate. That's all I really need to know about him.
I agree with what you're saying though.
You could take a Joel Osteen sermon, replace God the few times he uses it with another word and stick him in a motivational self help seminar and nobody would even know the difference.
That said, he's easy to listen to. I'm not religious at all, yet I've found myself on more than one occasion listening to one of his sermons for a solid 20 minutes.
A cult of personality.
Mega-churches are sure ways to make the service centered around the man on stage rather than Who it should be centered around.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - miko33 - 05-12-2015 12:54 PM
(05-12-2015 10:59 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote: It's quickly becoming an advantage, in my own life at least, that I do go to Church. It's an important part of living in a community and it offers a lot of social and even economic benefits.
The poor get poorer in more ways than one.
Christianity is more of a cultural identity than a faith based one anymore, at least from what I see. It's smart to join a church whether you are a believer or not. It's even smarter to join a church that's moderately active AND do not require a 10% of your salary commitment agreement under threat of being thrown out.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - firmbizzle - 05-12-2015 12:57 PM
Just get me out by noon and I'm good.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - Owl 69/70/75 - 05-12-2015 01:03 PM
I find it interesting when people tell me about how they have this "personal relationship with Jesus" and then I ask them what they think about whatever, and their answer is, "My pastor says ..." Then ask them what they think about something else and I get, "My pastor says..." A third question and I get, "My pastor says..." I'm like, "Dude, you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus, you have a personal relationship with your pastor."
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - miko33 - 05-12-2015 01:04 PM
(05-12-2015 12:57 PM)firmbizzle Wrote: Just get me out by noon and I'm good.
Therein lies the problem with faith today, or at least that's what I believe. I sympathize with you because I get frustrated if mass goes longer than an hour. But really, if we were true believers, if God was really in our churches, wouldn't we want to stay there for 2 hours or longer in order to praise, worship, glorify and be healed in spirit by Him? There is a fundamental disconnect that is much, much deeper than anyone who is a regular church goer wants to admit.
RE: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ - ericsrevenge76 - 05-12-2015 01:08 PM
(05-12-2015 01:03 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: I find it interesting when people tell me about how they have this "personal relationship with Jesus" and then I ask them what they think about whatever, and their answer is, "My pastor says ..." Then ask them what they think about something else and I get, "My pastor says..." A third question and I get, "My pastor says..." I'm like, "Dude, you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus, you have a personal relationship with your pastor."
You nailed it