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Millennial Myths and the Real Reasons People Leave the Church

5. They don’t feel challenged.

Some of us have tried so hard to meet people where they are that we’ve made church too accessible.

Most people want to grow spiritually, and it’s hard to do that in churches that spend an inordinate amount of time catering to the spiritual lowest common denominator. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to offer plenty of on-ramps for new believers, the lost and the unchurched, but salvation doesn’t stop after justification.

People who don’t feel they have opportunities to move forward spiritually may leave church simply because they’re bored.

The more I observe the alleged church generation gap, the more I think most of the handwringers are exaggerating it.

Our problem isn’t generational as much as it is cultural. Rather than engaging the culture and challenging the culture, maybe we’ve become a little too obsessed with following the culture. If anything, the church probably needs to become more countercultural, not less.

But that doesn’t mean withdrawing from the culture either. Cultural withdrawal is an equal opposite error to hyper-relevance.

What about you?

Have you ever been tempted to leave the church? If so, what were your reasons?

Do you think the “millennials leaving church” problem has been overhyped or do you think it’s a real crisis?