Unconditional love and true friendship are two of the requirements if we want to relate to millennials. It can especially be the case when we are talking about the teenagers who are part of our worship community. Unconditional love requires that we accept young people with their flaws. It also means welcoming them back with open arms when they make poor choices. When it comes to friendship: Many young folks give us the impression that they have a wide circle of friends, but often those relationships come with conditions. In the world of social media, many of those relationships are casual, having no roots. While true friendship typically requires a mutual interest in each other, our relationship with millennials might be one-sided. They might have little enthusiasm when it comes to hearing about what going on in our lives. We are probably going to spend more time listening.
Unconditional love and friendship are obvious requirements but a recent article that I read added humility to the list. The author was Chris Martin and it was published on www.churchleader.com. Chris Martin is a millennial whose ministry involves helping people relate to his generation. One statement in the article especially struck me, "The church will reach Millennials when God’s truth is embodied in humble love more than constant condemnation." We are all sinners. Our lives are flawed. Still we have a tendency to see the sins of other, more than our own. That especially should be the case with young people. How can they wear their hair that way? Why do they insist of having different parts of their body pierced? What is the purpose of all those tattoos? We need to love them for who they are, and we need to be honest about our flaws.
Humility is a requirement if we desire to reach out to the young people who pass through our lives.
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