Millennials Picks Labor Unions over Religion

Pew Research is widely respected as an organization that has its pulse on American culture.   A report that they release this past week caught my attention.  I can even go as far as saying it is some of the most disturbing research that I have seen in recent years.  On the surface it paints Millennials in a positive light.  Overall they have a more positive perspective on American institutions than do any other generational groups.  It is the one institution that they do not hold in the highest regard that troubles me.

The staff at Pew Research identified eight major institutions, from small businesses and large corporations to banks and the national news media.  The church and religious institutions, along with labor unions, were on the list.  Individuals from the four generational groups Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomers and The Silent Generation were surveyed.  The surprising thing is that with every case, Millennials held a higher regard for the institutions than any generational group.  The lone exception was the church, where every other generational group held religious institutions in higher esteem.

Overall, church and religious organizations finished somewhere in the middle, a fact disturbing in itself.  Small business, colleges and technology companies got the most positive reviews.  National news media and the entertainment industry were viewed as having the least positive influence.  The sad reality is that today’s young people have a more favorable view of labor unions (57%), than the church (55%).  Members of Generation X (62%) and Baby Boomers (67%) saw religious institutions in a more positive light.  At that, about one third of Americans do not view the church as an institution that has a positive effect on our country. 

I am not surprised by the statistics.  As I have shared in the past; many teens and young adults turned their backs on the church long ago.  Still we face a challenge: What steps to take to reverse the trend?   The challenge comes in changing the perception that the church is self-serving, resistant to change in culture and, worst of all, not very accepting of those who are in need of grace and forgiveness.  Changing the perception on all those issues is a tall order, and I must add I do not see the institutional church all that anxious to change.  National church leaders are often more interested in turf protection than they are being Jesus to the broken and lost.

The sad fact is that most Millennials would rather give money to feed starving children in Africa or provide housing for the homeless, than to support a local church – even if they might attend that church once in a while.  In their minds Apple and Microsoft can be trusted more to make have a positive impact on our culture.

I personally do not see this as an institutional problem, but more a discipleship issue.  To be perfectly honest, most Christians do not come off all that different from the rest of society.  We are called to unconditionally love all those who are lost and broken, and often we are viewed as judgmental rather than loving and forgiving.  The change must begin with me.  We can only change the perception one individual at a time.