Guest Post: I am a Millennial, and I’m Still Here

In the last two posts I’ve been responding (with about 15 bazillion other people) to Rachel Held Evans’ article on Millennials leaving the church. If you haven’t seen them yet, you might want to check them out by clicking these links:  Part OnePart Two.  This week, I asked a Millennial friend (and my assistant editor!) to give her perspective on this whole thing. Enjoy this guest blog.

leaving-church

I am one of those Millennials who has seriously considered leaving my Pentecostal upbringing and trading it for a higher liturgical mainline denomination. But the Spirit hasn’t allowed me to leave. It isn’t that I am here in my church kicking and screaming, but every time I’ve considered a switch, something beckons me back. Mostly, it is because this is what I know and what I am familiar with. But also because I believe in the Holy Spirit’s ability to bring change and breathe new life into (my) church, even if it takes a long time. So here are some of my thoughts on why many of my closest friends who grew up with me in church have left—and why I am still holding on.  (And just a sidenote: a lot of my parents’ friends have left, too. So perhaps this isn’t just a “Millennial” problem.)

The Kingdom of God

Jesus’ shared vision of the Kingdom of God is one that is radically inclusive of class, sex, race, age, and social standing. But Darren is right (I didn’t tell her to write that line, but I’m glad she did! –darren). We are not patient enough to see the fulfillment of this vision.  What we do on Sunday mornings doesn’t come close to what I see occurring in the Gospels, even at my church where I’m part of the pastoral staff. 

In the Kingdom of God there are no borders. There are no flags; no other allegiances can exist, whether it be to a nation, a political party, or a constitution. Freedom in God’s kingdom doesn’t come from weapons and tanks and drones—it comes from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hope isn’t found in the smoke and mirrors of a document from the Founding Fathers. The Kingdom of God doesn’t assert itself through force. The United States is not the chosen nation that will bring the fulfillment of God’s Kingdom because it has nothing to do with God’s Kingdom. To be honest, many of my friends left because they were sick of having to pretend to be enamored with the stars and stripes, or have to side with some political party to prove their love of God and country. So they left, but I had hope—a hope that the “not yet” could one day be the “already.” So I’m still here.

Culture Wars

We church-goers have set up a false dichotomy that makes us feel safe. As long as we think the right way concerning abortion, pre-marital sex, and homosexuality, then we believe ourselves to be okay. There is little critical internal reflection occurring in church, and it is obvious. How can you preach a pro-life sermon and then go watch a film where violence is justified? (“He is protecting his family! It’s okay!”) How can you preach about sex and write a status update about how you can’t wait for NBC’s Thursday night sitcom line up?  (“I don’t condone that relationship, but they are hilarious!”) What about corporate greed? What about domestic violence? Sex slavery? The death penalty? Racism?  What about the fact that most cable news owners also make huge profits from the porn industry? The compromises we make every day in the culture wars keep us from truly being transformed by the Spirit’s power. So I’ve stayed because I hope to teach others that there is more to casting the first stone. Instead, we can get up and sin no more. 

The Sacred

I love ritual. I love order. I love the sacred. But we’ve traded it all for numbers. One of my friends (who has now left the church) once whispered to me at a lakeside baptism, “What does this mean? Nothing is happening to them.” And he was right. Because we’d seen the same kids get baptized at the same camp last year, crying and emotional as they ran to the water’s edge.  When we trade what is sacred and holy for numbers, in the end we lose and our numbers mean nothing.  Those kids were in search of something, but the leaders didn’t have answers—or worse, they had the wrong answers.  So bring back the sacred, the ritual, the mystery of godliness. Teach it. Live it. Be intentional.  Why do we partake in communion? What is baptism? What does being a part of the church look like?  I stay in hopes that God will find it in his heart to forgive me for being baptized twice for lack of understanding. 😉

But really I stay so I can instill in my son the sense that this is important, sacred, and mysterious.  I stay so I can instill in him the truth that we can live holy lives that aren’t affected by popular persuasion and opinion. I stay so he can experience God’s Kingdom in a real way. I stay so he will understand that community is difficult, and life doesn’t always mean being the center of attention, the loudest, or the best. 

I stay for him. I stay for me. I stay because a girl can dream, can’t she?

 Abigail Velazquez serves as an assistant editor for One Accord Resources, Inc and the Church of God of Prophecy. She is a professor of Old and New Testament at Lee University, and co-pastor of a Hispanic congregation alongside her highly intelligent husband Omar.  She holds a degree in Bible and Theology from Lee University as well as a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary.  (One day she’d like to pursue a PhD, but that would require Darren to give her a raise). Most of her time is spent trying to raise a bilingual 20-month old who loves to hear himself say “no” even if he really means “yes.”  

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