“We do not wish to be more conservative, or more liberal, than the Bible. If God had wanted to add things to the Bible or take away hard truths, He would have done so. We have exactly what we have for the most perfect of reasons: the loving providence of God. Neither pharisaical additions nor me-centered subtractions are faithful or helpful. We happily let the Bible be our authority, knowing the only options are that it is authoritative over us, or we are over it.”

I serve as a pastor at a 7 year-old church plant in downtown Columbia, where we have a different kind of millennial problem – we have too many of them. We are a church that averages 800 on Sundays with over 925 people plugged into LifeGroups.

But the most shocking part? 90% of our church is under 30 years old. We have the exact opposite problem of most churches. When someone who looks older walks through our door, we pray they are solid and that they’ll stick around to pour into the mass of youth we have.

Because we have such a different perspective on the millennial problem in Christianity, I thought it would be helpful to comment on some of the reasons I believe millennials have been drawn to our church.

This is not a “We are awesome and other churches can’t get off the struggle bus” post. We have our weaknesses just like any other church, and any of our pastors will tell you that we are stumbling forward by nothing but the bountiful grace of God.

But in light of that, here are a few things God has shaped our church into that I believe have been instrumental in so many young people finding a home in our church:

1. We strive to always focus on the gospel.

Many people in the U.S. South grew up around or at least familiar with Christianity, but it is shocking how many times we have someone say they grew up in church but never heard the gospel. Moralism comes from behind pulpits across our nation in both direct and veiled forms. The gospel of grace stands in stark contrast.

The truth that forgiveness is possible is mind-blowing the first time you hear it. In our teaching, we try to motivate everything by the grace shown to us in Christ and not guilt, duty, or obligation. To hear the gospel applied to the everyday struggles and emotions we all feel is the best kind of light shone into the worst kind of darkness.

2. We are committed to being a family.

As you can see from our LifeGroup participation numbers, we value biblical community highly. We repeatedly make it clear from stage that community is the only context through which a New Testament faith can be lived out. If you are not doing life with other believers – and we mean life, not occasionally being in a room together – then how will you practice the “one anothers,” grow in your faith, and live out the gospel to those around you?

Our desire is that not just our LifeGroups but also our gatherings (services) would communicate this reality. We want people to leave gatherings feeling like they’ve been at a family reunion, so we keep them simple, authentic, relational, and low-production. We sing, pray, teach the Bible, celebrate what Jesus has done, and share stories of where God is at work in our city.

Before we take communion, we frequently instruct our people to first go and resolve any unconfessed sin, bitterness, or relational weirdness they have against one another ­­-­­­ no matter who is at fault. If need be, they can grab someone and have a conversation, make a phone call, or whatever is needed. The shocking thing is – at least it shocked us the first time we tried it – they actually do it.

3. We keep an outward focus.

Serving others around us has been in our DNA since day one. From serving the homeless in our city to enlisting your LifeGroup to help you build a relationship with a non-believing co-worker, our goal is always to make disciples and help anyone around us take the next steps towards Jesus.

We’ve baptized hundreds of millennials, and a large percentage of them met Jesus through hanging out with a LifeGroup that was living on mission together. They saw the gospel there in the flesh.

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