Healthy churches should be comprised of people in every generation. When church leaders seek to do whatever is necessary to pull in more of the younger crowd (such as Millennials), they run the risk of pushing out people in other generations before them, and therefore create an unbalanced church ministry. The Millennial generation is not the only generation that should be desired in a church. Personally, I am thankful for the fact that we have folks from every one of the generations listed above. We are all united around biblical truth and a desire for biblical worship.

Recently, an article was written by Thomas Rainer here regarding a worship style that is attractive to Millennials. Just to be clear on the name “Millennials,” it is a generational term ascribed to a particular group of people born during a certain time period. Here is a list of the six living generations today:

“The Greatest Generation” – born between 1901-1924

“The Silent Generation” – born between 1925-1945

“Baby-Boomers” – born between 1946-1964

“Generation X” (or “Baby Busters”) – born between 1965-1980

“Millennials” (or “Generation Y”) – born between 1981-2000

“Generation Z” – born between 2001 and the present

In this article, Rainer describes an occasion in which he and his son were asked what kind of worship style the Millennial generation prefers. Their answer was that the style of worship was not what mattered most to Millennials, but that they were attracted to churches which exhibited three elements: 1) music that has rich content, 2) authenticity in a worship service, and 3) a quality worship service. Now admittedly, those three elements are somewhat generic, and Rainer goes on to give further explanation of what each point means.

In the course of the article, Rainer points out that Millennials “will walk away from congregations that are still fighting about style of music, hymnals or screen projections, or choirs or praise teams. Those are not essential issues to Millennials, and they don’t desire to waste their time hearing Christians fight about such matters.”

I would like to offer some points to consider in response to this article.

1. The three elements attractive to Millennials are all noble elements and worthy of consideration. I, too, desire to sing hymns with solid biblical content. I desire “authenticity” in our worship, and by that I mean that I desire for all believers attending our worship service to truly enter into the time of worship rather than be entertained by a select few performers on a stage. I also desire quality and excellence in our worship services. While excellence does not necessitate professionally trained musicians, it does mean adequate preparation and seeking to do one’s best for the glory of God.
2. Every believer, no matter what age bracket, should desire those same elements. They are biblically based and helpful in worshipping God in a way that pleases Him and is acceptable to Him. The article, however, leaves the impression that it is only Millennials who desire those things. While there are no doubt examples of Christians in the past who did not model these elements, we cannot conclude that these elements were missing entirely from previous generations.

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[Editor’s note: One or more original URLs (links) referenced in this article are no longer valid; those links have been removed.]