Over-Churched, Jaded Millennials
Dear Editor,
Last Monday, the campus center was inundated with tables and booths advertising local churches. This spectacle featured colorful posters, smooth and shiny pamphlets, homemade cookies and a variety of coffee choices. If that wasn’t enough, one booth featured three young, attractive male pastors with cool haircuts and expensive sneakers. #Relevant.
College-age Christians deserve better than this. We are not consumers for pastors to compete for with coffee, as if the fellowship hour refreshments were deal breakers. We need hymns that nurture us and church families that embrace us as we are. We need liturgy that tells a story we can find a space in, not meta-narratives that always exclude someone. Keep the cookies, Church. Give us Jesus.
I know that this isn’t the fault of individual pastors or churches. The church “fair” last week is the result of a system that has been around for a long time. Still, shouldn’t Houghton College and the Wesleyan Church be leaders in fighting consumerism within the church? Houghton is in a position to counteract that system, and I’m disappointed that such an opportunity was missed.
How could this be improved? Perhaps churches should compete over who can serve the poor, marginalized, homeless, addicted and disabled of Alleghany County as much as they compete for over-churched, jaded millennials.
Mary Cronin
Class of 2017
