At Exponential Conference, Millennial Author Grant Skeldon Urges the Church to ‘Make the Great Commission Great Again’

A millennial Christian author is urging the church to reconsider its model of ministry to engage millennials, who he describes as “the most cause-oriented generation.” 

Speaking at the Exponential regional gathering in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Grant Skeldon, author of The Passion Generation: The Seemingly Reckless, Definitely Disruptive, But Far From Hopeless Millennials, said people his age are among the most scrutinized and favored of generations.

Yet to get a snapshot of the perception among the general public about who Christians are can be found by entering “why are Christians so…” into a Yahoo search engine.

On a slide show he showed that among the results that appear as auto-fill options following “why are Christians so…” are: “mean,” “miserable,” “annoying,” “judgmental,” “stupid,” “intolerable,” “hateful,” “mean-spirited,” “afraid of Muslims,” and “afraid of yoga.”

The one positive result was “loving,” which was followed by “lukewarm,” Skeldon recounted, receiving laughs from those in attendance.

While not a comprehensive picture, the search results indicate the real questions many have about believers in Jesus and indeed, some of the “the loudest Christians can be like that,” he acknowledged.

Meanwhile, millennials are passionate about changing the world, are tired of being reached out to by various brands of Christianity and want to be utilized for the glory of God, he said.

Worldly outfits are seizing upon this desire among the young and are effectively mobilizing them, he said, but not the church.

Skeldon proposed the church adopt a posture of simply saying: “Go and make disciples.”

Yet, “what we tend to do [in the church] … is you’ve got to come back next week and listen to me,” the author explained.

In the culture now, “you don’t get points anymore for being a Christian,” he added.

He proposed, half-jokingly, that red hats be made to read “Make the Commission Great Again,” a riff on the red caps worn by supporters of President Trump that read “Make America Great Again.”

Instead of being born again, many Christians are “bored again,” Skeldon quipped.

The author added that while the church might not be presently catching a life-giving discipleship model, because the Gospel is the most powerful message in the world, he is not worried.

“Even when the church is behind, it always adapts,” he said.

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SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter