Millennials Differ From Previous Generations

Posted on by Mike

From the Ivy Jungle newsletter:

Millennials Differ From Previous Generations: Having grown up in a digital world of constantly evolving technology, researchers say the millennial generation differs from all of its predecessors. The second largest generation in US history, they thrive on choice and instant results. The economy is just one sphere of their influence where the average US teen spends just over $100 a week on discretionary items. Recognized as trendsetters in the population, marketers have taken a keen interest in them. They have proven very adaptable – especially with regard to technology. They have moved from email to IM to MySpace in the course of almost literally months. They have left cd players far behind as they took up iPods. They constantly want choices – even in education. At the college level, researchers say it is not uncommon for them to be simultaneously enrolled in both traditional on campus courses and online classes – through their own university or another somewhere else in the world. On a standard personality test, Millenials outscore their GenX predecessors in warmth, abstract reasoning, emotional stability, social boldness, sensitivity, openness to change, and perfectionism. GenXers scored much higher in self reliance. Their driving value seems to be choice and finding ways to make something their own. (Seattle Post Intelligencer March 13, 2007)

More on Manly Church

Posted on by Mike 5 Comments

Relevant to yesterdays post, I found a post by Chris Elrod regarding music in the church. He’s got a point about the feminization of the church. Here are a few concluding paragraphs from his blog on the subject.

The songs of yesterday were hymns about blood, victory and battle put to the beer drinking tunes of the day. Manly stuff that makes me want to go pee in the woods just writing about. Today we sing about love, peace and joy put to music that sounds like The Wiggles. Excuse me while I go watch Oprah and hug myself. To top it off, most preachers seem to get their topical message ideas from watching one episode of The View. May God have mercy on our soul.

This is not an “I’ve-lost-touch-with-today-because-I’m-an-old-fart” or pro “Wild-At-Heart” cultural thing. I’ve heard these same views expressed by many unchurched, artistic 20-something men. Musically they want AC/DC and we give them Celine Dion. Lyrically they want Tom Clancy and we give them Danielle Steel. Spiritually they want Braveheart and we give them Sleepless In Seattle. Everywhere I turn there’s this…estrogen…feel to church. It’s all so safe, sappy and sad.

If the church is going to be relevant in the coming generations we’ve got to get back to reaching men…and helping them become Godly husbands and fathers. In order for the church to reach men we’ve got to have music on Sundays that has the lyrical depth of John Newton, the musical kick of Guns N’ Roses and led by a man that looks like Ted Nugent. In order for the church to reach men we’ve got to have sermons that hit like a NFL linebacker, spoken in a voice as bold as a WCW wrestler and led by a man that acts like…John The Baptist. If there’s one thing that today’s society of broken marriages and children with no father figure has taught us…it’s that we need more manly churches!!!

Happy Resurrection Sunday.

Church for Men

Posted on by Mike 1 Comment

It’s about time. Studies have shown that women are more attracted to the traditional church than men are. In Daytona Beach, FL, there is now a Church for Men.

Fox News reports:

The Church For Men meets one Saturday evening a month, drawing about 70 guys dressed in everything but straight-laced shirts and neckties. The service features a rock band, a shot clock to time the preacher’s message and a one-hour in-and-out guarantee.

Generation Me

Posted on by Mike 2 Comments

I found an interesting article in the Ivy Jungle Campus Ministry Update. They quote from an AP article of February 27, 2007:

All that positive self esteem teaching has sunk in among today’s college students. A study by a group of psychologists shows that college students today exhibit a higher level of narcissism and self-centeredness than those who have gone before them. The Narcissistic Personality Inventory has now been used by this group of researchers for more than 25 years. While the current students have a much higher self esteem, they also show tendencies to have romantic relationships that are “short lived, at risk for infidelity, and lack emotional warmth”, one of several indicators exhibited that show a high degree of narcissism. Lead researcher Jean Twenge has published her findings in “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled – and More Miserable Than Ever.” She has also stated that today’s technology – such as MySpace and YouTube only fuel this unhealthy narcissism.

Poor kids. Explains a lot.