Bucking a trend, these churches figured out how to bring millennials back to worship

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One thing about Protestants there is a lot of hugs and home Bible study and fellowship but I won’t trade that and miss out on the Eucharist. God bless
 
Fellowship would be great, but people just aren’t interested in doing things here, after Mass coffee, it’s always the same group of people.

During the Christmas Masses I went to there was loads of younger people, but where are they ever Sunday, maybe it was more people returning for the break to see families, but it was packed with families that just aren’t there on a regular Sunday.
 
Hello. I’m a Millennial and happened across this thread and this is a topic near-and-dear my heart so I decided to finally register on Catholic Answers and add my own perspective.

Many of my generation have grown up in broken homes, struggled to find work, and feel deep in their hearts that something is wrong with society as it is today. There’s so much violence, economic disparity, and the media and politicians bombard us with so many confusing messages about life and family that go against Natural Law and what our grandparents believed and did. Many of us blame our parents, the same generation that brought about so many changes in the Church, for the problems the world faces today, and we crave both answers and certainty the material world does not provide. I think we all know that the Church began its decline in attendance and orders around the time of Vatican II, not because Vatican II was so radical in actuality but because so many radicals saw it as an excuse to make changes and these changes alienated the laity and weakened the catechesis of so many young people in its wake.

At a time when moral relativity is advocated everywhere outside of Church, when people are being told they should believe things that are clearly in defiance of both tradition and even scientific understanding, what people of my generation need most is a traditional belief system, with a traditional structure, to ground us in unambiguous truth. Those who already believe in Catholic doctrine will show up every Sunday for a dose of that, if not more often, and they will be all the more receptive to the message and eager to evangelize. Those who don’t already agree, because they are so steeped in ambiguity in the rest of their lives, need to hear the message all the more.

We don’t need, or want, rock concerts in Church. There’s already a market for that outside of the Church. Please, just give us certainty. Call out sin for what it is, and condemn it in the harshest terms. Don’t water down the teachings of the Church, or hem and haw up on the pulpit. Tell us how we should be living our lives and resist the temptations all around us when we walk out of the Church after Mass. Equip us with scriptural and traditional arguments against the greatest sins perpetuated today in mass media and politics. Do it in a dignified way. There is so little dignity outside of Church, it would be nice to get it at Mass.

(cont.)
 
There’s talk in this thread of community, and social activities, and I would love for there to be stronger Catholic communities everywhere, but let’s not lose focus of the purpose of Mass. Not everyone is a social butterfly. I myself am an intense introvert and will almost never go to some post-Mass luncheon to socialize. I will however attend a lecture on scripture. I will show up and quietly help out in a charitable activity being done by the Church or Church members. I will, from time to time, attend an organized mass rosary because all I have to do is pray. I’m sure the more extroverted members of the Catholic faith would certainly enjoy more social activities, and those should exist as well, but don’t turn Mass into a social activity or a rock concert, and don’t neglect the many (some think it’s a majority) of people who prefer quiet meditation and study over a raucous party. Foster community outside of Mass, advertise the outside activities like Bible study, rosaries, charity, and social activities at Mass, and I think you’ll see a resurgence in Church attendance.

I don’t know if anything I said here is truly Millennial-exclusive, and that’s kind of the point. I don’t think Church should ever pander to anybody, it should be a great and ancient institution that draws people to it, not the other way around.
 
Thanks for the excellent posting. A number of people at my parish recently started a Vespers/meal group following our 7:00 PM Sunday Mass. I know most of the members – all very good people. It’s fascinating to observe what they have encountered over the past several weeks:
  • The pastor was good about letting them use the parish chapel, a meeting room and the office kitchen. After all the parish is deserted at that time of the week.
  • Notices for Vespers/after Mass meal make it into the bulletin about half the time. It’s supposed to be in each week. A “lack of space” is noted as the problem, yet quite a bit of canned stuff from the bulletin supplier is reprinted for really no reason.
  • About every third week the room/table they use for dining is covered with books/file boxes/etc. for no reason other than to stop them from dining.
  • One of the file boxes was accidentally left on top of a small desk just outside of the room in a hallway. Someone has claimed that desk as their “work space” and formally complained to the pastor that someone “abused” it without their permission.
  • All the pots/pans were missing from the office kitchen for two Sundays.
  • Their big box of psalters were “misplaced” from the chapel, even though the chapel is rarely used.
  • One of the lay funtionaries in the office told the group they could not use the chapel for 6-8 weeks because they carpet was going to be cleaned. The pastor got involved on that one.
I have been asked a number of times to join. I said I would when and if all the noise dies down. They’re pioneers. They’re not part of the parish “inner core” and they are paying for it. I pray they survive and become a long-term Sunday activity. Then I will join.

It’s very clear that depending on the parish, the barriers to starting a weekly group activity differ wildly.
 
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Hebrews12 said:
There’s talk in this thread of community, and social activities, and I would love for there to be stronger Catholic communities everywhere, but let’s not lose focus of the purpose of Mass.
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No one is losing sight of the fact that the Mass is THE focus of our Sunday experiences at Church. It’s the source and summit of all grace.

Just because the Mass is so profoundly important does not make fellowship opportunities non-important, nor is it a zero sum game – BOTH can and should exist at all Catholic parishes.

The awesome gift of the Mass should also not be used as an excuse for eschewing fellowship opportunities. The exact opposite should be the case. Fellowship opportunities should be strong because they’re fed by the Mass.
 
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I think providing a space can help, many young adults are either living with parents or living in flat/house shares without a living space (kitchen, bathroom and everything else converted to bedrooms to maximize profit) so can’t host this sort of thing.
 
That’s actually what most people including Millennials want. If we want donuts, we’ll go to the bakery. I don’t think free food is as much of a draw as people think.

It’s nice if Churches want to do this, but what draws people to religion and the Church are logic and consistency.
 
You don’t have to “miss” Eucharist if you have small groups - - in fact, I think small groups, bible study enhances the the Mass experience.

In terms of having multiple avenues to come into small groups OUTSIDE the mass (in protestant’s case, their Sunday service), I think that would be a great idea.
 
I have really enjoyed being part of small groups at my husbands church.
 
Your Catholic you should find a Catholic Bible study. There beliefs are different than ours. I use to go and they thought they could just believe in Christ and go to heaven. But I pointed out you have to have works to James 2:17 anybody with faith without works is dead. There theology is different from ours as Catholics was have the fullness of the Gospel because of the Eucharist. God bless
 
What if you don’t have an appropriate Catholic group near you? In some parts of the world parishes are small and spread out. I’d love to be part of a Catholic group but being of working age don’t have access to one.
 
Point is, if Catholics have the same small groups as with Protestant, there’s really a great opportunity for learning and connecting with your community. Let’s assume everyone participates in Mass at this point. Just having a avenue to do praise and worship and sharing OUTSIDE mass with people who have the same interests, etc can be valuable. I don’t see why it would make you “miss” the Eucharist.

Unfortunately, in our parish (possibly most parishes) there’s a “gap” for ministry/small groups for people ages 21-50. We have the youth ministry. Then all other small groups cater mostly to retirees. My protestant friends tell me about their “creative” small groups where people in the creative industry come together. I thought it was a great idea. They have bible study small groups for young couples. How I wish our parishes had that!

As for attending bible study with Evangelicals/Protestant - - I enjoy it but of course take the doctrine aspect of it with a grain of salt.
 
SuperLuigi said:
That’s actually what most people including Millennials want. If we want donuts, we’ll go to the bakery. I don’t think free food is as much of a draw as people think.
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It helps to keep people from bolting right out the door after Mass though.

Also, I don’t know about Millennials, but donuts are a big draw for under-5s.
 
It’s mainly because I am cynical due to the low numbers. The parishes I have attended since uni are mostly families who don’t have time (you certainly never see them at events) and elderly who prefer to meet in the day. Until I was 26 I lived with my parents and didn’t really have anywhere to host anything and I’m not proud to admit this but after being at a student parish I just found my fellow parishioners dull.

Another factor with parishes is that when you put yourself forward in this way you are often the only one who does and a huge burden then falls to you. If I felt God was calling me I would do it but really wouldn’t want the stress otherwise.

I am making the most of my time with the group at my husbands church and trying to build up skills so if there was an opportunity to do this for my parish i would be better placed to do so.
 
When I was going to the Baptist Church there was about 80% that were ex Catholic. A lot of Catholics would go to Mass and then come to a baptist service. But the peacher preachs a different set of beliefs. For one he would say ( Why do some people have to jump in and out of a box to be forgiven by a man each time).
First off it’s what Jesus instructed His apostles to do. John 20:21-23… Jesus says to them again, peace be with you. As the father has sent me, so I send you.
And when he said this, he breathed on them and said to them receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and who sins you retained or retained.

Jesus sends his apostles and only his apostles to forgive sins not a Baptist preacher are any other religion.
He breathed on them the Holy Spirit!
The only way it could be pass down after that is the anointing and laying of hands from the Apostleship.

The Catholic Church is not saying you can’t go to any other church but you have to be strong in your Catholic faith. I thought I was until I married a Protestant and thought I could handle going to my Mass and her church. Her church wone. I started not to believe in everything the Catholic Church tought including the Eucharist.

Now I am back home and I Warren Catholics about going to other churches to not get mislead by there message. They are good people and will see heaven we as Catholics have the fullness in His body and blood. God bless
 
It definitely takes strength in your faith. In my case it’s prayer and Bible study with nothing anti-Catholic. For me the other risk was in trying to practice my faith alone without earthly support, I’m not sure I’m strong enough for that either.
 
I’m writing from an Australian, ex-atheist, ex-Protestant, and now Catholic perspective.

To begin with, I lifted the following from this blog - Church Attendance in Australia - McCrindle
Australia has more churches (13,000) than schools (9,500), and more Australians attend a church service each week (1.8 million) than there are people in South Australia (1.6 million).

And while the latest Census results show that Christianity is the religion with which most Australians identify (61.1%), well above the second most popular religion in Australia, Buddhism (2.5%), less than one in seven of the Australians who ticked “Christianity” on their census form regularly attend a church.
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The first question I’d have to ask is if the people who don’t attend church regularly, if at all, are even interested. I was talking some time ago to a protestant friend who had done some door knocking a few years before. He remembered going to one bloke’s place, and when he got there this chap was sitting next to his backyard pool, sucking on a stubbie (small beer bottle), with a large boat on a trailer and a 4WD parked in his driveway.

Meanwhile the friend was dripping with sweat. The other chap said, “What are you here for?” My friend mopped his face and said, “Well, I’m supposed to be telling you you’re missing something.”

The other fellow just laughed.

Generally we’re too well off to have much sense of the need for religion. I didn’t become Christian myself until I was at the tail end of the worst four years of my life - broke, unemployed, heading for a divorce, with a nervous rash etc.

Granted some Protestant Churches do a better job of welcoming people into church; put more emotion into their services, and sometimes have a better sermon. But they struggle to retain people as well.

Secondly the whole ethos of our society is secular. The television promotes images of success in one form or another all the time, but never religious. Walk into any newsagent, and there will be racks of magazines all promoting some form of personal interest. The only “Christian” magazine that I see there will be a Creationist magazine, and it doesn’t seem to sell in great quantities.

So we’re not competing intellectually, while hard-line humanists have high positions in our society.

One of the things that we seem to be doing is trying to focus on “church growth”, “retaining millennials”, “welcoming others” etc. when we’re not even in the market in the first place. Until we can make a viable case for people to “go to Church” (and in our case, the Catholic Church) over and against the secular trends of our generally wealthy society, I don’t see much changing.

I also think there’d need to be a crisis of some sort before most Australians would even think about taking Church, and God, seriously.

I don’t know if that resonates with US, British or other readers, but that’s how I see the Australian church scene.
 
I get what your saying, I know loads of non religious people who I pray for but aren’t really in the market for any organized religion. Even in a crisis I doubt organised religion is where many would look for an answer.

I read some statistics about how young people are less likely to be part of political groups than they were. I wonder if young people don’t have so much faith in joining organizations in general. Someone in a crisis might be more likely to seek something they can do for themselves like mindfulness or if they seek something spiritual go for something that can be practised alone.

To be fair while prayer and faith has got me through some difficult things the Catholic Church as a physical organization wasn’t a lot of help to me as a young graduate trying to find my feet. I don’t think typical British parishes are really equipped to help young adults these days.
 
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