• Home
  • About
    • Our team
    • Find a Spiritual Director
  • Services
    • Classes
    • Retreats
    • Certificate Programs
    • Workshops & Presentations
  • Areas of Focus
    • Spiritual Formation
      • Certificate in Spiritual Direction
      • Contemplative Journey: A Year in the Christian Spiritual Disciplines
    • Ministerial Support
    • Body Spirituality and Wellness
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Course Catalog
    • Art and Spirituality
    • Benedictine Spirituality, Part 1
    • Benedictine Spirituality, Part 2
    • Contemplative Prayer Practices
    • Communal Spirituality
    • Cultivating Creativity: Art as a Contemplative Practice
    • Held and Loved: On Parenting with God
    • Sacred Dust: Exploring the Relationship between the Body and Faith
    • Silence and Solitude
    • Simplicity: Making Room for God
    • Spirituality of the Body
    • Transformation through Scripture
  • Contact
  • Home »
  • About »
    • Our team »
    • Find a Spiritual Director »
  • Services »
    • Classes »
    • Retreats »
    • Certificate Programs »
    • Workshops & Presentations »
  • Areas of Focus »
    • Spiritual Formation »
      • Certificate in Spiritual Direction »
      • Contemplative Journey: A Year in the Christian Spiritual Disciplines »
    • Ministerial Support »
    • Body Spirituality and Wellness »
  • Events »
  • Blog »
  • Course Catalog »
    • Art and Spirituality »
    • Benedictine Spirituality, Part 1 »
    • Benedictine Spirituality, Part 2 »
    • Contemplative Prayer Practices »
    • Communal Spirituality »
    • Cultivating Creativity: Art as a Contemplative Practice »
    • Held and Loved: On Parenting with God »
    • Sacred Dust: Exploring the Relationship between the Body and Faith »
    • Silence and Solitude »
    • Simplicity: Making Room for God »
    • Spirituality of the Body »
    • Transformation through Scripture »
  • Contact »
 
 
Selah: Center for Spiritual Formation

Center for Spiritual Formation

  • Recent Posts

    • Peace, by Kelli Randolph
    • Spiritual Nourishment
    • Graces Remembered
    • 30-Day Silent Retreat, Part 2 
    • Silent Retreat, Part I
  • Archives

    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • September 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • October 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • November 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • May 2020
    • March 2020
    • December 2019
    • October 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • April 2015
  • Categories

    • Body Spirituality and Wellness
    • Course Previews
    • Millennial Spirituality
    • Spiritual Formation
    • Spirituality of Aging
    • TPW
    • Uncategorized

Spiritual Support

Sign up to receive our newsletter

We promise to keep your email safe

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Millennial Spirituality: Beyond the Sanctuary

Posted by Erin Halstead | February 22, 2016

For Mom 052 copyAs Julie Andrews once sang, “let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…” Although I’m not sure that Sister Maria would have approved of this particular story. This is the story of how I parted ways with the church.

And yet, it isn’t. Because I’m not sure I really did.

I definitely didn’t part with the Church – my community of faith-filled friends and mentors. I didn’t part with my belief in or relationship with God, although my understanding of those things has broadened. But as my spirituality and theology have transformed, so has my relationship with the religious institution. Like many Millennials who were raised in the church, but who are in that awkward gap between attending with your parents and attending with your kids, I find it difficult to make my way there every Sunday morning.

If you’ve been on social media anytime in the past few years, or if you’ve ever googled “millennials church” out of curiosity, you may have noticed the surge of blogs, articles, academic studies, and sermons on this CRISIS. “Millennials are leaving the church in droves!” As church leaders, as parents, as grandparents – there seems to be a burden of responsibility inherent in this discussion. What can be done to stem the tide of young adults who are fleeing the very institution that represents the whole premise of their faith heritage? What can be done to save the church?

Over the course of this blog series, which Jackie has been kind enough to invite me to guest write for Selah, I hope to reframe this discussion by diving into the tensions in my spiritual identity. The fact that I am a person of faith, yet struggle on a daily basis to define that truth in my life. How I yearn for Christian fellowship yet find it difficult to attend church regularly, how my liberal theology is at odds with my conservative heritage, how I am a Christian who’s not always sure how proud I am of my “brothers and sisters in Christ”.

I won’t pretend to speak on behalf of all Millennials who grew up in the Church, because I know very well how diverse our experiences with religion and faith have been. Some of my dearest friends have charted a completely different course than me, and are currently long-term active members of a church community. I cherish that.

But I also have many more friends whose stories bear some semblance to mine: Still deeply connected to the religious institution through our relatives and mentors, yet slightly out of step with it ourselves. Fueled by Christian fellowship, but seeking and finding it mostly beyond the walls of the Sunday morning sanctuary. Searching for a practice of the spiritual disciplines that is renewed, and relevant to the shape of our lives and beliefs.

I hope you’ll find my story – as it’s told over the course of this blog – to be challenging, convicting, inspirational, and filled with hope for my generation of fellow believers. We don’t necessarily need saving, but we do need patience and encouragement as we seek God in our very own (admittedly untraditional) way.

This entry was posted in Millennial Spirituality. Bookmark the permalink.
← Previous Post Next Post →
  • Home
  • About Selah
  • Services
  • Areas of Focus
    • Contemplative Journey: A Year in the Christian Spiritual Disciplines
  • Contact Selah
  • Donate

© 2015. Selah: Center for Spiritual Foundation. All rights reserved.

WordPress website theme design and installation by the MightyLittleWebShop.com