8 Reasons the Next Generation Craves Ancient Liturgy

This article by Winfield Bevins, Director of Church Planting at Asbury Seminary. It is illustrative of a number of articles that promote liturgy, particularly ancient liturgy, as the best approach to reach the younger generations. What these articles have in common is that they rely on anecdotal evidence to support the claims that they make.

In this article Bevins claims to have interviewed "hundreds of young adults and leaders." If that is the case, why doesn't he include the interview questionnaire that he used, demographic characteristics and age echelons of the young people that he interviewed, and the specific findings from the interviews. In other words, the kind of information that you would expect a legitimate researcher to provide.

I don't doubt that some young people are attracted to liturgy. One of the dozens of university students that attended the worship gatherings of the Journey Church here in Murray, Kentucky, and with whom I have had conversations over the past ten years admitted that she was attracted to liturgy. But she was an exception.

University students and other young adults are not flocking to the liturgical churches here in Murray. Some do attend their services but not in large numbers.

To be believable claims like the ones Bevins is making needed to be backed by credible research. Otherwise they are misleading and may prompt churches to adopt an approach that does not take into consideration the particular characteristics of the unchurched population of the community in which they are located. They end up fishing with the wrong bait and the wrong tackle in the wrong place at the wrong time of day and go home with nothing.

For many years now, articles, surveys, and news reports have lamented the steady flow of young people leaving the church in North America at an alarming rate. According to the Pew Research Center, about a third of older millennials (adults currently in their late 20s and early 30s) now say they have no religion, up nine percentage points among this age range since 2007. Nearly a quarter of Generation X now say they have no particular religion or describe themselves as atheists or agnostics.

Yet while a growing number of young adults are leaving the church, there are other trends as well. Many young believers, from different backgrounds and traditions, are staying in the church while embracing a liturgical expression of the faith. And while it is most noticeable among young adults, this trend is true of people of various ages and backgrounds as well, believers who are seeking to recover ancient practices of the Christian faith.

For the past two years, I have traveled across the United States, Canada, and England visiting churches, cathedrals, universities, and seminaries. I have listened to dozens of young adults share how they have embraced Christian liturgy. I have heard stories about how liturgy is impacting many lives, and I have interviewed hundreds of young adults and leaders to hear their stories about how liturgy has impacted their faith.

By interviewing young adults from across the United States, I’ve uncovered eight major reasons why a new generation is following the allure of liturgy. I won’t claim that this list is exhaustive, but it does offer a succinct snapshot of the allure of liturgy. Read More