What Millennials Want With the Bible

I was born in 1990, smack in the middle of what most people consider the Millennial generation. As a Millennial, it’s been slightly depressing, slightly confusing, and slightly amusing reading all of the (digital) ink that’s been spilled trying to figure out my generation, its relationship with the Bible, and its role in the Church.

We lead the way in “Bible skepticism.” Our short attention spans, conditioned by scrolling through thousands of tweets, Facebook statuses, and Instagram photos, seem to leave little hope of longform reading. Maybe if we could just get the Bible in Tweet form? Or even better, Emojis!

A better way forward

Instead of trying to contort our Holy Scriptures and Christian faith into something Millennials will “approve”, what if our generation is actually looking for something bigger, something that transcends what we experience with our smartphones?

That’s why I loved this article, Reaching a New Generation with the Bible by Cara Meredith on CT Pastors. She touches on important factors we at the Institute for Bible Reading believe constitute rich, impactful Bible reading. Authentic community. A powerful, life-defining story. Space to open up and ask difficult questions.

My generation craves community and authenticity. When it comes to the Bible, we don’t need emojis. Trust me, we already have enough. What we need is to encounter the real, wild, untamed lands of the Bible’s story, and to encounter them together. The Institute for Bible Reading has worked hard to make sure those two ideas are central to the DNA of our signature program, Immerse: The Bible Reading Experience.

I highly recommend you check out Reaching a New Generation with the Bible, then let us know what you think by leaving a comment below!