Burlap Podcast

In the past it appeared that churches were filled with a disproportionately large percentage of women. But today it appears that millennial men are more likely to show up at church than were their predecessors. Research suggests that millennial males express their masculinity differently than previous generations, and how they view church attendance is part of this changing view. So what does a 21st Century masculinity look like, and what does the local church need to do to appeal to this changing demographic?

Today’s podcast is about the importance of time management. How do we choose the right things as our priorities so that we can spend quality time trying to reach people and invest in their growth? Often our failures to meet our goals result from the errors of either thinking too large, or getting lost in the minutiae, and when we don’t get results we wonder why. How important is our physical and spiritual health in our efforts to grow the kingdom?

 

It could be that mission experiences are the best starting points for engaging millennials at your church. In this episode we discuss the idea of using service projects as a launching point to connect with the desire of many millennials to gain new experiences while acting on their desire to make the world a better place.

 

Chris Abel shares what happened at a recent experience where a men’s group of gen X’ers and Boomers invited him to one of their monthly breakfasts. What happens when older generations don’t feel respected, and younger generations don’t feel loved? Ideas for millennial outreach include a financial course taught in public spaces, why weekend services matter, the importance of personal invitations, and the Alpha program. In part 2, Chris and Chris discuss whether it’s a myth or not that everyone leaves church in their 20’s, but always comes back later when they have kids. This week we also introduce a segment called “One Step” where we give just one step a church can put into practice to engage with millennials.

In our continuing passion for understanding the do's and don'ts of leadership to millennials and gen Z so that we can do a better job engaging them, Chris and Chris look at four areas--creativity, short-term success, comfort, and command--that can easily displace God as the object of our ministries.

In today’s episode, Chris Folmsbee chats with millennial marketing expert Brad Hannah about how church is like the chocolate industry. You heard that right…chocolate. Brad also gives some excellent ideas of how the church can begin to interact with the millennial generation in ways besides the traditional Sunday morning service (ever heard of “The Sweaty Section”?). You know what…you should probably just listen to it. It’ll make more sense.

It seems that many churches have trouble finding people of millennial age to lead their gen Y ministries. How important is this for the success of this ministry? Chris and Chris also discuss whether it is the Gospel that people are tired of hearing about, or is it something else?

In this episode, Chris Folmsbee talks with Chris Abel about what encourages and discourages him in his work with Millennials, the importance of novelty and collaboration in ministry, and the need to choose one's words carefully. We also explore what appears to be a counter-intuitive trend of progressive young people gravitating towards conservative and neo-fundamentalist churches.

Generational stereotypes are not doing us any favors. Older generations often look down on those in the millennial generation and generation Z, and younger generations don't have the appropriate respect for the older generations. The resulting cycle of not giving respect because one doesn't get respect only increases the tension between the generations. This is one of the big issues facing churches today, says Chris Abel, special guest on today's episode.

Paul Sheneman interviews Sara Blakeney, speaker and author of Ready For More: How Millennials Like You are Destined to Change the Church. Sara discusses the central thesis of the book, her hope in God’s work among the millennial generation and the church’s work to release this generation’s God given potential.