Leader's Insight: What Disillusioned 20-Somethings Want

Sarah Cunningham has left the church, at least as most of us know it. But she believes in “keeping the faith” and “tradition.” The 28-year-old PK (pastor’s kid) and former megachurch staffer now teaches high school history and is part of a house church in Jackson, Michigan. She is the author of Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation (Zondervan, 2006).

Are you a “friendly outsider” or a “provocative insider” in relation to the church?

Definitely a provocative insider. I was raised in a pastor’s family and went to a Christian college. I do have a really firm grasp on doctrine, and I have a strong hold on tradition as well. I feel a sense of tension in trying to speak the truth, of not trying to keep the silence, but please know that I am also keeping the faith.

If you could say one thing to church leaders, what would you tell them?

I would say that faith systems that don’t compel transformation are empty. I feel like a lot of the reason that Generation Y has come to a point of cynicism and disillusionment is because we misunderstand what it means to follow Christ.

It’s not that people had a bad intention. No one stands at the altar and says, “How can I over-formulize or systemize Christianity?” But few people see Christianity as a shift of allegiance that prompts us to make personal changes in beliefs, habits, and lifestyles. We must continually examine our churches to make sure our message is one that requires transformation.

There is some talk that leadership skips a generation, that the twenty-somethings are reclaiming the leadership mantle from Generation X. Would you agree or disagree?

I feel like it’s yet to be determined. No matter where I go and talk with people in my age group, I find it very easy, Christian or non-Christian, to get somebody to resonate with the idea that religious systems are disillusioning.

What’s yet to be seen is whether our generation will be able to overcome this cynical phase that maybe comes with the 20s, that stage of life where you’re examining what you’ve been taught. If we’re able to move beyond this disillusionment, then I think leadership in my generation will blossom and will flourish.

But this is not limited to my generation. I think disillusionment is a timeless issue just like suffering. Disillusionment is a response to suffering: “This is not matching up to what I expected, so what do I do?” The word disillusionment comes from “dis” which means “away from” and “illusionment” which means a “false impression of reality.” We need to move away from our false impressions of religion, and move toward the ideals of the faith and true followership, which involves day-to-day community and life-on-life witness.

Moderns are big on labels. Would you classify yourself, and your friends, as postmodern?

I try to stay away from labels like postmodern, emergent, etc. You can institutionalize anything, and that’s my leeriness when it comes to labels. You can institutionalize candles in a service, or looking at theooze.com.

I’m a history teacher. When I read about the Great Awakening or the Reformation, I see the same spirit of just wanting to own faith for our own generation and make it real. This spirit cycles through history and is a necessary part of each generation, that stage of reflecting and examining what their forefathers had said to them.

The problem for my generation is not that we don’t agree on church doctrine; it’s that we’re not convinced that the church system offers any kind of compelling truth, that we don’t get close enough to get excited about the doctrine to begin with.

What do you predict the church will look like in the future as twenty-somethings get older?

In some ways, I don’t even care. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I just want to know that people are in Christian community, and that they see Christian community as a venue to affect their community.

I’m hoping we don’t abandon the practice of gathering together. I believe that my generation could go on and live more reclusively and live out our ideals individually, but I think it would be a really sad turn of events if that’s what happens.

But I don’t feel a sense of panic that the church will die in our generation because we know the church will prevail through chaos, destruction, and challenge.

Sarah Cunningham was interviewed for Leadership by Angie Ward.

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