I am saddened by the wickedness of my generation.\u00a0 Three weeks ago \u2013 before the Coronavirus quarantine \u2013 I returned to the YSA ward that I attended in college.\u00a0 I noticed a man sitting by himself on a pew.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t remember his name, but I did remember him.\u00a0 He sat by himself on that same pew seven years ago.\u00a0 Seven years sitting alone at church.<\/p>\n
If this was an isolated incident, I would not be so despondent.\u00a0 But this was not isolated.\u00a0 A few weeks before, a young man visited my New York YSA ward.\u00a0 He was new to the city, an actor, and a return missionary.\u00a0 After I introduced myself, I had to leave for a blessing.<\/p>\n
As I left the chapel, I looked back.\u00a0 He was surrounded by several groups of friends that each talked among themselves.\u00a0 They did not make eye contact with him.\u00a0 He dropped his eyes to his phone, obviously wanting someone to talk with.\u00a0 No one introduced themselves.\u00a0 He did not come to the second hour.<\/p>\n
A month earlier, our YSA ward struggled to get people to help with church cleaning.\u00a0 In the end, only four people came: two members of the Bishopric \u2013 who took time away from their families \u2013 the person called to be the building coordinator, and me.\u00a0 Later that evening, twenty-five people showed up to a Valentine\u2019s day speed dating event with free food.<\/p>\n
The last time my YSA ward did a service activity was over a year ago.\u00a0 We went to a homeless shelter.\u00a0 Three people showed up: the Bishop, one woman from the ward, and me.\u00a0 We have not made any service plans since then.<\/p>\n
According to Pew, as of 2016, U.S. Millennial retention rates were just 46%, well below 72% for Boomers.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 For U.S. YSAs, it\u2019s probably closer to 30%.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 The Church is aware of its retention problems but does not appear to understand the root problem.\u00a0 We are treating the symptoms, but are unable to diagnose the disease.<\/p>\n Millennials aren\u2019t leaving the Church because of its stance on LGBTQ+ issues, though that certainly hasn\u2019t helped.\u00a0 Nor are we leaving because of greater access to early Church history, though that probably has not helped either.<\/p>\n The main reason we are leaving the Church is because we do not feel that we are becoming more like Jesus Christ.\u00a0 In part, we are right.\u00a0 YSAs are stunted in their spiritual growth. At least until parenthood forces us to be more outwardly focused (and often not even then), we tend to be as equally self-centered and un-Christ-like as our secular counterparts.\u00a0 We do not welcome the stranger.\u00a0 We do not feed the hungry.\u00a0 We do not visit the afflicted.\u00a0 Church is a reliable way to make friends and search for a spouse.\u00a0 If we can fill those needs elsewhere, we will.<\/p>\n Our mission as a Church is to bring people unto Christ.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Most of my generation still want to come to Him.\u00a0 Then why do we feel like we are not?\u00a0 We are teaching the correct principles, but we are not applying them.\u00a0 We read Matthew 25 in Sunday School but rarely reach out to those we are called to minister.<\/p>\n My generation needs to be called to repentance with \u201cboldness of speech.”[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Particularly the YSA, who are idling away the days of their probation, need to organize and carry out activities to help people in their communities.\u00a0 If nothing else, they can volunteer their time to help babysit for married couples with small children, who are often over stretched and over burdened.<\/p>\n I wish we did not need drastic action.\u00a0 I wish we could be trusted to follow the personal revelation of the Holy Ghost.\u00a0 But 11 years in YSA wards has convinced me that my generation will not become more like Christ without dramatic intervention.\u00a0 This is what the YSA of my generation need:<\/p>\n When my generation once again feels that coming to church is bringing them closer to Jesus Christ, they will keep coming.\u00a0 They will also come back in droves.\u00a0 They will bring friends, who are desperate for stoic admonishment and gospel truths in an era of coddling and self-centered consumerist entitlement.<\/p>\n One day, this or a future generation will be called upon to meet the Lord Jesus Christ at His second coming.\u00a0 My generation is not prepared for that day.\u00a0 If we do not repent, we never will be.\u00a0 Help us to come unto Christ.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2019\/03\/27\/how-many-millennials-are-really-leaving-the-lds-church\/<\/a><\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> See Moroni 10:32, See also Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel<\/em><\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Jacob 2:7<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> See Matthew 25<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> https:\/\/newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org\/article\/mormon-helping-hands-clean-up-after-sandy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am saddened by the wickedness of my generation.\u00a0 Three weeks ago \u2013 before the Coronavirus quarantine \u2013 I returned to the YSA ward that I attended in college.\u00a0 I noticed a man sitting by himself on a pew.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t remember his name, but I did remember him.\u00a0 He sat by himself on that same pew seven years ago.\u00a0 Seven years sitting alone at church. If this was an isolated incident, I would not be so despondent.\u00a0 But this was not isolated.\u00a0 A few weeks before, a young man visited my New York YSA ward.\u00a0 He was new to the city, an actor, and a return missionary.\u00a0 After I introduced myself, I had to leave for a blessing. As I left the chapel, I looked back.\u00a0 He was surrounded by several groups of friends that each talked among themselves.\u00a0 They did not make eye contact with him.\u00a0 He dropped his eyes to his phone, obviously wanting someone to talk with.\u00a0 No one introduced themselves.\u00a0 He did not come to the second hour. A month earlier, our YSA ward struggled to get people to help with church cleaning.\u00a0 In the end, only four people came: two members of the Bishopric […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10400,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latter-day-saint-thought"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10400"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40057"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40115,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40057\/revisions\/40115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n