Relationships Count: Engaging & Retaining Millennials (ebook Edition)

God counts all of His sheep, and if He finds one lost He would rather leave the ninety-nine in order to find the one, than stay with the ninety-nine. Our church has counted their sheep and started to see that young "sheep" have been lost. "This is not a new problem, but it is a critical one. What will we do to address this issue? Will we stay with the ninety-nine? Or will we search for the lost? More important, how can we prevent more sheep from straying?"

The largest generation in the United States is now the smallest representation of those who actively attend LCMS churches. Even more shocking, up to 35 percent of Millennials chose to not identify with any religion, far more than any previous generation. Why is this?

In 2016, the LCMS Youth Ministry and LCMS Research embarked on a special accounting of the millennial generation. This three-phase research project, composed of surveys and focus groups, aimed to understand retention rates of LCMS millennials. The conclusions of the research are found here, hoping to give church leaders a better understanding of these retention rates and why those who left the LCMS decided to, potential areas where the church can improve retention rates for future generations, and inform the church on how to better minister to today's young adults. This is the only research specifically targeted at young adults who were raised LCMS but later left.