Page 10 - July 2018 Traveler

Evangelism Corner

Question: Who do you think the loneliest generation is?

My response, as a former manager of Intouch Home Care Services was "the elderly, the old-
est generation." Imagine my surprise when I learned that a survey conducted by Cigna re-

vealed Generation Z (those aged 18 - 22) are the loneliest generation currently alive around
the globe. They join nearly half of America in saying they are lonely, do not have meaningful

connections with others and feel left out.

These surprising facts were discussed in a recent article entitled "The Loneliest Generation
and the Church's Role" written by Christine Embree. The link to the article is attached at the

end. Mrs. Embers sees similarities between Generation X's loneliness and a Pew Research
survey conduced a couple of years ago that found the largest drop in church membership is in

the Protestant Christian churches and the greatest gain is in the churches considered Unaffili-
ated, not associating with a religion.

Definitions for "unaffiliated" are "not associated with another or others" and "not connect-

ed." Studies show decline in church attendance by 18 - 29 year olds because of feelings of
not belonging. The church is their parent's and grandparent's church, not theirs. "The church

must take some blame for that. We have not promoted intergenerational relationships
forged through time spent together not just within the walls of the church building, but time

spent in life being the church."

With Pastor Pat's guidance, the Evangelism Team is thinking outside the box. How can we be

the church outside our building and how can we promote intergenerational relationships?

Our baseball outings supporting some of our youth is one example. Nine of us had fun cheer-
ing Brock during his baseball game. Unfortunately Issac's, Tyler's, Dylan's, and Coach Brad's

game was cancelled due to storms. It was so cool to hear Brock thank us for coming during
announcements the following Sunday!!