{"id":33054,"date":"2022-09-10T16:33:40","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/american-millennials-value-family-above-all-else\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:33:40","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:33:40","slug":"american-millennials-value-family-above-all-else","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/american-millennials-value-family-above-all-else\/","title":{"rendered":"American &#8216;Millennials&#8217; Value Family Above All Else"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2014&nbsp;<\/strong>When asked what&#8217;s important in life, most American &#8220;Millennials&#8221; &#8211; those born between 1980 and 1991 &#8211; say family comes first, ahead of friends, education, careers and even religion.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the finding of Lifeway Research based on a wide-ranging August 2009 survey of 1,200 Millennials in the United States. The study forms the basis for the book&nbsp;<em>The Millennials: Connecting to America&#8217;s Largest Generation<\/em>&nbsp;by Dr. Thom Rainer and his son Jess Rainer.<\/p>\n<p>Sixty-one percent of Millennials place family at the top of their priority lists, followed by friends (25 percent), education (17 percent), careers\/jobs (16 percent), spouses\/partners (13 percent), and spirituality\/religion (13 percent).<\/p>\n<p>Other responses to the open-ended question include: finances (12 percent), happiness (12 percent), raising kids (11 percent), health (10 percent), activities (9 percent), well-being (9 percent), the future (5 percent), nature\/pets (5 percent), and use of time (4 percent).<\/p>\n<p>Total percentages exceeded 100 because respondents were permitted to list more than one priority.<\/p>\n<div class='code-block code-block-1' style='margin: 8px 0;clear: both'> <\/div>\n<h2>Differences between population groups<\/h2>\n<p>There are major differences between population groups concerning their priorities. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Family is mentioned more often by whites, the more educated, married, and those who are broadly Christian.<\/li>\n<li>Friends are more important to younger Millennials, those with higher incomes, whites and Asians, those with more than a high school degree, and singles.<\/li>\n<li>Health is a higher priority for older Millennials, those with mid-range and higher incomes, those with more education, and those from non-Christian religions.<\/li>\n<li>Happiness is more important to those with higher incomes, Westerners, those not trusting Christ as Savior, and those who do not consider themselves even broadly Christian.<\/li>\n<li>The future is more important to blacks and those not already married.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Millennials are committed to family above other priorities, even though many are waiting to start their own families,&#8221; said Thom Rainer, president of Lifeway Christian Resources. &#8220;To minister effectively, the church should tap into this priority among Millennials. Churches with a strong understanding and sense of family will be able to more easily reach Millennials. I expect that ministries that cross generations &#8211; such as older adults mentoring young adults &#8211; could be highly effective in connecting Millennials to Jesus.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>In their words<\/h2>\n<p>Respondents often list priorities in groups rather than individually. One said, &#8220;Family, friends, and happiness [are most important]. Vacationing and enjoying free time with the people I love. Music and being spontaneous.&#8221; Another answered, &#8220;Finding a career, my friends, my family, my health.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:1em\">\n<div class=\"centered-text-area\">\n<div class=\"centered-text\" style=\"float: left\">\n<div class=\"u3cd60827815fe6cb6c840f324e299e84-content\">See also&nbsp; Pastors Concerned with Growing Leaders, Reaching Outsiders<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ctaButton\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Some Millennials express hope in the midst of despair about the world around them. Said one respondent: &#8220;My family and dreams [are most important]. These two things kept me motivated to thrive in this dark life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Others provide more optimistic answers concerning their priorities: &#8220;My religion, my family, continually working on self-improvement, serving people, living a fulfilling life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A variety of simple pleasures finds its way into respondents&#8217; priorities as well. One Millennial named as top priority, &#8220;My PlayStation 3 &#8230; I can&#8217;t live without it.&#8221; Another said it&#8217;s important to &#8220;feel good about myself,&#8221; and another found it important to &#8220;have time to do activities for pleasure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>The importance of religion\/spirituality<\/h2>\n<p>While overt Christian messages are relatively few in number, some place their relationship with Jesus at the top of the list.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, two-thirds of those who indicate they trust Christ as Savior mention nothing about faith, religion or spirituality when asked to name what&#8217;s really important in their lives.<\/p>\n<p>Others who list the importance of faith were the churched (31 percent); those with graduate degrees (23 percent); and those claiming to be broadly Christian (18 percent).<\/p>\n<p>Only 3 percent of the unchurched mention faith, while 2 percent of those who claim no religious affiliation say faith is important in their lives.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For many Millennials, Christianity is a family heirloom rather than a faith commitment,&#8221; said Rainer. &#8220;The Christian faith in America is being passed to a generation that is slow to embrace a relationship with Jesus Christ and even slower to treasure it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Who are the Millennials?<\/h2>\n<p>Sixty-five percent of respondents identify themselves as Christian, while 14 percent say they are atheist or agnostic, 14 percent list no religious preference, and 8 percent claim other religions. (See &#8220;Study finds American &#8216;Millennials&#8217; are spiritually diverse&#8221;).<\/p>\n<p>One-third of all Millennials strongly agree that they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today. Another 24 percent somewhat agree, 17 percent somewhat disagree and 26 percent strongly disagree.<\/p>\n<p><em>Methodology: Lifeway Research, in August 2009, conducted a national, demographically representative survey of 1,200 U.S. adults born between 1980 and 1991. The sample provided 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed +\/-2.8 percent.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Dowload the research (PDF)<\/p>\n<div class='yarpp yarpp-related yarpp-related-website yarpp-template-thumbnails'>\n<h3>Related posts:<\/h3>\n<div class=\"yarpp-thumbnails-horizontal\">  What Do Pastors Believe About the End Times?  What Do Pastors Believe About the Book of Revelation?  3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2014&nbsp;When asked what&#8217;s important in life, most American &#8220;Millennials&#8221; &#8211; those born between 1980 and 1991 &#8211; say family comes first, ahead of friends, education, careers and even religion. That&#8217;s the finding of Lifeway Research based on a wide-ranging August 2009 survey of 1,200 Millennials in the United States. The study forms &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/american-millennials-value-family-above-all-else\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;American &#8216;Millennials&#8217; Value Family Above All Else&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}