Malls to Sanctuaries

I heard an interesting broadcast by Rex Miller. His view of the under 45 generation is that they are wanting to move from ~

polished prepackaged events to unmediated, hands-on experiences

Main Event to Meaningful Encounters

Product to Process

Knowing to Doing

visual language to multi-media

Mall to Sanctuaries

chasing the new thing to reframing and layering the past
permanency to mobility

I think this is part of what is implied by the refocus of church for people under 45 ... who are primarily seeking big visions, mentoring relationships, and practical ways to change the world. This contrasts to boomers who tend to appreciate big performance, general informality, and comfortable styles of worship.

Those who are in the 20-35 range want similar things, but one item left off of Miller's list is authenticity. They want authentic relationships and experiences. They are used to the 'superficial' church of old and do not want any part of that.

Now don't take offense at 'superficial' it is their frame of reference as they have seen parents struggle with church fights and take-overs, along with a scoop of hypocrisy.

Your thoughts? What do you want in a church? At FBC?