I remember watching the 2000 Presidential election late into the night, awaiting the news of whether Bush or Gore had won.
Our family owned a senior home where we cared for elderly people who were unable to live on their own, but not bad enough for a nursing home. One of our residents, Alice, enjoyed politics—she was democrat. My dad also enjoyed politics—he was republican. Dad took Alice to vote that year, and they’d often banter back and forth about their disagreements over who should be president.
In 2016, when Trump won the Presidential election, some contemplated suicide. Others saw hope for the world. Conversations about the difference between candidates no longer consisted of friendly bantering back and forth—they were downright volatile.
If I’m honest, I was relieved when Trump won. I knew what we were getting into with Clinton, if she had won. And I didn’t want it! I wasn’t sure what we were getting into with Trump, but somehow the unknown made me feel better in this situation.
Deep down inside, however, something also pricked me. That pricking grew into a disturbance, and the disturbance is rapidly growing into a burden so strong it has kept me awake in bed some nights gripped by its implications.
Here’s what burdens me: there is a wide chasm between the worldviews of millennials and their parents.
There is always a gap in generations. However, there has never been this big of a gap in the history of America–especially between generations within the Christian faith. Researchers compare the generational gap between Christian millennials and their parents to the gap first-generation immigrants feel with their children.[1]
What causes this gap? Their worldviews.
The worldview of the average millennial varies drastically from the worldview of the average millennial parent.
And while some have found ways to love and respect each other in the process of bumping into differences, many—many within the church—feel between them and their parents a chasm they don’t ever see being bridged.
In the last week alone I have witness two conversations where a millennial Christian was dialoguing with someone of his parent’s generation (also Christian) and both parties were simply speaking past each other. Both dumbfounded by the other—completely clueless of what their friend was talking about.
And, yes, these conversations had to do with Trump.
There’s a gap in how millennials view the world and how their parents view the world, and nothing has exposed that gap quite like the election of Donald Trump to presidency.
What’s so different between the way millennials see the world and the way their parents see it? There is certainly technological differences that make the world flatter—giving millennials easier access to people of other cultures than what their parents had. That access to other cultures broadens their knowledge of how other people view America. But that’s not the biggest difference.
When it comes to millennials in the church, the difference lies in what them and their parents fear.
I have heard some parents express concern for millennials because they are not afraid of “the left.” The political left—that’s what parents of millennials fear.
Within the Christian church, parents of millennials have been willing to vote for a less than best candidate as long as it keeps the left from having greater power.
What’s interesting is that fewer millennials voted for the left in 2016 than they did in 2012 or 2008. Furthermore, more millennials than ever before voted third party over Democrat or Republican.[2]
And herein lies the gap: millennials aren’t un-afraid of the left; it’s that they are equally afraid of the right.
In fact, they are generally suspicious of everything America as a whole.
Some parents feel millennials blur the line between good and evil. They suggest millennials don’t have any absolute truths they stand on. These parents see Trump standing for law and being willing to enforce laws as “good” while they see the left’s distain for law and unwillingness to enforce law as “evil.”
In contrast, though, millennials feel their parents have blurred the line between good and evil. After all, a man who has been divorced and remarried three times and unashamedly disrespects women and underprivileged people is said to be “God’s greatest blessing to America in this generation.”
His life demonstrates no brokenness or honor for God. Yet, he’s somehow God’s blessing? He’s a “man of God,” somehow more anointed than Obama?
And Obama has been faithful to his wife and family all his life.
And just for making that comment, I’ve been pegged as not “fearing the left.”
Trump has exposed the generational gap between Millennials and their parents–especially among Christians–by bringing to light that millennials fear political leaders, period.[3] Whereas, their parents fear only one type of political leader: a politically left leader.
My appeal, as a millennial, is that somehow each of us can let our current political situation in America separate us from the kingdoms of this world and unite us as one body in Christ in displaying and advancing the Gospel of Jesus.
There is a purging taking place in the church that is sending the true church in America “underground” because it refuses to put its hope and faith in a political system of this world. This true church evaluates good and evil not by political values, but by the word and testimony of Jesus. They have wrestled with and are willing to forego rights and freedoms if it means being more faithful to Christ.
Members of this true church come from many different generations: millennials, their parents, and all those in between.
And there are many—even among millennials—who have yet to be completely liberated from the systems of this world and entirely committed to faithfulness to Christ.
Trump exposed the gap in how we view the world. Can we let Jesus unite us in spite of our different worldviews? Can we value each other’s perspectives, not demonizing or dehumanizing someone for their take on current events in this world?
I’m willing to try. Are you?
Share your feedback in the comments below.
[1] Kinnaman, David. You Lost Me. “Access, Alienation, Authority”. 2011.
[2] Here are a few interesting articles for your reference to see how millennials voted in 2016: How Millennials Voted in 2016, Google Search: how did christian millennials vote in 2016, Dissecting the Youth Vote.
[3] This reality has many negative sides for the millennial generation not addressed in this post.
