A recent report shed light on the sobering reality of how practicing Christian Millennials are hesitant about the importance of evangelism and sharing the gospel. According to Barna, 47% of this generation (ages 20-34) believe that “it is wrong to share one’s personal beliefs with someone of a different faith in hopes that they will one day share the same faith.”

What are we supposed to think about this? How should we respond to such a staggeringly high number of Christian Millennials who are opposed to sharing the gospel? With 3 billion people in the world who don’t have access to a Christian witness and are still considered “unreached,” what do we do with half a generation of people who have no interest in sharing Jesus with them?

In reality, this is not a new problem. Yes, this particular statistic is new and alarming, but we can look back in history and see that there has always been a certain level of hesitation and reluctance in sharing the gospel with people who are in hard-to-reach or hostile places. Even in Jesus’ day, He declared that the harvest was plentiful, but the laborers were few (Luke 10:2). So what should our response be to all of this?

Our first response should no doubt be to look to Christ and His response to such a situation: “pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send out laborers into His harvest” (Luke 10:2). But we also need to be watchful that we not simply address the fruit of a deeper, root-issue within our lives as believers. As Trevin Wax so accurately states, “the root cause of our lack of engagement in God’s mission is not a missions problem but a gospel problem. We demonstrate by our inaction that we no longer marvel at grace. We are unaffected by the beauty of what God has done for us in Christ.”

Let’s allow ourselves to be awed by the beauty of Christ and the life that He offers us through the gospel.

Let’s allow that wonder and transformation to seep into our relationships with other believers so that we celebrate Him together often. And let’s allow that grace to be extended to those who have yet to know or receive that glorious good news of the Kingdom! 

Written by Laney Mills