Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Study: How do millennial Christians approach faith, work, and calling?
Study: How do millennial Christians approach faith, work, and calling?
Mar 17, 2025 10:17 AM

Millennials recently surpassed Baby Boomers and Generation Xers to e the largest generation in the American workforce—a development that has likely led many to recall mon stereotypes about millennials as dreamy-eyed idealists or lazy, plainers.

But if we look past our various cultural prejudices, what does the evidence actually indicate? If the attitudes and priorities of Generation Y are, in fact, so strikingly distinct from their counterparts, what might it tell us about the future shape of economic order?

In Christians at Work, which is based on a new study from Barna, we get an in-depth look at all this, particularly as it relates to generational differences among employed Christians. The study explores a range of attitudes and beliefs—whether about professional fulfillment, calling, personal gifts, and more—seeking to identify meaningful trends and ways the church might rally to fill gaps in perspective or discipleship.

The findings indicate that such attitudes and beliefs do, indeed, differ between millennials and other generations, with Baby Boomers and Generation Xers aligning closely in most areas. Overall, one trend is clear: Christian millennials emerge as distinctly optimistic and ambitious, whether in the “tangibles” of their daily work and spiritual growth or in their general awareness of how or whether to apply their God-given gifts.

For example, when es to professional fulfillment, the study finds that “similar proportions of all working Christians, regardless of age, believe God gave them specific talents intended for his glory.” Yet that unified belief doesn’t necessarily translate consistently across age groups when applied to the context of economic labor:

Christian Millennial workers appear to be finding a place for themselves and their capabilities in the workforce—half (50%) strongly agree they feel made for the work they currently do—and they are hopeful about their future prospects.

Millennials tend to be very conscious of their talents (42%) as well as hopeful for a better understanding of them (37%). They are also motivated to be generous with their unique skills; more than two-thirds (67%) report that they hope to use them in service of others, 10 percentage points more than the proportion of Boomers (57%) motivated by this idea. Overall, Gen X tend to align more with Boomers than Millennials, with some exceptions. Though Gen X are relatively satisfied with how their current role is preparing them for future plans (44%), just 36 percent feel aware of gifts and talents God has given them.

Source: Christians at Work, Barna Group

These differences also manifest on the question of future growth and opportunities to embody or apply one’s God-given vocation. Again, while all three generations share a belief that God has given each of us unique personal talents and abilities, Boomers are far less eager to grow and improve in newly discovering or applying these gifts to daily economic life:

Boomers have less of a sense that they are “made for” their present work (39%) and they feel less urgency to deepen an understanding of their gifts (27%), but we shouldn’t assume that means they aren’t attuned to or using them. They express less enthusiasm about future opportunities, but that may be because they feel more presently secure, having already climbed (or grown skeptical of) the corporate ladder. And given that Boomers often tell Barna their identity is defined by family, we may simply be witnessing a natural shift in life priorities es with age. In other words, Millennials might expect more of their professional future because there is more of it, while Boomers are in a less exploratory, even stable, season of career. Regardless, they are similarly satisfied in their current work, and Boomers find purposes for their unique skills outside the office too (80% vs. 71% of Millennials say this is “very” + “somewhat” true), which bodes well for their golden years.

Source: Christians at Work, Barna Group

The reasons for such differences are numerous, and many of them may be related to different ages or life seasons more generally instead of generations specifically. But in addition to those explanations (which the study duly acknowledges), they likely have something to do with differing historical and economic realities at key generational “growth moments.” (This argument is shared by Joseph Sternberg, who’s new book, The Theft of a Decade, explores the economic conditions that have led to the current generation’s attitudes and outlook.)

“Though the economy has largely recovered from the recession, the working lives of many Gen X and Boomers have been marked byspells of unemployment or persistent debt, and the leading edge of Boomers is nowpreparing for retirement,” the Barna study’s authors explain. “Millennials, meanwhile, entered an ing job market at the beginning of their careers and are still dogged bylow earnings, even as general wages have caught up to pre-recession levels.”

But whatever we attribute for the shifts, the findings provide some hints as to where we might focus and how the church might best proceed in better empowering and equipping each generation in stewarding their economic futures and developing a distinctly prehensively Christian economic vision.

For Boomers and, somewhat less so, Generation Xers, we see an opportunity reinvigorate and re-inspire a sense of calling and vocational destiny across all spheres and stations. For example, regardless of our personal feelings about whether we are “made for” our present work, we know that we are made to create and trade, just as we are made to love and serve the least of these. This is our basic calling, and these are the functions of our daily work—whether within a formal job or the context of “retirement.” Whatever our age or season or history, we can push and learn and discover new ways of using our gifts and co-creating for his glory.

For millennials, on the other hand, we see more widespread energy and enthusiasm for embracing the “spiritual” side of work and using creative gifts in meaningful and authentic ways. Yet we also see a hunger for more discipleship and better education. For example, while millennials report hearing more sermons and guidance from the church on these matters, “less than half say their church gives them a vision for living out their faith at work (46% vs. 57% of Gen X and 53% of Boomers agree ‘strongly’).” How do we harness this ambition and optimism and channel it through a robust theology of work and a healthy philosophy of life?

“There is much to celebrate about Christians in the workplace!” the authors conclude. “Christians are tuned in to the idea of calling, and many feel that their current jobs are well matched with what they perceive as their calling,” write David Kinnaman and Bill Denzelin the study’s introduction. “But there are also warning signs all around our workplaces. We see some gaps between generations at work and a potential lack of vision for how generations can mentor and support each other.”

Whatever the areas or potential for growth, a positive shift among Christians is sure to have an influence on our culture, more broadly. If the church can work together across generational lines to empower believers in building a healthier, more holistic vision for economic activity and mon good, and if those same believers bear cultural witness in their respective spheres, society at large will surely benefit.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Ponnuru on Ponzi and Pyramids
Ramesh Ponnuru says Social Security is worse than a Ponzi scheme. He’s right. It’s more like an inter-generational pyramid scheme, a pyramid tipped on its side… To be sustainable, over time (T) it has to take more from more people (thus a three-dimensional pyramid rather than a two-dimensional triangle. It’s really exponential rather than multiplicative). Social Security. In case you forgot, it still needs fixing. This Christmas, think about the rather unpleasant gift we’ll be leaving the generations that follow...
The Naughty List
You can view the most recent list of panies that have received bailout assistance from the federal government via the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA), executed through measures like the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), here (PDF updated 12/16/08). I’m thinking about adding panies to my own personal “naughty” list. Visit the EESA homepage, where you can sign up for EESA e-mail updates as your tax dollars are spent for you. “How is this money being spent?” you...
Acton Commentary: Selfless Giving and Tempered Trading
In this season of giving, Kevin Schmiesing looks at another form of exchange — trade. He observes that mercial activity “is not an exercise in selfishness, but the practice of properly ordered self-interest, which is of necessity tempered by the wants and needs of others.” Read mentary over at the Acton website and e back to share ments. ...
J. Daryl Charles on the Revival of Natural Law
In the latest volume of the Mars Hill Audio Journal, host Ken Myers talks with J. Daryl Charles, author of Retrieving the Natural Law: A Return to Moral First Things (Eerdmans, 2008). Charles is associate professor of Christian Studies at Union University, and spent the 2007-2008 year as William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in Religion and Public Life in the James Madison Program at Princeton University. I had the pleasure of meeting Ken Myers at this year’s GodblogCon and am...
Reading Russell Kirk
It’s the end of the year, so the book lists are out. I’m thinking about conservative icon Russell Kirk. If you want a really enjoyable and edifying read, I mend you begin with The Roots of American Order. That book will give you an understandable and historically grounded sense of what “ordered liberty” means. It will also open the mysteries of Kirk wide to the uninitiated reader. The prose is lively. Highly readable. Kirk is more widely known for the...
O Holy Night
O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees! Oh hear the angel voices! Oh night divine! Oh night when Christ was born! Oh night divine! Oh night! Oh night divine! Chains shall he...
Santa and the ultimate Fairy Tale
Of course, Santa is based on a historical character. And in many (but certainly not all!) ways, he points forward to Jesus Christ. But in a broader sense, God has created a mystical, mythical, and magical world– that can be overdone or mis-imagined. That said, the mon error is to under-do or under-imagine– out of our “modern” heritage and tainted worldview. I’ve blogged on this quite a few times– and three times in the past month, in noting the 100th...
Soul Searching at Yeshiva U.
In “Betrayed by Madoff, Yeshiva U. Adds a Lesson,” the New York Times interviews students and teachers at the New York University which was closely linked to Bernard Madoff, the financier who has been charged by federal prosecutors with orchestrating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme fraud. In Intermediate Accounting I, undergraduates analyzed how he seemingly tap-danced around the Securities and Exchange Commission. In Rabbi Benjamin Blech’s philosophy of Jewish law course, students pondered whether Jewish values had been distorted to...
Economic Justice for All Revisited
Catching up on “Revisiting the 1986 economic pastoral”, an article from October in the National Catholic Reporter: The bishops’ point “that Catholics’ moral life cannot be separated entirely from their economic life has relevance for what we’re going through now,” said Kevin Schmiesing, research fellow for the Acton Institute, a proponent of free markets. “Unless you believe there is no ponent to this, that there’s no failure of responsibility, that there’s no greed at work, that those kinds of moral...
The Acton Website gets a New Look
Today saw the launch of a sharp new look for the Acton Institute website. This new iteration of the website puts content first, with a very uncluttered, fresh look. It also sports some of the latest and greatest in web technology, but I’ll spare you the geekspeak and let you discover all of the bells and whistles for yourself. We hope that you’ll continue to enjoy the Acton website and the rich collection of articles and resources that it provides....
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved