How Millenials Gather : The Emerging Face of Religion & Organizations in America

This week we'll be interviewing Angela Thurston, one of the brightest young millienial stars we know. Angie Thurston is at Harvard Divinity School to deepen spiritual community among millennials amidst increasing religious disaffiliation. A graduate of Brown University, Angie spent six years as a playwright and arts administrator in New York City. She now applies her creative energy to collaborations centered on fostering spiritual growth.

America is changing: Millennials are less religiously affiliated than ever before. Churches are just one of many institutional casualties of the internet age in which young people are both more globally connected and more locally isolated than ever before.

Against this bleak backdrop, a hopeful landscape is emerging. Millennials are flocking to a host of new organizations that deepen community in ways that are powerful, surprising, and perhaps even religious. After two years of noticing this happen, Angela has coauthored this report with Casper ter Kuile. The two are sharing their findings in order to start a conversation. They speak to three groups of people: Organizational leaders, organizational supporters and those interested in America’s changing religious landscape.

They highlight ten organizations that illustrate what is happening. These organizations have a shared ethos. They map out their ancestry, sibling projects, and cousins in corporate America. They close the report with a few considerations for the organizations and others invested in their success, asking: Who are we serving? How are we leading? What about God?

Hopefully these organizations will begin to see themselves as part of a broader cultural shift toward deeper community. By consciously coming together, they could form the DNA of a fruitful movement for personal spiritual growth and social transformation. We invite you to join us in considering how millennials are changing the way we gather.