Millennials and the church: Is there hope for reaching them?

I just finished reading Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube & the Future of American Politics.  The authors, Morley Winograd and Michael Hais, contend that Millennials will reshape American politics, possibly as early as this election in 2008.  Millenials are the newest generation, born 1982-2003, and were given their generational name by the book, Millennials Rising: The Next Generation, published in 2000.

I was so captivated by Millennial Makeover, that I ordered 4 books by Neil Howe and William Strauss, authors of Millennials Rising, and the experts in the field of generational studies.  I'll pull together some thoughts on all these books as I read through them, but let me tell you why I have this new, urgent interest in this newest generation.   Read this paragraph and I think you'll understand:

Millennial Makeover

One out of five Millennials -- almost 20% -- claim no religious affiliation or belief.  We have our work cut out for us, we of the church clan.  But, it will have to be a different kind of work than we have ever done before.  I'm creating a new category (Millennials) and will post thoughts about Millennials and the church in the days ahead.

I am very interested in what you and your church are doing to reach this generation that is now 5-to-26 years of age.  Are existing churches going to reach Millennials?  Will it take completely new forms of church, like the emerging church scene, to engage this generation?  What do you think?  What solutions do you see?  Or, do you think we'll continue to lose ground with each new generation?