Millennials actually love the Church if it remains authentic and true, says youth pastor

The notion that millennials are not interested in the Church is actually a misconception, said youth pastor Jason Powell recently at the Harvest Christian Fellowship. Powell, who leads a team of young evangelists on the streets, believes that young people are dedicated to the Church as long as its authentic.

"If we get away from the fake, the facade, the apparent mask of things and go to the real authentic — you know, there is a mission at hand — a down to earth real cause for the gospel, I think these young people rise to the occasion every single time," Powell told the Christian Post.

Brady Collins, another youth pastor, added that millennials are not impressed by light shows in the Church but they are interested in authentic discipleship.

105,000 people attended the SoCal Harvest 2016 at the Angel Stadium last weekend. Over 11,000 made the commitment to Christ. The youth pastors identified that the key to these large figures are millennials who love the Church.

"80% of people who come to this event are brought by a friend," Powell said to the Christian Post. "So friendship-type evangelism is very important. So it is this idea that we are praying, inviting and bringing," he continued.

Powell thinks that many non-believers come to these events because Christians who are encouraged to bring their friends use the opportunity to present the gospel.

"We liken our job to the parable of the sower. Our job is to cast that seed, so when we cast that seed, it is the Holy Spirit who does the work," he said.

There is also an extensive follow-up program after the evangelistic outreach. There are teams who collect information from new believers to connect them with the local parish in their neighborhood. 250 churches in Southern California are cooperating with Harvest for this program.

More than 5.7 million people have attended the Harvest events since 1990 with over 471,000 commitments to Christ. The events have been viewed by over 1.8 million people through live webcast.