Old country churches?

[Chicken lady]

Ultralight, we have several small churches in our little Ohio township. There used to be two, a Baptist and a Methodist in my “town” (which also has a body shop with a tow truck and an elementary school - plus houses) but the Methodist church closed because of reduced membership. the next “town” over (3 miles) has a Presbyterian church, a barbq joint which used to be a general grocery and sandwhich shop, a playground, a restaurant in the old school that is open 4 days a week, a post office that offers package pick up, postage, and p.o. boxes, but does not service mail routes or sort mail, and a tractor repair place.

between the two “towns”is the fire station - which serves as that community hub you are missing - voting, charity events, club meetings, youth activities, baby showers, even weddings.

things change.

[Ultralight]

things change.

I know. But that doesn't mean for the good.

[ApatheticNoMore]

less people go to church as people are more secular, probably the most obvious explanation, though the Armenian church right by here crowds out at times.

But what do they do socially and in the community then? Uh post on social media I guess ... even bowling alone would require like leaving the house and not staring at a screen for a few hours.

[Ultralight]

But what do they do socially and in the community then? Uh post on social media I guess ... even bowling alone would require like leaving the house and not staring at a screen for a few hours.

In my hometown the kids play video games. Opioids and beer and maryjane are also unfortunately major pastimes of adults and teens.

[Chicken lady]

Last night I had a house full of beloved millennials. Three married couples, one dad with a two y.o. Whose wife had to work because they have schedules that minimize child care needs, two singles still in college, one single working in her church’s youth program, all with educations jobs, and friends, and homes (two couples own houses), and community involvement - none with student debt (choices were made based on avoiding that, hard work and luck often came through.). Phones buzzed twice - once a boyfriend “oh, I’ll call him later” and the phone was turned off, and once mommy calling in to ask how her little one was enjoying the party.

i think that many of the parents in my generation failed their kids by not helping them focus on working toward those things, not helping them create maps that led from point a to b to c. Not turning off the electricity and shoving them into the real world often enough.

[Zoe Girl]

I relate a lot to the millennials, and have 3 of my own actually. I think the church decline has been happening for a long time, and the ways that we 'belong' change. So we are in a real crisis of belonging actually, but the way church was treated when i was growing up did not help. I felt for many of my friends and sometimes myself that it was more about following strict ideas rather than a sense of personal or family belonging. Of course in my group that was 50% LGBTQ I had very few friends in the 80's who were welcome in their churches or families.

I did Maker Faire a few months ago, great experience! I felt so at home with the people there. I saw a maker space booth that had wooden cut outs of celtic knotwork, talked to a woman there and her husband designs some himself. I draw mine. In any case he came over to my booth and we talked for an hour about drawing knotwork, he computer images his and I freeform. One thing was that he shared how after they had 3 kids pretty quickly he had a hard time emotionally, gap.

[SteveinMN]

i think that many of the parents in my generation failed their kids by not helping them focus on working toward those things, not helping them create maps that led from point a to b to c. Not turning off the electricity and shoving them into the real world often enough.

I believe multiple systemic failures have contributed to the inability of many kids to succeed, at least in the terms we're defining here (home ownership, low-/no-debt, stable-ish relationships).

Our Millenial daughter never had to take a class in home economics; any domestic skills she learned came from mom, who (fortunately) had a stable job in an environment that prioritized family life. The ascendancy of easy credit and the nationwide advertising of hot new must-have (not) possessions have put a few generations into consistent debt. Job stability makes buying a house both expensive and risky. No doubt kids can learn all that but it either has to be done on their own initiative or with their parents' sponsorship -- and I wonder how many other Millennials (or even older) never learned how to balance a checkbook or cook or enjoy non-branded free fun.

[Float On]

There is a small country church a mile from my parent's home. They've bought plots there so my brother and I can visit on the way to the farm. It's small as in 6 rows of pews on each side. We were excited when they added on to the front to add a rest room. I remember going to community things there and having to visit the outhouse even in the 80's. It has a sunday service once a month. The pastor serves at 4 small churches. They have "sings" every Sunday night and still hold community events like neighborhood potlucks or fall hayride.
I like driving by the small Mennonite church about 12 miles east of the farm. They all drive black cars with the chrome painted black.

[ToomuchStuff]

I know. But that doesn't mean for the good.

Your starting middle age, if you think change automatically means for the bad.

[Ultralight]

Your starting middle age, if you think change automatically means for the bad.

I think it varies, but often is bad.