Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

— 1 Corinthians 9:19–23, NIV

I remember the moment vividly. I was thrilled to be at one of my first major Christian conferences focusing exclusively on spiritual formation, excited to be among those who were seeking the deep things of God together. As is the way of these events, there were too many things to attend in any one time slot, and I ended up at the wrong end of the conference grounds just as one of my preferred workshops was about to begin. There wasn’t much to do but give up on being there and hope the talk on spiritual direction along the Jesus way was being recorded.

Weeks later, I switched on that recording in my car as I drove to my office. After the normal introductions, the speaker took the microphone and said something I’ve never forgotten. “Before I get started,” she said, “I want to say that I don’t believe that anyone should be in spiritual direction before the age of thirty-five.”

I rewound the recording, sure I’d misheard, but she said the same thing even on the third and fourth listening. I was thirty-one at the time and had recently graduated from seminary. I’d been practicing spiritual direction for more than a year and been in direction myself for more than three years. Hearing my experiences of God as a recipient of spiritual direction—and my observations of the work of the Spirit as a participant in giving spiritual direction—negated because of my age by someone ahead of me on the journey was both hurtful and confusing. Today, well on the other side of thirty-five, I understand the heart behind the comment, but I still sorrow over the ways we create barriers between generations.

All of that is part of the answer to why we at Conversations felt it important to devote an entire issue to the spirituality and formation into Christlikeness of the millennial generation. Although different from a focus on contemplative prayer or how we change, we believe each generation has gifts to give one another along the road to wholeness in Jesus.

Much attention has been given to the “weaknesses” of the millennial generation, digital natives who are between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four at the publication of this issue. As a whole, they are a generation skeptical of religion in general and Christianity in particular, constantly plugged in technologically, and mocked for their invention of the “selfie.” As of 2015, millennials outnumber Baby Boomers for the first time in history. But millennials have ways of seeing and communicating that can be great gifts to the people of God in all generations, if we choose to listen and attend to this diverse group of believers.

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01.  Paul’s Word for Us

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians tackled many topics important to the health of the church in that city. Corinth was a community of great diversity, bustling commerce, and rapid change. Home to freed slaves, Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Egyptians, Corinth was at the crossroads of trade and culture, the traffic of which crisscrossed through every life in the city.

The context of the Corinthian church of Paul’s day is not so far off in underlying spirit from the context in which today’s millennials live. While the technology and setting may be different, the currents of rapid change, complex diversity, and moral standards in flux match quite neatly on top of the world in which millennials find themselves coming of age.

In this setting, Paul says he has become a slave to everyone, not to take on their ways of relating but to bring the light of Christ and the blessings of the gospel to a people in desperate need of both. Instead of standing against the Jewish or Greek cultures, Paul steps into them in order to offer God’s transforming work from within. In the same way, whatever generation we find ourselves in, we are called to reach out to the generations around us in order to participate in the bringing of the kingdom of God and experience the blessings of the gospel in our own lives.

Through issue 13.2, you’ll find authors who are attempting to do just that—either from within the millennial generation or as one outside that generation seeking to come alongside in order to offer and receive God’s wisdom through people of all ages. In our Transformational Theology section, Kyle Strobel and Jamin Goggin speak of their experiences accompanying millennials and coming clean with themselves when it comes to the practice of prayer in “Technology and Technique: The Temptations of the Millennial (and Every) Generation.” Then a new author to our pages, Matthew Green, tackles the tricky subject of millennials and pain in “A Generation’s Thorn” with a sympathetic but prophetic voice.

In Honesty about the Journey, millennial author Erin Lane tackles the question of church participation for this generation in a style that is both memoir and critique in “The Edge of Belonging,” while Boomer Steve Macchia speaks to the gifts he’s received from younger generations in “Boomers Befriending Millennials.”

Although I’m a generational in-betweener (I’m part of a generation that bridges between Generation X and millennials that is sometimes referred to as the Oregon Trail generation), I have the gift of being alongside a number of millennials in spiritual direction. These beautiful souls have taught me a few lessons I share in “Nomads and Exiles: Walking the Wilderness with Millennials.” The Life Together section is rounded out with an article by Christine Suh and David Lemley that you won’t want to miss. These two have been up close and personal with the millennial generation in their work with Pepperdine University, and their insights and practices for helping millennials lean more fully into Christ are eye-opening.

The section, Intentionality of the Heart, hosts two more authors new to these pages but probably not unfamiliar to our readers. Emily P. Freeman of The Blog: Creating space for your soul to breathe (https://emilypfreeman.com/blog/) writes in “An Invitation to Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World” with the kind of gentle call to smallness that will make members of every generation drop their shoulders and take a deep breath of relief. And Ben Barczi challenges millennials and us all to lean into the wisdom of Benedictine spirituality in his article, “Pilgrim Stability.” If you want to be challenged and encouraged, turn to this section first.

Finally, we welcome our new Classical Spiritual Exercises editor, Laura Turner, to the Conversations fold and these pages with her piece, “Mystery and Millennials,” which unpacks the generation’s draw both to the ancient church and to its more modern liturgical expressions. And if you’re used to reading from back to front of any publication, you’ll be thrilled to encounter Julie Barrios’s article, “Spiritual Formation When Google Fails,” about how foundational the journey of desire is to millennial spirituality.

You’ll find more good words to chew on in our regular features like poetry by Enuma Okoro and our Conversations Guide—which can be used in a small group or leadership team meeting as a great conversation starter—and As for Me and My House. But we’re most excited this issue to share a Conversations first with you: Our cover art is a commissioned piece by a millennial artist created exclusively for you! Go to the article, “O Taste and See: A Meditation on Natalie K. Nelson’s Millennials,”  for a great meditation on the art itself, and if you’re reading this piece on our app or online, you can listen to a discussion between our Managing Editor Joannah Sadler, writer Acree Graham Macam, and artist Natalie Nelson.

We hope that you’ll be challenged and changed by the ways our authors and artists engage with the questions, joys, and struggles facing the largest generation alive today. Their formation is our formation, and for the sake of the gospel we must seek to understand and to speak to one another in the language of the kingdom of God.