Almost everyday, it seems, there\u2019s a new story about how \u201cMillennials are leaving the church.\u201d But there\u2019s a problem with these trend pieces: They aren\u2019t true. American Christianity still has plenty of Millennials \u2014 they\u2019re just not necessarily in white churches.<\/span><\/p>\n Instead, they\u2019re found in places like Iglesia de Dios, a 3,000-member Hispanic megachurch in Nashville. The church was started in the mid-1990s by the Rev. Jose Rodriguez, a native of Venezuala who moved to Nashville in order to get better medical care for one of his children.<\/p>\n The early services drew a handful of people. But fueled by immigration, word of mouth, and a \u201ccome as you are\u201d approach to worship, it\u2019s grown slowly and steadily into a megachurch. Today Iglesia de Dios has six services on the weekends, including one in English, for second-generation immigrants and some of their English-speaking neighbors.<\/p>\n \u201cOur church here \u2014 we are very young,\u201d says 27-year old Josu\u00e9Rodriguez, the church\u2019s associate pastor. \u201cThere are very few elderly people. And our youth services are the biggest services we have.\u201d<\/p>\n Transformation Church, a multiethnic congregation in Indian Land, South Carolina, has also grown by attracting young Millennials to worship. Started four years ago by the Rev. Derwin Gray, Transformation Church now draws about 2,500 people to its weekend services.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I see among Millennials are African Americans, and Asians Americans, and Latinos who are vibrantly growing in faith and leading the future of what the church will become,\u201d says Gray.<\/p>\n About a third of young (18-29 year old) Americans \u2014 and more than half of younger Christians \u2014 are people of color, according to data from the Public Religion Research Institute. White Christians, on the other hand, make up only a quarter of younger Americans. In fact there are more Nones \u2014 those with no religion \u2014 than white Christians in this age group.
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