Generation X. The MTV Generation. A generation of slackers and cynics. Stereotypes aside, there's one other name given to this generation, and it's the one that might be the most accurate. Generation X, "the forgotten generation."

Now sometimes, when I'm around a group of Gen Xers, we can joke a little bit about them being forgotten, but the reality is that most people in that demographic that I come across really do feel that way – and the question you have to ask is why?

When Millenials (who are church outsiders) look into the church and see a building, a program, thought process, an approach to its neighbours, a dress code, technology that looks like it hasn't changed since before they were even born, they honestly think – that place isn't for me. That's not a place that understands the current culture. That's not a place that understands what I'm going through.

A question I get a lot is “how do we get more young people into our church?”. This question inevitably leads to a brief conversation about advertising through social media, emails, or even the newspaper.

I’m a fan of media, but I still believe that a personal invite is always the best way to go.

Interestingly, only 2% of people in their church say that they’ve invited someone in the last year.

Where I live (in the Kitchener Waterloo area), Nones made-up 24% of the region in 2011 (and I would expect that number to be much higher today). Nationally the number of Nones has grown exponentially over the past 40 years from 4% of our population to about 24% as of 2011. As church leaders we can't ignore this - so the topic of Nones has quickly risen among church leaders in all denominations. Questions like ‘What do we need to know’ and ‘what do we do next’ are being asked.

I explained, as concisely as I could, that I'm a youth pastor, and that I work with a group of churches trying to help reach people in his generation. His follow up question caught me a little off guard - “I think there is a special school somewhere that you can learn how to be a youth pastor. Did you go there?" As a Christian you might laugh at this question thinking “Really? Who doesn’t know what a Bible College or Seminary is?”