A Gospel for All Generations

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A Gospel for All Generations

• With
• Phil Jones Cathy Cralle Jones
• From
• St. Pauls Christian Church, Raleigh

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St. Pauls Christian Church

• Sunday School Intergenerational Workshop
• July 26, 2009

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Vision without Actionis a DAYDREAM

• Action without Vision
• Is a NIGHTMARE

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Leadership in the Mainline Church
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Three Factors

• Change in American Culture
• Organizational Obsolescence
• Fear and Inward Anxieties

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THE CHALLENGE

• In order to effectively lead in the church today,
  it is essential to understand that this is the
  first time in its two thousand year history that
  the church has had to minister to five or more
  generations simultaneously.
• Richard Hamm, Recreating the
  Church Leadership for the
  Postmodern Age (2007)

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Who are They?

• The Builders (b. 1925 1945)
• The Boomers (b. 1946 - 1964)
• The Busters (b. 1965 1983)
• The Millennials (b. since 1984)

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The Builders(1925-1946)

• Built the country as we know it economically,
  morally, and religiously
• Value stability, loyalty and dependability
• Frustrated by change and lack of others
  taking-the-baton

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The Boomers(1946-1964)

• Grew up amid the upheavals of the 1960s
• Shift in gender roles and family expectations
• Revolted against authorities
• (earliest drop-outs from church)
• Influences T.V., computers, sex-drugs-and rock
  and roll
• Came back but then slipped out of church
  after raising children
• Interested in power (how it functions
  operates)
• Wealthiest generation in American history

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Boomers (b. 1945-1965)

• Early (45-55) Late (56-65)
• Turbulent 60s (Vietnam War, Assassinations,
  Civil Rights, 1968 marked as flagship Year when
  Protestant hegemony began to collapse)
• Higher of Higher Ed than Parents
• Suspicious of Institutions (Watergate, ERA
  failure)
• Other Cultural Moments Beatles, First Walk on
  Moon, Woodstock, TV Generation
• Turned youthful disillusionment into a
  generational binge. Hamm (p. 53)
• Family Reasonably stable, Father Knows Best,
  Dick Van Dyke, TAGS
• Theology Death of God Movement, The Secular
  City, The New Liberalism,
• Rise of Self-Help
  Groups, church-going gap steadily increases

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BUSTERS (b. 1966-1982)

• Other Names Gen X, Post-Peak Boomers, MTV
  Generation, Slackers
• Politics Ronald Reagan, George H. Bush (tended
  more reserved in expressing political views,
  except for Alex Keaton in Family Ties)
• Grew up more award of shortages (oil embargo,
  energy blackouts causing lower expectations.
• Family Reacted to wayward, disintegrating family
  systems in two ways (1) co-habitation as
  accepted practice, (note Friends TV Series) and
  (2) more hands on approach to parenting (rise
  of Home Schooling0
• Theology Odd Mixture (New Age) or New
  Evangelicalism (e.g.Warrens Purpose Driven Life
  and Church)
• Church Looked to small groups for companionship
  and intimacy, Beginnings of Inter-faith
  sensitivity groups, environmental or
  eco-theology, but church-going gap widens even
  more, still highly anti-institutional,
  disillusioned by TV evangelism Falwells, Bakers,
  Swaggert, sense of spirituality replacing
  religion.

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The Busters(1965-1983)

• Influences AIDS, legalized abortion, Berlin
  Wall collapse, T.V. video games, Challenger,
  Persian Gulf War I, music videos (MTV).
• Family Disillusioned by parents divorce,
  latch-key kids, delayed marriage (more likely to
  be non-generative), T.V. series Friends
• Disposition tolerant of diversity, but value
  change in jobs over one career, whats the
  use disposition (sometimes called slackers),
  Friends,
• Church even higher drop-out rate (or
  non-exposure rate), shorter attention spans,

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The Millennials(b. since 1984)

• Grew up day-cares and other institutional
  settings and with rapid technological changes,
  World Wide Web (Internet) Wired!
• Worriers grades, college, spouse, next best job,
  helath (staying fit), environment, terrorism
• Even more tolerant of multiculturalism, global
  issues, other world religions but also
  disillusioned by scandals from govt., sports,
  church, etc.

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The Disclaimer

• The goal of looking at each generation in
  greater detail is understanding that generation.
  A danger in such knowledge is labeling or making
  assumptions about individuals, stereotyping
  individual persons of a generation as all having
  the exact same characteristics. Each person, of
  all ages and generations, is uniquely created by
  God, with gifts and personality like no one else.
  Knowing generalities about generations should
  jump-start understanding to aid in building
  relationships among generations, not replace the
  time needed to get to know individuals.
• Edward Hammett, Reaching People Under 40
  While Keeping People Over 60 Being Church for
  All Generations.

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Breakout !(forming 4 groups)

• Take 3-5 Minutes to reflect on the Generational
  Descriptors (from sheets provided)
• Identify the Top Three descriptors for each age
  group
• (e.g. what resonates)
• Share examples from personal or observed
  experience.
• Identify One descriptor that doesnt seem to
  apply
• (e.g. what irritates)
• Again, share examples from personal or observed
  experience