Generational Ministry Opportunities

By Charles S. Mueller, Sr.

Whether in the singular or plural the Bible refers to generation(s) over 150 times.  How long is a generation?  By one measure of the past it was the length of time from a man’s birth to the birth of his oldest son’s first child.  A common definition today is everyone born within a 20-25 year period.  By that measure eighteen generations have developed in America since the 1620s with five generations always commingling: one taking shape, three on the scene full blown, one fading away. But that’s no longer true. 

Six Generations

A measuring of today’s generational mix shows that sometime during the 1950s/1960s another full generation slipped in. Today there are six generations simultaneously on the scene: one taking shape, one fading away while four are elbowing each other for their place in the sun.  Together with the birth boundaries of their generational years the six current generations are:
   a. a waning GI Generation (born 1905-1924)

b. Silent Generation (born 1925-1944)

c. Boomers (born 1945-1964)

d. Gen X (born 1965-1984),

e. Millennials (born 1985-2004),

f. a gaining, yet unnamed, Newest (born 2005-2024)

Most congregations are unaware of this significant change in the number of extant generations.  That sixth generation slipped in not only unannounced but unnoticed .

Generational Needs

Generational demands and needs radically differ one from another.  It’s like a sixth person showing up for a carefully planned meal when you had prepared for only five.  Result?  Things get crowded and competition for attention and food rears its heard.  Parish generations that feel ignored wander off -- sometime to another corner of the larger church; sometime to the “far country” which lured the prodigal in Jesus’ Luke 15 parable.  

To further exacerbate this situation our oldest generations are now living longer and in larger numbers than at any time in Lutheran history.  By their very existence these “super-seniors” affect not only the congregations Sunday morning but its weekday activities as well.  Their needs are straining community, church and family resources.  But that’s another story.

For now our clear Biblical mandate is to pass on His message of mercy and grace from generation to generation.  That mandate calls for two very different actions: 1) we are to share His Word and will within each generation and, 2) see to it that it is shared between all generations.  We are called to minister inter- and intra-generationally. 

The struggle for generational recognition that has stumbled along within the church is readily acknowledged by the secular world and shown by how products are presented and promoted in print, radio, TV and the internet -- and to whom they are aimed.  Have you noticed the change?  What’s more, generational concerns are at the heart of the current debate about governmental health care.  Everyone seems to recognize distinct generational segmentation.  But the church?

The Lutheran church has historically lavished most of our care on one generation, our youngest.  The assumption has been that once our children are properly reared they will remain active within the Christian community.  There does not seem to be evidence to fully support that assumption, which is not to suggest that we should care less about the young.  Instead we should intentionally focus on life long needs of all generations by responding to all five post-adolescent generations as they move, intact, through life’s stages.    

Life Stages

Life stages?  Did you say stages?  Yes, indeed.  Generations, always intact and in constant motion, move through life stages.  They move “through” because life stages are static. They don't move.  Instead its each generation that moves through those successive life stages.  As they do they can  react differently from each other at  each stage.  That’s why ministerial programs that were effective in the past can be totally ineffective a generation or two later. 

The succession of life stages follows this broad pattern with some variation: early childhood, childhood, adolescence, young adult years, periods of family and career growth, peak vocational years, empty nesting, pre-retirement, the go-go/slow-go/no-go later year.   There are differences within  these stages depending on gender and marital circumstance.

As a specific, have you noticed that many congregations pay scant attention to the needs of the GI and Silent Generations except to view them as a mother lode for volunteers and financial support?  What many need much more is assistance working through questions of personal care, worth, service and life direction.   And that’s to say nothing about the needs of their care-givers and the sandwich generations.

All Six

The LCMS, both nationally and parish-by-parish, needs to recognize and respond to the six generations in its membership as each, even now, works through a half dozen and more life stages.  Any convention action that ignores that challenge, whether in areas of doctrine or practice, will in time realize to their chagrin that they have squandered a significant opportunity.  

And we all know how often most opportunity knocks.