The most moving event at the 1992 California-Pacific Annual Conference was the last. Many were moved to tears, including myself, as Bishop Jack Tuell and his wife Margi made their last exit as they headed into retirement. A new bishop would soon be coming to take Bishop Tuell's place. It took me several days to figure out my emotional reaction when it dawned on me: Jack Tuell represented the passing of a generation, my parents generation, who have been the mainstay of our church for 50 years.
From 1940 to 1990 we can safely say that the United Methodist Church has been the church of the GI Generation, those born from 1908-1926 in America. They were the generation that went from the Depression to victory in World War II, that fueled the post-war economic boom in the 1950s and 60s and has been the homogeneous core holding the church together. Their values, beliefs, social events, worship traditions, taste in music and the like, have been at the center stage of Methodism for half a century.
But as the baton is passed to the next generation we must ask ourselves, who is going to be in the church 10 years from now? In the year 2002 do we fully expect the GI Generation, who will range from age 76-94 to foot all the bills, to lead the United Methodist Women's groups, to repair the buildings, to chair the administrative boards, to do the ushering and to evangelize their friends?
The reality is, if we expect to have a vital and lasting UM Church, we have to make changes now to reach the generations which, for the most part, have either left or have not even looked at the church in years: the Baby Boomers (born from 1946 1964) and the Baby Busters (born from 1965-1983). Of the 77 million Baby Boomers in America, 50 million do not go to church, and of the 66 million Baby Busters, another 50 million do not attend church.
This group of 100 million Americans between the ages of 9 and 46 are not totally irreligious. For the most part they believe in God, they believe children should be taught religion, and they believe in prayer. Some even go to church for special occasions. But what they do not seem to understand is how the church can make a difference for good in their daily living.
There are several essential Baby Boomer values that the UM Church needs to understand if it is to reach this generation. Other studies show that Baby Busters also hold many of these same values. Churches and pastors who want to reach these generations need a full understanding of their worldview if they hope to have a ministry in the future.
Spiritual Roots—Brokenness, Loneliness, Rootlessness, and Self-Seeking are the four values that come out of growing up in the 1960s and '70s. Whether it was going through Vietnam or the divorce of their parents, Boomers feel a deep sense of loss when reflecting on their youth and childhood. These deep-seated feelings have resulted in a mistrust of institutions and of people in authority. Many Boomers have concluded that the only people they can trust is themselves.
The Search For God—Rather than being an irreligious generation, Boomers have always been on a search for spiritual meaning. The values of godliness, supernaturalism and adventurousness, all reflect this desire to be in touch with the divine. Whether it's through the New Age Movement, or the church or personal reflection, Boomers are searching for an experience of faith that will help them make a difference in this world.
The Future—As Boomers look towards the future they have a strange mix of millennialism and globalism which says they want to embrace the world while expecting its demise at any moment. Most fundamentally they want to experience wholeness, to live lives that are connected to all of life, enabling them to find oneness with God and peace within their souls.
The challenge for the church is whether or not it is willing to make the necessary changes to allow any hope of bringing millions of Boomers, Busters and their children to faith in Jesus Christ. It's not that they do not believe in God, the problem is that they do not believe in the church. Seeing it as a self-perpetuating institution, they are turned off by church business as usual.
Pressed for time and leery of making commitments, Boomers and Busters are open to ministries which meet their need for community and provide practical teaching which can be applied to daily living. For the most part, they are not swayed by appeals of "tradition" nor are they content to do things because "this is the way it always has been done." What appeals to them are churches who focus on relationships and who help them discover their own gifts for ministry. They are not concerned about "the denomination," but about what their local church is doing for them and their families.
For those churches who really want to reach the unchurched Boomers and Busters I would suggest the following:
1. Start with prayer. What really excites people about a church is its spirituality. They are not looking for programs as much as they are looking for an experience of faith. Prayer provides the atmosphere in which believers breathe.
2. Make them Christians first. Whether it's in your new members class or in your Sunday morning message, focus on faith in Jesus. If your goal is to make them into good Methodists you will lose them. If your goal is to make them into discipled followers of Jesus, you will give them a faith for life.
3. Simplify the worship service. Liturgy is out and praise music is in when it comes to Boomers and Busters. In my church we start off with 10-15 minutes of praise music, the pastoral prayer and Lord's Prayer, the children's message, announcements, the Scripture reading, the message, the offering, a concluding song, and the blessing. That's it. The songs and the Lord's Prayer are printed in the bulletin. Other aspects of worship are added as appropriate: Communion, baptisms, reception of new members, special music, etc. But the rule of thumb is: keep it simple.
4. Analyze your dress code. Some pastors may want to get rid of their robes, and members may want to get rid of the suits and ties when you come to church to make new people feel more comfortable and to make you more accessible to them. The only ones who wear robes in our society are judges, priests and professors at graduation. If you're a pastor, are you coming before them as one who is in authority, as one who is coming to judge, or are you coming before them as an ambassador of Christ?
5. Don't assume anybody knows anything. Focus on the basics of the faith. Teach people how to read the Bible, how to have a daily time of prayer, what it means to take Communion, and how faith in Christ can make a difference in daily living. We in the church have to realize that for the most part, no one has ever taken the time to teach people the foundations of the Christian life.
6. Program for families. The most important trend of the 1990s is the rediscovery of the family. We are currently experiencing a Baby Boomlet, as Baby Boomers are having children. For the first time since the height of the Baby Boom in 1960, over 4,000,000 babies have been born annually for two years in a row. As Baby Boomers have families they are more likely to look for a church. Churches which provide strong nursery care, Sunday school programs, and youth groups will have the best chance of retaining these families.
7. Provide small groups for Busters. Those churches who want to reach Busters need to provide small groups which become an extended family for this generation. Forty percent of Busters have gone through their parents' divorce, and as a result those churches who can provide a sense of continuity and stability through their small group ministry will be the ones who are able to meet the deep-seated needs of love, fellowship and hope that this generation is looking for.
8. Contemporize your music. The greatest communicator of culture and of faith is music. Even John and Charles Wesley used the modern tunes of their time to spread the gospel. Your style of music says a lot about you, and those who dare to change music styles to touch the hearts of the unchurched have the best chance of reaching them. Check out what people in your area are listening to—country, rock & roll, rap, organ music? After careful consideration, churches may want to add new music or radically change their music style to reach Boomers and Busters. Most of all, music must be a celebration of the faith and must exhibit the excitement and enthusiasm that comes from knowing Jesus Christ.
Churches who make the necessary changes now to meet the needs of Boomers and Busters, and who present the gospel in a way that can be heard in the 90s, maintain the best chance of having a flourishing and vital ministry as the new century dawns. The prime and perhaps only opportunity we have of reaching these generations is now. The challenge for the UM Church is whether or not it will re-format its approach to Christianity in a way that opens up the church to the culture of the Boomer and Buster generations. Through the power of God and by taking the risk of change we can find the way to reach these generations for Christ.
Craig Kennet Miller is the pastor Santiago Hills Community Church (United Methodist) in Orange, California and is an adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of Baby Boomer Spirituality: Ten Essential Values of a Generation. His next book, Encounters With Jesus: A Group Study in Baby Boomer Spirituality, will be released this fall Both are available from Discipleship Resources in Nashville, Tennessee.
This article was published in Good News magazine (September/October 1992).