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Choices Within the Journey
What is the essence of this choice?
The essence of this choice is to have a congregation that embraces various generations of offering programs, ministries, and activities through worship, discipleship, and fellowship that address the unique needs of various generations.
Generations may be defined for the purpose of these congregations in at least two ways.
- First, is a typical discussion on generations in North America according to when people were born.
One perspective on generations is that we have five distinguishable generations of people who were form in the period of around 1910 through 2000, with a sixth generation just now being born since the turn of the millennium.
That means that the trailing edge of currently living generations are in their nineties, and the leading edge is less than two years old.
The worship, discipleship, and fellowship needs of these generations are extremely different.
What was going on in the world and in the church when each generation developed their Christ-centric faith patterns was very different.
The various perspectives that can be represented within one congregation that has numerous generations present are overwhelming.
In the sociology of churching one of the things we know is that a congregation with three distinguishable generations present can with relative ease stretch to meet the worship, discipleship, and fellowship needs of these three generations.
However, as congregations age and find themselves embracing a fourth or fifth generation of people, the diversity required to have authentic ministry to each generation is more than many congregations can handle.
A fourth generation adds significant tension to the day-to-day life of the congregation.
A fifth generation may add regular open conflict, and even a split in the congregation that can involve a significant group of people—generally the younger generation or two—leaving the congregation.
- Second, is what happens to new immigrant groups in a given country. The first generation primarily speaks the language of the country or culture from which they emigrated. The second generation is bilingual, and the third generation primarily speaks the language of the new country.
In these situations with the second or third generation there can be conflict and the lack of the ability to speak authentically to the worship, discipleship, and fellowship needs of the second and third generation.
Therefore, congregations that are both multigenerational and multicultural are difficult faith communities to sustain.
This is a both/and approach that indicates that the congregation should:
- Pay the rent with older generations.
- Allow the pastor, newer, younger leaders, and other leaders with vision, energy, and skills, to focus on younger generations.
Other choices:
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