THE GENERATIONAL DIVIDE
I had an interesting conversation with a buddy of mine recently. The topic of discussion revolved around the challenges facing our individual ministries, as well as those problems that face the entire evangelical church in America. Every church has issues, churches are made up of humans and people are messed up therefore churches are messed up. It is simple logic. On the other hand, there are those issues that transcend the local context, issues that are facing many congregations nationally and causing great rift within the church in America.
As our discussion lengthened and our coffee cups were refilled, we both agreed that one of the most difficult issues facing the church in our era concerns the generational divide within the local church. I accept that some churches avoid this by structuring in order to attack/convert/keep/enlist members of one specific generation. I don’t accept this to be the Biblical model though. When I was young, churches were crusading against each other over the contemporary/traditional debate. Subtly our culture has shifted and no longer is the real debate over whether to be traditional or contemporary, although some churches are trapped in a time warp and still existing in the early 90’s. The dialogue is much bigger than that now. Within one church it is possible to have at least five generations with some church boasting of more than that. Each generation has its own unique way to filter the world through that particular generation’s perspective resulting in a much different picture of the world. Unfortunately, very little discussion is occurring regarding this issue. Most churches simple divide between Old and Young and let the chips fall and many times the chips are falling right out of the church.
I am convinced that for our church to have a serious contribution to make in our community in the future we have to understand the generational divide and structure our churches accordingly. I don’t think the answer is to simply go to multiple services, because the failure of that approach is that it sees the issue through black and white lenses and we live within a world that is functioning, living, dialoging, and morphing/changing at rapid speeds in full color. I am praying that as I continue to dialogue with others regarding this issue, God will give clarity and discernment.
