This is what the books tell us. Gen-X is “all about relationship.” Gen-X is all about community. Right? Well … Yes and no. I believe “yes” in the sense that Gen-X really does want to have a heightened sense of community in their lives. I do believe that Gen-X wants community. However, I would also say “no” in the sense that Gen-X doesn’t really seem to want community outside of Gen-X’ers. It certainly doesn’t want it with Boomers. Gen-X wants community with itself and that’s not community. That’s tribalism.
- Greg Quiring
This evening's service is about baptism. It's a theme of sorts. I want to talk about how Christianity is deep water. It's important to remember that the deeper one goes, the more pressure there is. The analogy eventually fails, but it's a good start. Church life is often pressure-filled. God asks much of us. Jesus is a tough act to follow. And when the church is divided upon itself as it is around human sexuality that pressure is even more real. So, why would anyone ever join? Why would anyone wish to belong to a community so divided?
Yet, here we are.
I have been reading through some Gen X stuff lately trying to understand a modicum of generation theory. It's something we spend time with in seminary as part of the "systems theory" mess. It's useful knowledge. How do various generations of people (These have names like Boomers etc, but are likely more shaped by events than they are shaped by themselves.) encounter community? How do they encounter the Church specifically? Each generation exhibits trends and habits. Individuals in those generations will reflect these trends to a greater or lesser degree.
In thinking about church, it's important to deal with both the macro and the micro. The quotation in the sidebox is an interesting critique from a self-proclaimed X'er. Again, as with all generational theory, it's a bit wide-sweeping. Still, I think that the author is trying to address tendencies within Gen X...Call it tribalism, or cliquishness, or the simple result of being a generation compelled to form communities of age peers from birth as a social survival tool (Some sociologists say that Gen X is the first generation where the majority were raised outside multi-generational environments.). It's an issue that pastors should know a little about.
Carol Howard Merritt has written a book entitled Tribal Church. She takes the notion of Tribe that Quiring sees as problematic and runs with it, turning it into something positive.
Using the metaphor of a tribe to describe the close bonds that form when people of all ages decide to walk together on their spiritual journeys, Merritt casts a vision of the church that embraces the gifts of all members while reaching out to those who might otherwise feel unwelcome or unneeded. Mainline churches have much to offer young adults, as well as much to learn from them. By breaking down artificial age barriers and building up intentional relationships, congregations can provide a space for all people to connect with God, each other, and the world.Tribes are multi-generational. It's a simple notion and, when congregations function at their best, congregations can demonstrate this leading young adults out of singular age cliques into ways of valuing and being valued at all stages of life. But it also may mean that church communities have to learn to be somewhat flexible in managing how different generations (X'ers, Boomers, Y's) engage multi-generational communities specifically churches. What works for one generation may not work for another...and churched as multi-generational communities are not raising a single person through all stages of life. People come and go. The values and spiritual center of a church shifts with each addition and subtraction. Winner reports:
Often, says Humphries, "a seeker from my generation will go to a church expecting it to be a Christian church, and the first thing they get is the PR message: ‘Oh, well, we’re Christian, but it’s not all that important.’ That was a marketing strategy that got Boomers into the church, but it’s counter to what Xers want."So, if one is hoping to craft a multi-generational community of people at different stages of life, then one will have to maintain the "PR" of the Boomers at the same time that one develops a clear Christian message for the X'ers while at the same time (yes, there's more) preparing for whatever the next wave of people bring to the table.
Okay...this is what we're baptized into. Welcome.
Right. I need to work.
Posted by tripp at June 25, 2008 09:09 AMI'm not so sure the water analogy falls apart; Christ is the living waters. It's deep, and there's pressure, but what's different —what's salvific— about Christianity is that despite all the pressure this water is life-giving. Suffering is redemptive, and the water cannot drown us.
Posted by: Jorge Sanchez at June 25, 2008 10:26 AMThe quote above speaks truth. At least that's been my general experience as one who falls "sometimes in, sometimes out" of the GenX range, depending on who's drawing the lines.
Speaking of "whatever the next wave of people bring to the table..." I've been recommended a book that addresses the issue: unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters. It's the next one on my list.
Posted by: Jane Ellen+ at June 25, 2008 10:44 AMThe generation discussion is interesting, and brings to the fore people and ideas I hadn't considered before. Lauren Winner quotes Nathan Humphries. A trifle, but I've known the man for years and I respect him immensely. His name is Humphrey -- Nathan J. A. Humphrey. I'm not going to ask even how the folks at Christian Century missed that one in the editing process. His book is a pretty good one, too.
Okay, so I was responding to the whole generation and tribalism thing, and then realized that I was creating a very long comment, so realized it was more of a blog post than a comment.
Short of it I mistrust generational thinking while also recognizing a certain usefulness in the creating of these generational constructs.
However, I think we trap ourselves in our constructs and in this instance I think we are finding that our generational thinking actually comes up against good sound ecclesiology. If our social constructions make living into being church difficult than the problem isn't with our ecclesiology or ecclesial practice it is with our social constructs. Of course we in the US have little desire to toss our social constructs, and this has a very deep history, thus why we can say that Sunday morning is the most segregated moment in the US. Had Christians been really willing to toss the social construct of race 200 years ago, Christians could actually be an example to our culture. Of course then we were our culture, hmm...There seems to be much here at least in terms of my thinking.
Yeah...Larry, there is the "b" part where we speak of Church as culture and how it calls us out of the other cultures that call to us. This would include generational cultures as well...
Posted by: Tripp at June 26, 2008 10:15 AMhave you ever flipped through "the big book of birthdays"? it's one of my favorite coffee table books of all time. i happened to mention it to my friend audra, who i thought had just a casual interest in astrology, and i found out that she loves it, which (finally) leads to my segue to your post.
in studying astrology, not only are we categorized by our signs and the ones closest and contrasting us (which are all interesting relationships in themsleves), but astrology actually also categorizes us into life cycles or stages--which is more like a psychological view of things. we have to graduate through certain stages to move on to the next one.
another interesting book is, i think it's called, "the birth order book", which is all about where a person fits in a family shapes their personality.
there are just so many ideas on where a person comes from--my dad and i are constantly debating/trying to reconcile nature/nurture.