Just read this about the Baby Busters and Mosaic generation (born from 1984 to 2002) that is also in the report referenced in the post below this one. This report can be found at www.barna.org
It's about young adults in the church - v v interesting and resonates with my experiences.
A final pattern discovered by Barna this year relates to the faith trajectory of the young adult generations (the Baby Busters and the Mosaics). “Overall, they are interested in matters of faith, but they have few assumptions about what a life of faith must entail. They are leaders in the pursuit of new models of faith experience and expression, such as house churches, cyberchurches and marketplace experiences. They are the most prolific practitioners of newer forms of evangelistic outreach, such as Socratic evangelism. They are pioneering language that bridges the gap between postmodern cultural imperatives and first-century biblical principles, to create new buzz words and expressions for believers. And they have certainly championed a novel universe of relational networks in which faith is a cornerstone of friendships and shared experiences.” He predicted that within the next five years young adults will boldly introduce a blizzard of unique expressions of faith that will cause heightened tension with the older generations of believers.
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In my professional role as an HR Manager I have recently become less and less enchanted with the whole Gen X/Y thing. Too often I have seen it used as an "excuse", a wedge, to effectively say that the things that are happening are totally unique and/or there are simply whole generational differences.
That is wrong.
I read the article. I myself became a Christian in 1971 and at the tail end of the 60s which had ushered in the most monumental generational and life changes in the 20th century. The Gen x/y thing is nothing compared to the generational challenges we saw then. Very large numbers of young people became new Christians in the late 60s and early 70s - often with minimal traditional church exposure before their conversion. They challenged the status quo.
These words in the article;
"Overall, they are interested in matters of faith, but they have few assumptions about what a life of faith must entail. They are leaders in the pursuit of new models of faith experience and expression, such as house churches, cyberchurches and marketplace experiences. They are the most prolific practitioners of newer forms of evangelistic outreach, such as Socratic evangelism"
With the exception of the word "cyberchurches" were EXACTLY what was said about our (baby boomer) generation in the 60s and 70s.
I would not want to define these issues as generational. That is too simplistic. Rather, I see it as the cyclical renewal of thought and form that is often seen in society. It is common to see this cycle repeat every 30-35 years. If it is starting again then I think that is great. That is a wagon I want to be on. These outcomes are mostly seen in young people. However, they are not limited to young people and do not simply affect all young people.
one (baby boomer's) viewpoint.
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