I was born in 1946.
For decades my generation has been called the Baby Boomers. Sociologists attached that label to those
born after the end of World War II (roughly 1946) and 1964. Like many others in my generation I was born
right after my dad finished his tour of duty in the war effort. In all my parents had four children, making
us a pretty typical family for those days.
In the end there were a lot of us, so many that they needed to build
more schools and develop a whole new support system to accommodate us.
In reality, I have never felt comfortable being labeled as a
Baby Boomer. I was never a part of any
protest movement, and certainly never got caught up in the “bigger is better”
consumer mentality considered the norm for Baby Boomers. As a professional church
worker, I was always more concerned with serving others, than being
served. Now in retirement, I have no
desire to sit around McDonalds in the morning drinking a “senior coffee” and
talking about how the world has “gone to hell in a handbasket.” Moving to a retirement community where I can
hang out and play golf with other “old fogies” is not at all attractive to
me. And, when it comes to worship
styles, I like the old hymns but really prefer contemporary praise songs on
Sunday morning. I also like to think of
myself as being tolerant of those who choose alternative lifestyles or who share
different belief systems. Yes, I am a Lutheran, but I definitely am more
weighted toward the Gospel than the Law side.
As a result: Please do not think
of me as a Baby Boomer. I do not think I
fit, nor do I desire to fit, the label.
According to a recent report from Pew Research, I am not the
only one who is resisting generational labels.
If Millennials are those ages 18-34, then only 40% of the members of
that cohort consider themselves to fitting the mold. In fact, one third (33%) of that generation
consider themselves to be members of Generation X. It is not difficult to understand why many of
those born between 1980 and 2000 want to shun the “millennial” tag. According to the same report, most of those
surveyed felt that only 24% of millennials were responsible adults and only 36%
thought the word “hardworking” described that generation. It got worse: Just 12% of those polled saw
millennials as being “religious” and 17% as them being “moral.”
The bottom line: If you are looking to market a particular
product or service it would probably be helpful to look at a profile of what those
adults under the age of 35 look like. If
you are looking to hire a new sales representative or engineer it might somewhat
helpful to know the characteristics of that generation. When it comes to sharing the Good News of
salvation it is not going to be all that helpful. In reality, we all carry the same label:
Sinner. Each of us in our own way is a
broken child of God in need to the Good News of Jesus. Are those born in the last two decades of the
twentieth century self-absorbed, wasteful
and greedy? Maybe they are, but in the
final analysis so are many in my generation and we still make up a majority of
the membership in most churches.
Get past the labels and think in terms of those who need
Jesus. And it starts by being Jesus to
them.
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