This paper was originally published in 2003 in the Baptist Journal of Theology (South Africa). It has not been updated – some of the website references in the footnotes may be out of date.

The paper was a collaboration between Dr Sharlene Swartz (read her bio at LinkedIn or in her current position as HSRC researcher) and Dr Graeme Codrington.

Challenges Facing South African Baptist Youth Ministry in the 21st Century

A Crash Course in Post Modernism

It’s all around us. But most of us can’t concisely describe it. It’s the philosophy of the age which follows modernism. Modernism is basically the world view which drew the line between science and religion, faith and superstition, truth and veracity. It demanded technical, scientific answers to questions of faith and science. Non-ending proofs and evidence. Modernism required that everything be rational, observable and repeatable. It was in one sense a return to the scholasticism of the thirteenth century but without a supreme deity as its anchor. “God does not exist until proven otherwise” could be a foundational principle for its atheists, although Christianity too flourished in the modernist milieu. For modernists, the truth exists objectively; things must be explainable, we must be able to demonstrate and understand it. Modernism takes it as axiomatic that there is only one true answer to every problem, from which it follows that if we can correctly formulate those answers, the world could be controlled and rationally ordered. That’s why we grew up on Creation – Evolution debates, Disco (very tangible beat and structured dance form), long theological debates, proving the existence of God and cerebral reasoning. Modernism has ruled supreme in Western thought for the last 500 years. But since its beginning, a new approach has been gathering momentum, and as this century ends, it claims dominant position, not only in the intellectual corridors of power, but is pervasive throughout society in all corners of the globe.

Postmodernism is a reaction to modernism ¹. It is a direct descendant of the existentialism of the late nineteenth century – where the affective took precedence over the cognitive. It has gained a firm foothold since the late 1960s. Although it is very difficult to find a simple, concise definition, it is characterised by freedom of choice, rejection of creeds, and a complete agnosticism with regards to truth. In fact at the heart of postmodernism is an aversion to precise definitions and formulae. Instead our life experience (including faith) must “make me feel good” and must “connect with my life experience”. My “story” must matter. How I respond is just as important as the tenet of faith itself. My faith must stand questioning, but not having answers is OK. “It must work”. That’s why drugging, New Age, experience, smart drugs, raving, identity in music, experiential learning are currently in vogue, at the close of the twentieth century.

THE CHALLENGES

So why a crash course in postmodernism? Because it is the world view that is defining next century’s generation of young people (to whom we will refer as Generation 21) – young people who are going to be…

1. Post Christian

For the past 500 years, Judeao-Christian morality has been the basis of “common decency” which everyone has taken for granted. Although Christianity’s truth claims have been questioned, most people have at least had some grounding in Christianity before asking such questions. Most people who have rejected Christianity have at least known what they were rejecting. But it is not so today. “We have grandparents who had a Christian belief, parents who have a memory of that belief, and now kids who have nothing”². This comment was made of present-day American culture. The situation is thankfully not yet this bad in South Africa, but current research into South African youth culture by Bill Price and Associates is showing that it is most certainly going to be true fairly soon³. Although 86% of young people in South Africa would align themselves with Christianity, and 83% of young people consider spirituality to be “important” in their lives, only 52% were able to indicate the basis of their beliefs, and just less than half of those young people claiming to be Christians attended church youth groups more than once a month.

Recent research by Jurgens Hendriks⁴ indicates that in 1980, 77% of South Africa’s population associated themselves with a Christian Church. It has declined since then. The 1991 figure is 74.5%. Unfortunately, more recent figures are not yet readily available. The drop off is due to a considerable decline in church attendance by the white and coloured population groups. The percentage whites who associated with Christian churches dropped from 92% to 78%, and coloureds from 87% to 64%. In the black population group there was a steady growth from 27% in 1910 to 75% in 1980 and 77% in 1991. Denominationally, the trend is even more disturbing. Traditional denominations are losing members, on average 19% between 1980 and 1991. This decline is in spite of the tremendous growth of so called mega-churches in most of these denominations. The only growing group is that of the Independent Churches, which doubled their membership⁵.

Hendriks states that “we must realise that before 1994 the state was responsible for upholding Christian values. There were laws forbidding abortion, gambling, pornography, certain activities on a Sunday, etc. Local authorities endorsed these laws. Furthermore, Christian principles and biblical lessons were taught in schools. In the new dispensation the responsibility for upholding Christian values has been transferred from the state and secular authorities to believers and congregations”.

2. Post Charismatic

Cain and Kendall⁶ speak of a post Charismatic generation, rather than merely a meeting in the middle of the evangelical and Pentecostal/charismatic traditions – a new tradition that has both Word and Spirit, power and truth, spontaneity and orthodoxy. It is a prophetic word for the next generation. Most young people today already have experienced the life of the Spirit as a normal every day part of their Christianity – no longer is speaking in tongues an issue, or accepting a word of knowledge or laying on of hands to heal the sick. Ten years ago all these issues where buried in controversy. Not so on the eve of the third millennium – how much more so for Generation 21? This renewed interest in the move of the Spirit relates to a similar move amongst unchurched young people in a revived interest in the spiritual and the supernatural. For example, a quick flip through your TV guide will show the following in 1999: Buffy the Vampire slayer, X-files, Outer Limits, Touched by an Angel, Teen Angel (comedy), Nothing Sacred, First Wave, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (comedy), Father Ted (comedy), Mortal Kombat, Strange World, and Brimstone. This is not even to mention the spiritual themes in music, and of course, Hollywood movies.

3. Biblically Illiterate

A friend, ministering at a small church in KwaZulu-Natal, recently spoke to one of his congregation, letting her know that his sermon topic for the coming Sunday was on Samson and Delilah. A shocked look crossed her face, as she exclaimed: “That’s not in the Bible”. It turns out she thought is was part of Greek mythology. She is not alone. Pastors, youth workers, parents, teachers all complain of the same malaise – young people are functionally biblically illiterate. “They don’t memorise scripture like we did in the old days.”. “They don’t know the difference between a tenet from the Bible and a sonnet from Shakespeare”. Well the truth of the matter is – it is absolutely true. And it is what we have to contend with. Why, one may ask? Modernism lent itself to memorisation, rote learning, recall, focus, hard and long hours of learning, long school hours (including Sunday School) and great discipline (getting up early – spending hours in God’s word).

But the world has changed. Time has changed – the pace at which we live life has accelerated terrifically. We now have Outcomes Based Education, continuous assessment, interactive teaching and learning, more stimulation than ever before, more things to do, to read, to watch, to experience. These days young people are more often found quoting a pick up line from an Austin Powers movie than a poem or a bible verse. It is not going to change. Imagine Charles Spurgeon as a twelve year old. What did he do if not his Sunday School homework and school work? The world is different – twelve year olds today earn cash in their spare time, hang out with friends, play computer games, go to the movies, the mall, Imax, Ratanga Junction and play Sony Playstation games. On the other hand, why should one spend time memorising, when hand held computers contain easy-reference word-search Bible concordances in a multitude of versions. Why memorise when its on-line?

Instead of mourning the past lets capture the present and use it for the education in Christian values of young people according to the tenor of the times. Computer technology, narrative theology, non-didactic teaching methods and popular media like The Prince of Egypt should all be harnessed creatively. What is really needed is not memorisation of proof-texts, but rather a more expansive overview of God’s plan as shown in the Scriptures, providing a much needed moral and theological framework for today’s information-overloaded young people.

4. Info – crats

Young people in the twenty-first century will know more and have access to vastly greater quantities of information than ever before. They will have lots more information at their finger tips than those teaching them. Which means they will be less likely to accept authoritative and definitive answers. No longer will “Because I say so” suffice – specially when the “I” is an older person who can’t search Encyclopaedia Britannica online; isn’t a member of three email forums, doesn’t read nine daily newspapers from around the globe and doesn’t subscribe to six of the latest scientific and theological journals from universities as far afield as Boston and Bangkok. Let’s face it, how many of us can do that already? Generation 21 have had a jump start – while anyone currently over thirty is still playing catch up when it comes to Information Technology. Just think who is most capable of programming the household VCR if you don’t believe that today it is the young people who are more geared up for the next century than their parents ever will be.

One of the downsides of this information overload is that these new generation info-crats appear to have an ever decreasing attention span. This is not entirely true, as they are able to concentrate for much longer than many adults – but they cannot focus on one topic for very long. They flit from one TV channel to the next, watching three or more shows simultaneously. They are capable of doing their homework with both TV and radio blaring in the background. They accept information in “sound bites”, and their music and media is equally fast paced in its visual presentation. Communication is multi-threaded to them, and interactive multi-media is king. They don’t know what a flannel graph or a chalkboard is; and they have only ever known CDs and now DVD. Computer presentations are the norm.

Long one way sermons will no longer communicate. Instead methods need to be innovative, short and interactive. Methods like Groome’s⁷ shared Christian praxis and Cooperative Learning⁸ are the way of the future.

5. Unrecognisable Worshippers

Both personal and corporate worship are going to change. For Generation 21 outward appearance is not going to be a measure of spirituality. Postmodernism is characterised by paradox, especially in its expression. This will be most fully seen in worship, which to truly touch postmodern Christians will need to be eclectic. Individuality in the midst of community will be paramount in worship. We need to be prepared to facilitate this. The Soul Survivor⁹ movement in the UK is a good example of this. The fact that many Black churches, whose white counterparts would be very conservative, are mostly Pentecostal and Charismatic in practice although perhaps not in theology, is another. Ultimately there is nothing sacrosanct about our worship services. Culture is after all only culture – we must recognise this fact if we are to incarnate Christ. Personal preference must make way for accommodation; form for worship in both Spirit and Truth.

6. A Culture Apart

In the nineteenth century there was a golden age of mission as new frontiers were opened, difficult languages learnt and Scriptures translated. We crossed cultural boundaries to take the gospel to unreached people groups. In the twenty-first century, as these unreached people groups are systematically targeted and reached, we will nevertheless continue to have unreached peoples living in our own neighbourhoods. These are people who have not heard the Gospel message even once – they are going to be young people who live in a plethora of virgin cultures, for the most part un-accessed or inaccessible to adult missionaries. To judge the vast gulf between you and them, consider the following:

They have only known one Germany. Man has always walked on the moon. Their lifetime has always included AIDS. The expression “you sound like a broken record” means nothing to them. They have never owned a record player. They have likely never played Pac Man and Star Wars looks very fake. They have always had an answering machine. They have always been able to fax. Cell-phones are normal. There have always been VCR’s, but they have no idea what Beta is. Roller-skating has always meant inline for them. They never took a swim and thought about Jaws. Petrol has always been sold 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They don’t remember who Botha is – neither Naas or PW. They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is. The Cosby Show, Miami Vice, WKRP in Cincinnati and Dynasty are shows they have likely never seen. Jet airlines? – are there any other types of planes? Those ten years old and younger cannot remember institutionalised apartheid. Michael Jackson has always been white.¹⁰

Every culture needs to be impacted and penetrated by the gospel. The multitude of youth cultures is no exception. And then once that culture has been penetrated and youth come to know Christ, lets not demand that young people lose their culture. Lets not make native Americans and Africans dress like Europeans in order to be acceptable worshippers. Lets at least, having learnt past painful lessons, allow room for Christ himself to transcend these cultures. Culture can and must be retained in a Christian lifestyle. But “How can a Christian person want to remain in a culture that appears sinful?” is a frequently asked question.

The answer is twofold. Often to the uninitiated, different is equated with sinful, but culture has both sinful and amoral elements to it. Many young people who become Christians who are part of the “Alternative”¹¹ youth culture still continue to wear black clothes, look anorexic and have more body piercings than we are comfortable with. But what is sinful about any of these elements? It is difficult to distinguish Christian “Alternatives” from their non-Christian counterparts – but only when it comes to appearance. Christian alternative kids tend to clean up their act in terms of drugs, music, partying, anarchy, degradation, escapism, alcohol-abuse, occult involvement, rebellion, anti-social behaviours, anti-authoritarianism, hatred, defiance, misery, self-pity, terror, selfishness, suicidal tendencies, depression, destruction and condemnation. In the nineteenth century bar room tunes were retained and excellent hymns written to the same tunes. No-one continued to sing the hymns while getting drunk. Wrong and sinful elements of culture become transformed and replaced with a vertical relationship with God and a horizontal relationship with people: “Love God, bear fruit in keeping with repentance, love your neighbour, forget the rest!” should be the exhortation to young people converted out of a specific sub-culture. Long hair doesn’t have to become short and kempt; T-shirts don’t have to transform into ties; studded ripped jeans surely don’t have to metamorphose into smart Woolworths cotton trousers.

7. Hugely Concerned with Social Ethics

One of the greatest challenges facing Christendom in the twenty-first century will be our response as a community of faith to the multitude of ethical dilemmas already emerging in general society. Abortion, homosexuality, poverty, capitalism, gender, sexuality, genetical engineering, affirmative action, revolution, ethnic cleansing are all old issues which will assume greater significance as the new century dawns. Postmodernism demands less rigid and definitely less judgmental answers. Christians everywhere must be prepared to give an answer for their faith in a gracious and humble manner. The iron rod orthodoxy of the past is over. It no longer even gets a hearing. If we want to be salt and light – we must be prepared to reopen debates and find answers that truly resonate with a world in need. I am sure that we have heard the end of long scholastic debates about predestination, charismatic gifts and dispensationalism. Social ethics is now the new issue at hand – and one on which the Christian church and its relevance to youth will stand or fall.

The Bible is not directive and/or silent on may of the social and ethical issues with which we are confronted today. There is room for debate and argument. Lets not hang onto rationalism and modernism as if they are the world views that came with the Bible. Lets agree to stop debating the unimportant – how many angels can fit onto the head of a pin¹² and predestination fall into the same category in postmodernism.

8. Aliens to Traditional Family Structures

The church of the twenty-first century needs to be a warm, welcoming and loving family. A place of nurture and not of judgment or of insistence of outward conformity. Most young people would not have experienced the typical early twentieth century nuclear family. It is currently estimated that 3 in every 4 American teenagers will experience family breakdown by the time they turn 21. Bill Price and Associates³, doing similar research in South Africa, have found the statistics to be slightly better in South Africa, with only 1 in 3 young people currently experiencing family breakdown, yet the trend is downwards. Dysfunction will be the norm. The usual metaphors used in understanding the character of God may no longer be accessible to Generation 21. In particular, the role of fathers is disturbing. The high incidence of abuse is well documented in South Africa. Research has also shown that only 25% of fathers spend more than 2 hours per week interacting with their children³. Family needs to be redefined and modelled in the church – and people helped to learn Godly principles of family life both inside the church and in their own homes and partnerships.

9. Economically Vulnerable

The HSRC recently released findings that only 1 in 30 school leavers are likely to find employment in South Africa in 199913. Throughout the world, the gap between rich and poor is growing steadily. The “rules” have changed – big business and government are no longer the employers of last resort. The key to solving this problem, according to well-known South African forecaster, Clem Sunter¹⁴, is to develop small businesses and encourage entrepreneurs. But legislative bureaucracy and nervous banks have created a climate that is not suitable for this kind of development in South Africa. Today’s young people are nervous about the future, as they see themselves following their American counterparts in becoming the first generation in modern history to earn less on average than their parents¹⁵. Soaring educational costs, often financed with student loans that create massive debt traps, soaring house prices in recent years which exclude first time home owners, and the increase in government benefits to older generations add to the financial fears of Generation 21. And when we talk of “averages”, it should be noticed that the cyber-elite are all young and making lots of money on the Internet and in new IT-related growth industries. This means that the gap between those beating the average and those sliding beneath it is also widening. The rich are getting richer, and the poor poorer.

10. AIDS Infected

The AIDS epidemic has not begun to take its toll. Of all the fears South African young people have for the present, AIDS ranks by far the highest3. There is no agreed data, but estimates of AIDS infection range from 30% of young people to as high as 75% of young people in certain areas (in particular, young girls in rural KwaZulu Natal). Generation 21 is going to live through the deaths of their friends over and over again in the next century.

11. Violence Saturated

South Africa is a violent country, but until recently violence was not seen as a direct youth issue. However, more and more young people are being drawn into the web of violent crime, as both perpetrators and victims. This is once again following a trend first seen in America, as evidenced by the spate of recent school shootings. Bill Clinton has made it a personal goal to clamp down on violence in the movies and on TV before the end of his presidency. What will happen to a generation that has become violence saturated? Some scenarios are too frightening to contemplate.

12. Spiritually Hungry

Generation 21 is spiritually hungry. This does not mean that they are seeking after the God of the Bible – rather they realise that there is a higher reality, that there is something beyond the purely natural world we live in. Postmodern young people don’t need to be convinced of the fact that there is a higher power nor of the existence of the supernatural. What they do want to know is why they should choose Christianity rather than any other of the multitude of spiritual options available. As far as many of them are concerned, Christianity was a modernist experiment that has proved to fall short of answering some of the critical questions of postmodernity. This is largely due to over-reaction of many traditional Christians to new expressions of faith and culture.

The church as we know it cannot survive much longer. It must find its roots again in a truly Biblical approach to ministry. We therefore offer some answers to the issues we have raised.

SOME ANSWERS

As a church we can easily and must resolutely rise to the challenge. We say easily not because it will be without difficulty – but rather because the solutions are pretty basic and will take little more than intentional effort, conscious understanding and a willingness to adapt. An exception may be in the financial resources required – yet even in this solution, it may mean a redistribution of resources rather than finding huge amounts of new resources. Here are some basic ways to meet the challenges outlined above.

1. Relational Ministry

One of the chief characteristics of modernism was the elevation of the individual. Ministry in a postmodern context requires us to once again find the Biblically mandated community/relational approach to ministry. George Barna¹⁶ notes that “Boomers (the parents of Generation 21) value a network of relationships and find the transient, utilitarian nature of their associations as completely acceptable.” Barna goes further to say: “[Generation 21] have outright rejected the impersonal, short-term, fluid relational character of their parents. They have veered more toward traditional, longer-term relationships. However, given their cynicism and pessimism, they have lowered their expectations vis-a-vis relationships: their potential duration, the number of significant bonds, and their fervor to create a wide pool of contacts. Boomers sought relational breadth; [Generation 21] seek relational depth…What emerges are two generations bonded by blood, but separated by emotion and expectation.”

“I love young people! It’s so easy to get through to them. The surface might be rough and tough, but its only a two mm thick (or thin!) veneer. Peel it back and there’s just marshmallows!” So says a Scripture Union Youth Worker. And it’s pretty close to the truth. South African teenagers, when asked to list the things that motivated them, rated “love” as the highest motivating factor³.

What one consistently notices is that while it takes different strategies to reach different kids (unchurched, churched, urban , rural, leaders, followers etc), most of them can be reached if one person whom they trust builds tight community (close relationships) with them. It happens time after time – on camp, through contact at a school, in a youth group or on the street. Adults forging friendships with young people, entering their world and earning the right to model the life of Christ to them is what youth ministry is all about. This is relational evangelism. Programme centred evangelism will focus on the production of quality programmes with the intention of drawing large crowds of young people. This strategy can work in drawing numbers, but remains faceless, and in itself is unlikely to result in a lasting impact in the life of a young person. Message centred evangelism emphasizes the proclamation of truth, in the hope that the repetition of the biblical message in creative ways will result in Christian living. While truth may be transmitted from one mind (the speaker’s) to others (young people in the audience), experience shows us that this method, in itself, is infertile and powerless in the long term.

Relationship-centred evangelism recognizes the need of young people to interact with both the message and the messenger. For the message to be accepted, the messenger has to be part of the package. When this happens, powerful youth ministry can take place. It’s not enough to give good talks, or organize elaborate programmes. Youth workers need to give themselves as well, and in so doing earn the right to share the gospel with young people.

2. Peer Ministry¹⁷

“Teens reaching other teens create an atmosphere of trust and affirmation that enables young people who might not otherwise hear a gospel message to hear, and relate, and find release”¹⁸. In a 1997 questionnaire sent to Dutch Reformed mega-churches⁴, positive signs of vitality were overwhelmingly related to two issues: the involvement of laity in ministries and the existence of intentional processes of transformation taking place in their congregations. In postmodern ministry, the “primary role of the pastor will look more like the one under the Apostolic paradigm. Pastors will be teachers and disciplers, preparing the congregation for the work of the ministry. The congregants will be the ministers. The pastor of the twenty-first century must reflect many of the attributes of an entrepreneur struggling to open a niche in the marketplace of religious ideas”²³. 2 Timothy 2:2 and Ephesians 4:12-16 are probably the two most clear and direct Biblical mandates for this re-formational ministry.

3. An Accepting and Nurturing Environment

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ in the twenty-first century? What does it mean to be radically different? These are pretty basic questions, but really important. What it doesn’t mean – is outward conformity to a previously agreed upon set of standards (action and conduct) for Christian behaviour. When we set a series of outward behaviours and actions as the standard, we introduce cultural perspectives and biases (or traditional expectations). An example – going to movies and wearing make-up in the early part of the century were thought to be sinful, unchristian behaviour. It was a church norm. Today make-up is acceptable and Christians, rather than not going to movies at all, are expected to be selective in what movies they choose to view.

So what does it mean? Simply and biblically, being a disciple means starting a vertical relationship with God, a transaction between two people alone: God and his child. The next question to be asked is: Do we say to new converts simply “Love God and forget all else?” No, because that’s not the complete picture of Christian discipleship, but it is a great place to start. Over time (and with teaching) we challenge our new convert to growth and development. We say “Love God, bear fruit in keeping with your new relationship with God (Christian character development and personal growth), forget all else.”

Now as a third step, we look to the vertical dimension – love your neighbour. The order then becomes “Love God, bear fruit, love your neighbour”. And them this “neighbour” takes two forms: the rest of the Christian family and others generally. So you modify your behaviour, temper, hurtful behaviour, then only do you go on to do things which “avoid every appearance of evil”, “come out and be separate” (inwardly at first, not necessarily outwardly as well) and avoiding things “which does not cause a brother to stumble”. At this stage the new convert isn’t even sure of what his new family is like.

When listed like this, it is quickly apparent that being a disciple of Christ when you have had no previous Christian grounding or experience, is really a tall order, and a daunting prospect. But not impossible. It just takes more insight, patience and often forbearance. Being radically different means having a heart for God – it doesn’t mean being good enough or spiritual enough, according to anyone else’s standards!

Finally, the sense of self, so easily destroyed in Generation 21 must be restored. We need to be preaching salvation as adoption into God’s family, and becoming heirs of the king of the universe (see Ephesians 1). “In the past the church, in particular the Reformed school, has rejected the concept of self, and especially self-actualisation, and self-realisation. These concepts have been adopted by the New Age Movement, and in conjunction with secular humanism have taken on a specific form and meaning. It is this meaning and function that the church is rejecting, but unfortunately they have rejected the whole concept with their rejection of the way non-Christians use it. They have, in a sense, ‘thrown the baby out with the bath-water’. God has created each one of us as unique and special individuals, with a unique and special purpose, this is what makes up our ‘self’, and it is this that we seek to discover in Christian self-actualisation and self-realisation. We seek to find the self that God created and that secularisation, and modern philosophy has destroyed. People are showing all the symptoms mentioned above, because they do not know who they are, they have been made into orderly, predictable, individualistic, anonymous, nihilistic, driven things that simply exist with no meaning and purpose. Somehow we, as Christians, have to restore in them a sense of self-worth. This is only truly found in relationship with God, and this is where it becomes a tricky balancing act”¹⁹.

So more than merely relational evangelism the nature of our nurture and the warmth and acceptance of the nurturing environment is of paramount importance to both evangelism and discipleship of Generation 21. Thus, the greatest commandment is reborn in our churches. The twentieth century church has a way to go to achieve this.

4. Professionalising Youth Ministry

With an estimated 17 million South Africans below the age of 18, any serious attempt to launch youth ministry programmes must address itself to the vast numerical challenges: “How many youth workers do we need in South Africa?” rather than the more parochial “Where can we find a youth worker for our church?” SAQA (the South African Qualifications Authority) has already begun setting up guidelines for minimum qualifications for various industries, including youth work. Churches should be involved in this process, to ensure that minimum levels of care are set up to include spiritual input as well. We must also focus our attention on providing the kind of training environment that will ensure that Christian youth workers are the best qualified youth workers in the country.

If we set out sights on a target of 1 youth worker per 10 000 school going young people, we would need 1600 professional youth workers. More ideally, a ratio of 1 youth worker for every 1 000 young people would require 16 000 youth workers. This compares unfavourably with an estimated 1 000 full time youth workers around South Africa. And not only are the quantities of youth workers significant but their levels of expertise and training is sorely lacking. Amongst other things a youth worker is a missionary, a pastor and a social worker²⁰. That’s a big job – which needs great skill.

The church in South Africa needs to envision a youth ministry culture in which qualified men and women in significant numbers make a career out of youth ministry, either in the context of the local church or through para-church agencies (specialist service agencies). Such a culture requires a considerable infra-structure; and more importantly, such an infra-structure needs to be informed and influenced by thinkers whose ideas and writings maintain a sharp edge. Youth work must be recognised as a profession (a vocation!) rather than a bus stop while waiting to move on to more “mature” pursuits.

5. Finding the Resources

The 1996 South African census²¹ shows that 34% of South African are under the age of 15. A total of 54% of the population (some 21,929,512 young people) is under the age of 25 years. Research done by youth students at the Baptist Theological College, Randburg, indicates that as many as 75% of people who become Christians do so before the age of 18. It is also clear that young people are more open to the Gospel than adults. If the church’s role is to spread the Gospel, using limited resources, then it makes the most sense to maximize those resources by using them where they are most likely to be effective: that is, in youth ministry, or on things that affect young people.

Churches routinely dole out their scraps to youth ministry, although there are some notable exceptions. Specialist service agencies, existing solely for the purpose of pursuing youth evangelism objectives, are notoriously underfunded. A whole new mind set needs to be adopted if the necessary youth ministry programmes are to be adequately funded.

Giving to churches and mission agencies totalled R900 million during the 1996/97 financial year, of which R65 million, or just 7%, was allocated to youth ministry²². Set this against the required R1 000 million necessary to fund 16 000 professional youth workers, and one is quick to reach the conclusion that something radical needs to happen.

Churches simply have to work towards allocating 50% of their income to youth ministry, including youth ministry programmes outside of their local church, possibly through specialist service agencies – who may have greater skills in penetrating unchurched youth in various sub cultures. Individual church members with business influence should seek ways to channel funds into community youth ministry programmes. Joint appointments between churches, or between churches and youth agencies are strategic. Ultimately, funding for mission work comes primarily through God’s people, and sacrificial giving remains the predominant Biblical pattern. There is a cost to be born to meet the challenge of ushering Generation 21 into the kingdom.

6. A Social Conscience for the Church

A church which has no input into the social life and welfare of the community is a church that is out of touch, and perceived to be out of touch, with the very people it claims to serve. Church was never meant to be a showcase for saints – rather it is a hospital for hopeless sinners. As such, it reaches out to people at the point of their need, allowing the material and physical response to bear testimony to a spiritual solution. Churches need to take up the Biblical mandate to be stewards of the environment, to be healers of the sick, defenders of those who have no rights, and helpers to the widows and orphans. It is time for middle class congregations to consider their privileged position seriously in the light of the story of the rich young ruler. God has not called anyone to be wealthy – at best he has called some to be big earners, so that they can be sacrificial big givers. But we are not simply talking of money – the church’s responsibility extends to issues such as environmental concern, community crisis response, disaster alleviation, justice, community law enforcement and a host of other issues that will require time and sacrifice.

7. Changing Methodology

Postmodernism is not right or wrong – it just is! It is the context in which we will work to a greater extent as the years roll on. Young people who come to faith need help recognising the current world view for what it is – not wrong, not always helpful, but definitely there. They need to be taught “faith development skills” which takes nurture, resources, relationships and professionals. Faith development skills are about making faith work, answering questions, helping young people understand why God’s word says what it says, and how to apply the obvious and work out the implied. It means taking seriously the experiential and the cognitive – not merely answering “It’s in the Bible and so its true” – but rather “It’s in the Bible because its true (and best and it works)”. For example we must help youth see that immoral behaviour hurts people… it hurts their individual development and it hurts their relationships with others. They need to be taught honesty and integrity when for the last sixteen years they’ve survived the streets through shrewdness and movie ethics. It is extremely unhelpful to say – “Do this because God says so”.

For faith development skills to take root our methodology must change. Lets not fall victim to the oldest disease on the planet, the eight words that always seem to announce the demise of effective work – WNDITWB – “We never did it this way before!”.

REFERENCES

1. There are a number of excellent introductions to postmodernism from a Christian perspective. The writers recommend: J.R. Middleton & B.J. Walsh. The Truth is Stranger Than It Used To be: Biblical Truth in a Post Modern Age. Downers Grove: IVP, 1995. S.J. Grenz. A Primer on Postmodernism. Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eeerdmans, 1996.

2. Dr Jay Kesler, quoted in Dean Borgman. The Battle for a Generation: Capturing the Hearts of Our Youth. Chicago: Moody Press, 1996.

3. In 1998, Bill Price and Associates completed a “Profile of South African Youth and Family”, using a statistical base of over 3,000 South African young people between the ages of 13 and 27. The profile covers 28 key attitudinal areas, including areas referred to in this article such as spirituality, home & family, leadership, money and education. More details available at: http://www.youth.co.za/census.

4. Dr. H. Jurgens Hendriks. “Ministry In A New Dispensation”. Practical Theology & Missiology Department, University of Stellenbosch, available on-line: http://home.pix.za/gc/gc12/papers/p1008.htm.

5. Dr Jurgens Hendriks is chairman of the DRC mega-church research group, investigating the reasons that some 80 DRC churches have been able to successfully expand in size when the denomination itself declined significantly between 1985 and 1996. This statistic was extracted from a paper entitled, “Megachurch trends: 1997″.

6. P. Cain & R.T. Kendall. The Word and the Spirit. Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1996.

7. T.H. Groome Christian Religious Education: Sharing Our Story and Our Vision. Chicago: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999.

8. D. Johncon, R. Johnson & E. Holubec. Cooperative Learning in the Classroom. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1994.

9. Soul Survivor is a church community of largely young people in Watford. Matt Redman is the worship leader and Gerald Coates is a sponsor of the movement.

10. Extract adapted from a presentation by Graeme Codrington, “Mind the Gap“.

11. Alternative youth culture is a counter-culture, which rejects mainstream trends, and is characterised by (amongst others) a music style that is neither rock nor metal but has a mixture of both elements with a melancholic and dark dress style.

12. A serious debate of thirteenth century Scholasticism.

13. Quoted in the Natal Mercury, front page story, 5 August 1999.

14. Clem Sunter. Never Mind the Millennium. What about the next 24 hours?. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1999.

15. Neil Howe and William Strauss. 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Cancel?. New York: Vintage, 1993.

16. George Barna. The Disillusioned Generation. Chicago: Northfield Publishing, 1994. Quoted by A. Allan Martin in “The ABCs of Ministry to Generations X, Y, & Z”, available on-line: http://www.tagnet.org/dvm/ABCs.html.

17. The call to return the ministry to the people is one that is consistently gaining volume at the end of this century. One of the clearest books on the issue is Greg Ogden’s The New Reformation: Returning the Ministry to the People of God. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990. In this book, he argues that the last Reformation (which helped usher modernism into the church) was a re-formation of theology. He is calling for a new re-formation of praxis.

18. Wendy Murray Zoba. “The Class of ’00″ In Christianity Today. February 3, 1997 Vol. 41, No. 2, Page 18. http://www.christianity.net/ct/7T2/7T218a.html.

19. Steven Lottering. “An Investigation into a Current Trend in Youth Culture with a Biblical Apologetic”, available on-line: http://home.pix.za/gc/gc12/papers/p2003.htm.

20. D. Borgman. When Khumbaya is not Enough : A Practical Theology for Youth Ministry. Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998.

21. The census results are available on-line at: http://www.statssa.gov.za/census96/HTML/default.htm.

22. This is an estimate only. One of the problems of youth work in general and South African youth work in particular is that statistics of these sort are not available.

23. Mike Regele. Death of the Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995. Pg. 221.

Related posts:

1. Five Things Every Adult Christian Should Know About Youth Ministry
2. Being Incarnational in Youth Ministry – a theology
3. Towards A Theology of YOUTH Ministry

In 2001, I was editing a magazine on the future of church ministry. I approached respected author, academic and church consultant, Richard Kew to write about what he thought was a critical future trend the church needed to be aware of. This is what he wrote. Now, nearly a decade later, it’s still important, and his advice should still be heeded.

Last weekend I was invited to speak at, and participate in, a consultation on ministry among the aging. It was a fascinating weekend. I learned a lot, met some interesting people, and (I hope) was able to make a small contribution to the process. This weekend I sat down with the November 3, 2001, issue of The Economist, and found a major survey of the near future by Peter Drucker that has me questioning — as well as building upon — some of the things that I said last Saturday!

Drucker is venerable in every sense of that word. Now 92, his mind is still as clear as a bell, and for someone who is highly unlikely to live long enough to see some of the things he is talking about, he is obviously very engaged with what tomorrow might look like. At the heart of some of his projections is his recognition that the developed world’s population is aging to such an extent, that the social safety nets all western democracies have put in place are utterly inadequate.

Here’s a nugget to ponder: “By 2030, people over 65 in Germany, the world’s third-largest economy, will account for almost half the adult population, compared with one-fifth now. And unless the country’s birth rate recovers from its present low of 1.3 per woman, over the same period its population of under-35s will shrink about twice as fast as the older population will grow. The net result will be that the total population, now 82m, will decline to 70m-73m. The number of people of working age will fall by a full quarter, from 40m to 30m.”

For the same reasons, Japan’s population will peak in 2005 and will decline from 125 million to around 95 million in the following 45 years. Life expectancy has been rising at the same time that birth rates have been declining in the West, and already developing economies like China are seeing their birth rate drop below replacement levels. This means incredible changes are on their way for our economies, all of which have been geared to meet the needs of an avalanche of younger rather than older citizens. It also means that the issues of pensions and immigration are going to be THE hot domestic topics in Europe, North America, and other developed countries for the rest of our lives and well beyond.

Drucker makes it quite clear that by 2025-2030 it is highly unlikely that there will be resources available for state-sponsored retirement funds for anyone until they are into their mid seventies, and, indeed, we may be moving toward a time when fixed retirement ages for people in reasonable physical and mental health are a thing of the past. So far, only the USA, Canada, and Australia, among Western nations, have in place the national culture that can absorb immigrants at the pace necessary to fill the vacuum, and even in these countries there are tensions about what immigration does to the existing culture.

This is a raft of information that the churches ignore at their own peril, and it will profoundly influence the pattern of ministry and funding of ministry as we move into the future:

1. Patterns of employment will change. Older people will carry on working much further into their elderhood. I, personally, do not expect to properly retire until I am at least 72-75, and maybe beyond that. There are theological and discipleship reasons for my own commitment to continuing to work, but also, I recognize that older pastors are going to be necessary to work among seniors as they try to adjust to a radically changing set of affairs where their lot is far less comfortable than that of their elders.

2. Patterns of giving are going to change. I suspect that we will see seniors, who have been the moneybags for the churches in the last 40-50 years, setting aside much more of their resources to support them when they are beyond working age than is the case at the moment. This means that ministry will have to look for other ways to fund itself, and I am increasingly convinced that a mixed economy of donations, fees-for-service, and semi-commercial enterprises will be part of the way forward. Financially successful congregations are going to be those who find creative ways of pulling such a mixed economy off.

3. Christian resources will have to be focused on ministry among the elders of society. This means evangelistic ministry as well as care ministry. One of the biggest unreached people groups in the USA today is those aging Boomers whose lives are bereft of anything that has to do with a living, eternal relationship with Jesus Christ. Yes, we need to spend dollars on youth ministry, but yes, I think that tomorrow’s church budgets will have to have a major segment set aside to fund much more extensive ministry among seniors.

4. There will be human resources available of which we have made limited use to this point. One of the things about seniors is that since World War Two we have seen the so-called golden years as a time when folks are out to pasture. We are now in a position where we have tens of thousands of fit, able-bodied, men and women who should have more challenges to address that merely swanning round the country in their RVs “spending their children’s inheritance.” Men especially, particularly those who have lived stimulating lives, need to be given more than tasks of ushering, counting the money, or if they are good, sitting on the vestry — one of the reasons there are so few men in churches today is that we have not provided them with challenges, so (among other things) they perceive the Gospel to be trivial. We have folks in our congregations now who have the energy and the ability to make a significant difference for the Kingdom in their third age. For example, I have noticed that almost every church plant I know has at least one older couple part of it, and they are very often the pillars who make this new congregation happen.

5. We must be prepared to tailor parish life to suit the less predictable lifestyles of the elders. While it is likely that elders will continue to work, it is also likely that the jobs they will take on will not be life-long salaried employment for one organization. This means that the Christians a congregation has available might be going like slaves for several months working on a temporary employment assignment, and then be available for several months for something that the parish has in mind.

6. Following on from the previous point, we need to multiply the mission opportunities available to elders both at home and abroad. I am delighted that SAMS, of which I was the founding chair as quarter of a century ago, is now sending hundreds of short termers to Latin America every year. We need to find similar opportunities at home and find ways that elders can become part of them. Habitat for Humanity probably has some lessons it can teach us in this realm.

7. We will continue to have an explosive immigrant population that we will need to reach. These immigrants will come in because they will be needed to fill the gaps in the workforce left by the fact that the overall population is aging. How we reach out with the message to these folks is crucial. I noticed in something that came over my transom the other day that immigration has so changed the balance of religion in the UK that by 2015 it is likely there will be more practicing Muslims than practicing Anglicans. A similar process is underway here, and we ignore it at our peril. So, while immigrants are coming in to meet our needs, they will also be changing the face and shape of our world — as well as setting themselves up to be the next generation of elders.

8. The massive increase in the number of the elderly in need of care is going to put greater pressure on families, and especially women with careers. There are just not going to be the number of professional caregivers necessary, or the resources to pay for support for elders who need care in the years ahead. Already we are facing a nursing crisis, and this is only going to get worse by all accounts. The burden of caring for the elderly has traditionally fallen on middle-aged women, yet these are the folks who have been most liberated from yesterday’s roles and expectations by the information economy. This means that parishes are going to need to find ways of providing considerable support for tomorrow’s “sandwich generation.” The sandwich is now a club sandwich, by the way, for this is the first time in human history that five generations are likely to be alive at the same time. One component of this conundrum is that men must be conditioned to understand that caring for elders is THEIR job as well.

9. I suspect that we are going to see a return to more extended families as a way of coping with the pressures that so many aging folks are going to put on the system. The downside of this is that it is going to reduce mobility, and at the same time it is going to make life even more difficult for those who are single or who are alone in the world. Single people either need to be part of a larger, extended family, or they are going to need to save huge amounts of money to keep themselves from penury in old age. As I do not see many Boomers doing this, I suspect that we will have a major care crisis on our hands within 10-15 years — and this we are not preparing for.

10. We just do not know how this is going to reconfigure the economy. We do not know whether the world economy has the resources to deal with such a surge of elderly, coupled with such a drop the proportionate size of younger generations. We do not know what will happen to developed economies when their population begins to shrink. Could we be in for a period of economic decay that leaves us all in fiscal trouble? We do not know whether the increasingly militant (and much younger and overwhelmingly male) developing world cultures will see a vacuum that they want to fill and begin invasions of a formal or surepticious kind. This is truly a wild card, and made more wild by our realizations following September 11.

Here’s Drucker’s final warning from his Economist article: “All this suggests that the greatest changes are almost certainly still ahead of us. We can also be sure that the society of 2030 will be very different from that of today, and that it will bear little resemblance to that predicted by today’s best-selling futurists. It will not be dominated or even shaped by information technology. It will, of course, be important, but it will be only one of several important new technologies. The central feature of the next society, as of its predecessors, will be new instititions and new theories, ideologies and problems.”

I suppose the question we need to address is how the Christian church fits into that mix in a multi-ethnic, pluralistic world.

Related posts:

1. Church is not the end, it’s the means
2. Living in an age of transition

It is God’s design that His Gospel, the Good News of salvation for all who believe in Christ, should be passed down throughout history by each generation reaching and teaching the next. This was clearly spelt out in Deut. 6:6-12, repeated in Deut. 32:45-47 and in Joshua 24. Yet, one of the saddest verses in Scripture is the indictment in Judges 2:10, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel” (NIV). The indictment is not against the wayward youth, but actually against the older generation who failed to correctly nurture them. It appears as if this indictment may be repeated in our own day. Today, the church is on the brink of a major crisis as many young people are rejecting it as irrelevant, boring and superficial.

The church is always only one generation away from extinction. If Satan can win the soul of just one generation, then he wins the souls of all that follow. The role of youth ministry in a local church is therefore one of the most vital aspects of that church’s existence, and certainly the key to its continued survival. With this in mind, there are a number of critical areas in which churches appear to be failing the generation of young people at the beginning of a new millennium. These can be characterised by five serious misconceptions regarding the role of youth ministry in the local church:

“The youth are the church of tomorrow”

It may be true that by the year 2040, today’s youth will be the older leaders in the church, and today’s church leaders will be no more, but this does not mean that the youth have no place in today’s church. In fact, the history of evangelicalism is the history of ministry to young people and ministry by young people. The Bible itself is filled with young people doing ministry: Joshua (probably no older than 18, selected as Moses’ second in command as Israel left Egypt)), David (age 13 when anointed king by Samuel), Jeremiah (seemingly called from birth, probably started prophesying at age 6), Mary (“betrothed” but not yet married, therefore probably about 13 years old), the disciples (most likely that most of them were mid-teens when called by Jesus) and Timothy (likely in his teens when given Ephesian church to lead and pastor) are but a few examples. The youth are not the church of tomorrow – they are the church of today.

The Church needs young people to be the church today, as they are the only generation naturally equipped to survive and thrive in the postmodern world of ongoing, incremental change. If you need to program the VCR in your home, you don’t call the oldest, most “experienced” person, do you? Young people can assist the church through the muddy waters of change, as we transition from a society based on scientific modernism, through the transition of postmodern skepticism, to whatever will be on the other side.

“Young people should learn to serve by getting involved in behind-the-scenes ministries”

In many churches, young people are considered “involved” in the life of the “main” church simply because they have been allocated a variety of “servant” tasks. The reason for all the inverted commas in the last sentence is because of the difficulty of working with different definitions of concepts. The Bible is very clear that every gift and every position within a church is one of servanthood – even leadership, if Biblically correct, is servant-leadership. However, when older people within a church want to get young people involved, they often feel that young people must “learn to serve”, and therefore allocate them tasks that may include serving tea, cleaning the church, door steward duty, car park attendants, ushers and other such ministries.

Although these tasks are absolutely vital, and most definitely should be done by people gifted with (amongst other gifts) hospitality, administration and helps, it is an insult both to young people, and to those adults who find their ministry in these areas of the church, to call these the only areas where young people can “learn to serve”. Young people should be encouraged to find their God-given gifts, develop them and then should be given opportunities to use these gifts, whatever the gifts may be.

“Young people are too young to effectively minister to adults”

Although it is unlikely that anyone would ever say this out loud, the actions of most churches speak loudly. Young people do not regularly minister to adults, either at adult small groups or in church services. If it is true that our spiritual ability comes not by might, nor power, but by God’s empowering Spirit, and if it is true that it is the Holy Spirit who gives gifts, then age should not be a factor when it comes to utilizing one’s gifts. When young people become Christians they do not get a “Junior Holy Spirit”. They do not get “spiritual gifts lite”. They get the full power of the Holy Spirit, and should be given ministry opportunities on this basis. Do our churches even know what gifts the young people have – let alone giving them opportunities to use these gifts?

“The youth group is a good training ground for leaders”

This is the most common and also most dangerous of the misconceptions, as inexperienced and naïve leaders are let loose on our youth. Adults are a lot more forgiving than teenagers. Adults are also a lot more discerning than young people, and have the ability to distinguish between good and bad ministry. It seems strange then that we persist with using the youth ministry as a training ground. We should use adult ministry as a training ground, and only the very best leaders should be allowed to lead in the youth ministry. I personally believe that allowing untrained, spiritually immature people loose in youth ministry is one of the key reasons that youth ministry is failing in our churches.

“There are more important things than youth ministry on which to spend our money” (“and, besides, they don’t give tithes to the church anyway”)

Most youth ministries’ biggest complaints is the lack of finances, which shows the level of commitment the church actually gives to it. Do a snap survey in your church, and ask people to indicate who made an initial commitment to Christ before the age of 18. If your church fits worldwide averages, you will find over 75% of all Christians made some form of commitment to Christ before age 18. If this is generally true, and if the role of the church is reach the world with the Gospel, then it makes sense to concentrate our energies where it will be most effective. At least 75% of the church’s budget, 75% of time and 75% of facilities and equipment should therefore be focussed on, reaching children and teens.

It’s time that we, as the adults in the church, stop viewing the young people as a threat, and start acting like the grown ups we’re supposed to be. We need to set the vision and direction of our churches – and these must be focussed on our young people. Church was never meant to be a comfortable place to see out mid-life or retirement. Church is meant to be a place where the family of God can be involved in passing on the Truth from one generation to the next. Whatever it takes!!

Related posts:

1. Challenges Facing Youth Ministry in the 21st Century
2. Towards A Theology of YOUTH Ministry
3. Being Incarnational in Youth Ministry – a theology

Originally posted on 19 February 2005

Based on a chapter in my 2004 book, ‘Mind the Gap’, here are some insights into the generation gap in church.

The era in which you were born shaped your value system more than you probably realise. Your value system is that part of you which helps you decide what is right or wrong, good or bad, normal or weird. Your value system is largely cemented in place by the time you turn ten years old, and the events and forces that shape you in those first ten years are critical in shaping your value system.

Over the past century, global events have become more and more influential on people across the planet. With increased communication, telephones, television and now the Internet, its possible for single events to influence billions of people at the same time. ‘Where were you when” type questions become increasingly familiar. Where were you when the planes crashed into the twin towers on 9/11? When Mandela was released in 1990? When the Berlin wall came down in 1989? When Neil Armstrong stood on the moon, or when JFK was shot?

Global events like these can shape the value systems of all the young people of a particular era. That means that people about your age may have a similar worldview to you. And you probably differ dramatically in outlook to those people older and younger than yourself.

Generations @ Church
There are few areas in our lives where the generation gap is greater than it is in the church. The church throughout the world is in crisis as an increasingly greying clergy is not attracting youthful priests and pastors. Youngsters don’t relate to people a generation or two older than them as role models, and the older generations boycott ‘youth services’. And so we see a vicious cycle of falling figures, both in church attendance and people prepared to don clerical robes.

Part of the solution is to understand what is causing this shift in values. But in order to understand other people, you actually need to understand yourself. And to do that properly, you not only need to be aware of your gender, culture and personality, but also of your generation.

A Blast from the Past
Those people born in the 1930s and 40s were shaped and moulded by the twin crises of the Great Depression and World War II. Regardless of which country or community a person was born in, these two major world events affected every person one way or another. Young people who grew up during these tough times naturally came to view the world as a tough place. To survive, you had to be disciplined and committed. ‘Get a good job in a big company and stay there’ was the career advice they were given (and the advice they followed, most of them having recently retired after 40 years long service in one company). Its not surprising that they value stability, predictability and consistency. They have a ‘waste not want not attitude’, and really battle to spend money, saving everything ‘ even reusing the Christmas wrapping paper, and ignoring expiry dates on tins of food. Sociologists have labelled this generation the ‘Silent generation’, mainly because they grew up at a time when children were to be seen and not heard.

In church, this generation loves the ‘sanctuary’. They want church to be a quiet place of awe and reverence (‘Be still and know that I am God’ is a verse often prominently displayed on the front wall). They love old hymns, sung to the organ out of ‘real’ hymnbooks.

Drugs, Sex and Rock n Roll
The 1950s and 60s dawned bright around the world. Societies were driven by grand visions, from capitalism to communism. Even apartheid. Not all grand visions were good, but they were certainly grand ‘ they were about rebuilding the world and recreating society. The struggle for freedom was also a grand vision that swept the world, from Nelson Mandela and Albert Lituli to Martin Luther King, Jr’s, ‘I have a dream’. There was also the dream of putting a man on the moon, first articulated in 1960 by John F Kennedy, and then realised by Neil Armstrong in July 1969. Through most of this era, countries were growing (South Africa’s GDP was growing at over 10% per annum for most of the time), gold was over $1,000 an ounce, and the Rand was stronger than the dollar.

Its not surprising that the young people who grew up in these idealistic decades have become powerful leaders themselves. This generation of ‘Baby Boomers’ leads with passion, vision and mission. They dominate the world, requiring everyone to conform to their way of thinking.

In church, they use the same approach. There are very few Boomer churches that don’t have a prominently displayed vision, mission and purpose statement. They’re into excellence and image, and the church service is required to run flawlessly, with lengthy mid week practices. They preach about success and believe that ‘bigger is better’ as they build mega churches in every city.

Things Fall Apart
The idealism of the age of the Boomers began to show serious cracks as the 1960s drew to a close. From the Profumo scandal in England, to Watergate in the USA and South Africa’s own Information scandal, governments proved themselves untrustworthy. From the Rivonia trials to the Angolan war, from Vietnam to June 16, 1976, the world descended into chaos.

Young people growing up in the 1970s and 80s got a sense that the adults didn’t know what was going on. They became used to chaos and change. After all, many of them were children of divorce. They didn’t grow up on the playing fields of their schools, saying ‘my daddy’s bigger than yours!’ They were able to fight by saying, ‘I’ve got more daddies than you’. And if you can change parents, you can change anything! They love change. They need change. And if they don’t get change, they will make change. If constant change can feel like chaos, then they need chaos, and will make it, too. They’ve been called, ‘Generation X’, where X is the variable, the thing that can change.

In the workplace, they’re demanding a new contract. No longer will they swap loyalty for security. Companies are not providing security and long term jobs, so these young people are therefore refusing to offer long term commitments.

In church, they want more change more often. They want relationships, preferring small groups and cell churches to the big Boomer mega churches.

A New Millennium
Sometimes referred to as ‘Mandela’s children’, these Millennial kids, born in the 1990s and 2000s, are being forced to grow up very quickly. Whilst on the one hand, they’re growing up in a world of unprecedented opportunities, with a wonderful sense of diversity in the global village, on the other hand, they’re exposed to serious pressures, including terrorism, ecological collapse, sexual pressures and a world that constantly demands new skills in order to find jobs in the future. Yet, these young people are civic minded, and want to make a difference.

In church, they will want to be involved, from an early age. They believe that its not by might, nor by power, nor by experience or gender or race or age, but by the Spirit, who gives spiritual gifts, that ministry is accomplished.

Implications
If the generational theory is correct, it will be helpful in thinking about all aspects of church. Of course, it is a generalisation, and should not be applied without thinking and careful analysis of your local situation. Nor does it replace prayer and godly insight. But, it can nevertheless be helpful in showing us some starting points in our journey of ensuring that church remains relevant to all generations.

What follows is neither a comprehensive list, nor is it meant to be step by step instructions. But the following areas of church life and ministry are in desperate need of regeneration.

Worship
The issue of worship is one of the most divisive in most churches. The older generations want well known hymns, solemnly sung to organ accompaniment. The younger generations want medleys of repetitive, new choruses led by electric guitars, keyboards and drums. The younger generations prefer a more intimate worship style, with songs that speak to God. The Boomers enjoy lively, loud worship that celebrates God. The older generations prefer to sing formally, about God. Multi-generational churches need to work hard to have something for everyone. The focus needs to be on quality and sensitivity, ensuring a mix of styles, with a blend of old and new. There also needs to be teaching on tolerance and diversity.

Preaching
In Mark 4:33-34, we read an interesting statement about how Jesus preached to the crowds who came to listen to him. Yet, the older generations still prefer the preacher to preach in a traditional style, using three point sermons based on systematic theology and hours of research in the Bible. Younger generations would prefer more practical sermons, peppered with stories. Both of these approaches are Biblical, and each has strengths and weaknesses. Again, the best solution probably involves finding a balance between the different styles (and many other styles in between as well). This can best be done by developing more preachers from with the congregation ‘ both young and old ‘ who can bring different styles to the pulpit. This would also fulfil the requirement of 2 Timothy 2:2 to allow more people into the pulpit and develop their gifts.

Evangelism
It is only relatively recently in history that anyone was asked, ‘Are you born again?’ or was instructed to ‘walk down the aisle’ and ‘say the sinner’s prayer’. The Silent generation believe that you can convince someone to become a Christian by logically and rationally taking them through a process of thinking. This is exemplified in the approach of Evangelism Explosion, and, to a lesser extent, Campus Crusade’s Four Spiritual Laws. Boomers have codified approaches like this and created systems out of them, taking them around the world, with slick training courses and manuals. Similarly, Billy Graham type ‘crusades’ dominated the Boomer’s early memories of evangelism, and the rock n roll style, stadium events are still favourites for them.

Today’s younger generations much prefer a more relational approach, that treats other people’s beliefs and other faiths with respect and love. That doesn’t mean ‘selling out’, it just means a different starting point, and a different approach. Today’s evangelism techniques need to focus more on helping people to experience a community of believers, and to connect with the ‘kingdom of God’ in tangible ways that go beyond explanations and arguments. The world needs to see more Christ-followers, not hear more rhetoric.

Sunday School
Sunday Schools were initially founded in the Victorian era to help children get out of the virtual slavery of child labour in Dickensian factories. They were given basic literacy skills to help them improve their lives. Today, most children view Sunday School as anything but freeing. Even the name is off putting!

We need to urgently look at the curriculum, the teaching techniques (and the training and support we give the teachers), and the goals of Sunday School. I am personally very disturbed that my two daughters tend to lurch from stories about Easter to stories about Christmas, with very little else except a few parables in between in a year. And if I see one more felt-board, I think I might cry.

Something for Everyone
The church has some tough decisions to make. There is a massive generation gap in the church and the world, and many of the strategies and ministries the older generations would prefer to maintain are no longer effective for younger generations. But we cannot simply abandon the older generations. The church must ensure that all generations are both ministered to and have opportunities to minister. This is a difficult task, but not impossible.

A pastor friend once told me that he did not just want to be an echo of his own generation, building a church that only catered for the needs of one particular group of God’s people. Like him, I believe its possible to build multi-generational churches, where each generation learns from all the others, as we reflect the diversity and unity of being the children of God.

Graeme Codrington is a business strategist and consultant, and co-author of the newly released book, ‘mind the gap!’ (Penguin, 2004). More information is available at his website http://www.graemecodrington.com.

Great books to read:

‘Mind the gap!’, by Graeme Codrington and Sue Grant-Marshall, Penguin, 2004

‘The Church on the Other Side’, by Brian McLaren, Zondervan, 2003.

‘An 8-track Church in a CD World’, by Robert Nash, jr. Smith & Helwys, 1997.

‘Make Room for the Boom’ or Bust’, by Gary McIntosh, Baker, 1997.

‘Systems-sensitive leadership’, second edition, by Michael Armour and Don Browning, College Press, 2000.

‘Jesus for a New Generation’, by Kevin Graham Ford, IVP, 1995.

Related posts:

1. Evangelising the generations
2. Five Things Every Adult Christian Should Know About Youth Ministry
3. Eddy Gibbs on the Emerging Church

Originally posted in 2002, and then updated in July 2009

It has been a tremendous privilege over many years to be able to (almost) seamlessly blend my ministry and work aspirations. This is something many people spend their whole lives striving for – to integrate what they do for a living with the passion in their hearts. I fell into this very young, and have been privileged to continue to do so.

Specifically, the work I do on different generations, and seeing the world through other people’s eyes (see http://www.graemecodrington.com) has application in many different areas – from schools and churches, to marketing and HR departments of large corporates, and even government institutions, too.

A few things have happened recently to remind me of work I did a number of years ago on evangelising the next generation. I wrote a chapter on “Generations at church” in my 2004 book, “Mind the Gap”. Now, EE3, the global evangelism movement, will be providing my book to its members. I have also been in contact with the organisers of the upcoming Lausanne Congress on World Evangelisation, to be held in Cape Town 2010.

So, previously unpublished on this blog, is an article I wrote in 2000 for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association magazine.

Evangelising the Busters
by Graeme Codrington

Living in the difficult days of transition between two idealistic generations, the Busters (also known as Generation X) are children of revolution, birthed and raised in one of the greatest times of changes ever seen in history. Like most teenagers, they have reacted to their parents. But unlike any teenagers and young adults before them, the world in which they are living is virtually entirely unlike the world of their parents or grandparents.

The skills they have leant, they could not learn from their parents. The values they have inculcated are those necessary to survive in the world in which they find themselves. These values can be used as a point of connection as we approach Busters with the Gospel of Christ. Some important values, phrased as statements they might make, are:

1. “What must I do to be loved?”
Relationships are the key felt need for this generation. In fact, relationships can be said to be “everything” for them: from network marketing, to the way they do business, to the fact that they operate with a much smaller, but more tightly knit group of friends. There are two implications for evangelism: (i) “mass evangelism” won’t work – one-on-one friendship evangelism will work, and (ii) it may take a lot longer to win their trust before we have an opportunity to share our faith.

2. “I am not a target market”
This generation hates being treated like a “project”. If your interaction with them is scripted to produce a result (i.e. conversion) they will pick it up very quickly and will distance themselves. Our attempts to befriend them must be of genuine friendship. The best concept is to think of two of your good friends who have never met. You know both very well, and think that they will hit it off if they have an opportunity. So you create a space for them to meet. How their relationship develops is now not up to you – it is between the two of them. So it is with Gen X and Jesus: you love both, and hope that after an introduction they’ll become good friends. But your friendship with each is not dependent on their friendship with each other.

3. “The truth is out there”
Gen Xers are not asking “Is it true?”, they are asking “Does it work?”. The only way to show them this is to show them how it works for you. They need to see the Gospel before they will hear it.

4. “Just do it”
Xers live on the edge. They love a challenge. They will give their lives to those who ask the most of them, not the least. In the words of a new dance song: “They’re living and dying to find something worth living and dying for”. Evangelism should emphasize commitment, sacrifice and long-term discipleship. The parable of the tower should be a guide (see Luke 14:28-35).

5. “My now is more important than my future”
They are more interested in an anaesthetic than a cure. You can’t scare them into heaven with stories of hell anymore. They want to know the value of Christianity in the here and now, so an emphasis on the Kingdom and on the fact that we have (present continuous tense) eternal life are vital. They need to know that Jesus makes a difference now, and that the Gospel has a message for the present world. The need to see this message being acted out by Christians who make a difference in the worlds (communities) in which they find themselves.

6. “Music is my life. I listen with my soul.”
We cannot use music enough in evangelism. In particular, we should use the popular music of the day, as it reflects a search for meaning. We can provide the answers that many of today’s songs are asking.

7. “I live in cyberspace”
Evangelism by email and webpage is a novel idea – but a necessary one for this generation that can only vaguely remember “before” PC’s. (2009 update: 9 years later this comment seems a bit “obvious”, yet how many churches are using their websites as evangelistic tools?)

8. “Let me tell you my story, and then I’ll listen to yours”
Narrative evangelism is essential. Mark 4:33-34 tell us that Jesus only used stories when speaking to the crowds (the unconverted). We need to follow His example. We do not have His perfect knowledge of each person’s situation, however, so we need to learn to listen a lot longer before we speak.

9. “I don’t trust institutions”
The focus should not be on joining a particular church, but rather on a relationship with Christ.

The best salvation outlines for this generation come not from the courtroom analogies of Romans, but rather from the relational ones of Ephesians: adoption, family, inheritance and guarantees. Above all, this generation needs to see that Jesus is the friend of sinners, the healer of the wounded and the lifter of heads. They will see this, if they see wounded healers in what they see in you and me.

Related posts:

1. Generations @ Church