Learning From a Younger Generation

July 7, 2008

By John W. Kennedy

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27, NIV).

I go to a church where about 80 percent of the attendees are in their 20s. The rap on young adults from people my age often is that they aren’t serious about their faith. I’ve found the opposite to be true.

The 15 or so who gather for a weekly home Bible study really challenge me with their comments. They aren’t just showing up and going through the motions, as I’ve seen many people my age do.

These born-again Christians in their 20s really want to integrate their faith into daily life. It’s refreshing to see them grapple with their faith. Busters (born between 1965 and 1983) and Mosaics (born between 1984 and 2002) let others know it when they are struggling with something, not as a matter of griping but as a genuine prayer request to be resolved.

At one recent meeting, discussion focused on the angst many feel in purchasing clothing: They want to make sure their apparel hasn’t been manufactured in a sweatshop in a Third World country. Then one young man expressed concern about the oppressive government of Haiti. A young woman had qualms about toxic and unsafe oil tankers being permitted to operate. None of the issues had ever been on my radar screen, but to these young people they are priority matters.

They don’t want pat answers that fail to resolve real-life problems. There’s no attempt to present a façade, which my generation has been so adept at putting forth.

People my age need to understand this younger generation. A good place to start is David Kinnaman’s new book “Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity … And Why It Matters.”

Kinnaman, president of The Barna Group, points out what young people don’t want from people my age: pontificating, stereotyping their generation, smugness that we know all of life’s answers, hypocrisy and condemnation, to name a few.

Yet, people in their 20s welcome and respect my opinions if I don’t act as though I’m sermonizing. They don’t have to agree with everything I say in order for us to get along. All they want is for me to listen to their viewpoints and give them a hearing that is fair.

“Young people are quick to see the holes in what older people say and do,” Kinnaman says. “A young person who is condemned for outward forms of appearance like tattoos or wearing hair differently sees it as hypocritical for older people to dress up or wear makeup to be accepted by their peers.”

Largely because of generational differences, young people don’t see the world the way I see it. But it’s OK that our worldviews are poles apart. Theirs is a technological world I can barely grasp. They are more tolerant of “sinners” than I am. If my generation hopes to reach non-Christians of their generation, we need to learn to understand their language, motivations and thought processes. Together we can come to an understanding of what’s really important.

— John W. Kennedy is news editor of Today’s Pentecostal Evangel and blogs at Midlife Musings (jkennedy.agblogger.org).