Help Wanted: Generation X Leadership
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Have you taken a look at the age demographics in the United Methodist Church lately? If you had to take a guess, would you think that Gen X'ers represent:
A) 35% of membership
B) 25% of membership
C) 15% of membership
D) Less than 10% of membership
If you guessed "D" you are right on target. That's right: our whole generation makes up less than 10% of the total membership of the UMC.
There could be any number of different reasons why this is the case. But if your gut reaction is to say, "Our church has just fallen behind the times," you should think again. Wealth, mobility, and the Baals that the world has to offer to Gen X'ers have a lot more to do with the reason. If membership hemorrhaging has anything to do with our interior ecclesial life, it has more to do with our refusal to insist on high standards and accountability than it does on issues of Traditional VS. Contemporary worship styles.
I write about one possible response to this trend in my Reporter column this week. It is simply this: If we want Gen X'ers to see the church as a place where they are wanted and needed, the church needs to start relying on them. That means making a concerted effort at putting Gen X'ers into leadership positions, from the local church on up to General Conference.
Do you have any ideas?
Labels: Generation X, UMC, Young Adults
posted by Andrew C. Thompson at 9:21 PM
15 Comments:
this gave me a thought.. so i shamelessly put it on methoblog. the gist of my thoughts, how many gen-xers are in high leadership positions in the business world?
That's a good point, Gavin. My initial response is, "probably the same number and type that are leading in the UMC: few and over-working entrepenuers."
That said, I have thought about this myself, since I am a Gen-Xer.
Two thoughts:
1. I would agree with you that having clear expectations for membership would be a huge improvement. I've often wondered if we would need the latest evangelism campaign package if we were more focused on making authentic disciples. As it is, I fear Whitefield would be disappointed to have left us such a great assessment of Wesley's commitment to disciple-making (Whitefield's ministry being a "rope of sand" since he hadn't added the rigorous accountability of Wesley) only for us to squander it away by merely working for converts and members.
2. My running theory is that it isn't as important to put the next generation into power as it is to have someone in the current generation in power who has that rare resonance with the next generation coming up. Those people are rare, but they have both the wisdom gained from experience that we lack, as well as an appreciation for both the current contribution of the younger gen and for the fact that they will one day be the one in power. That way, as the next generation is purposefully included in decision-making and such, there is more of a mentoring process involved.
Guy -
As to your second point, do you have anyone in mind among the Baby Boomer generation who has that kind of connection with Generation X? Anyone specifically within the UMC?
Regarding what you and Guy are discussing above, Andrew: I think Susan Cox-Johnson, a DS in Missouri, is probably our best connection and advocate. You can read her blog here. (Although I'm pretty sure you've already read her, and I know Gavin has...we had dinner together last week.)
typist,
she might be one of the more prominent within the system. academically there are a number of them out there, the number might be so small it's hard to connect the two bodies
Thanks for your thoughts, Andrew. It makes me think of something that sociologists were saying a few years ago about Boomers, the ones in power..."Never trust anyone under 30." (I was under 30 at the time). I sense in my own Annual Conference and context that there is a desire to put us in power, but a lack of trust, by some, not all. But there is such a huge disconnect between the generations, that I wonder aloud how that bridge might be created. Where I am, I've begun work for our Bishop on trying to find ways to identify and empower young people, lay and clergy, in the Annual Conference. But the politics at times get to be so disillusioning that many would rather not even try. I'll likely blog about this over on my blog when I've thought this through a bit more.
Final responsibility and ultimate authority should always reside in the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship.
I like the idea of empowering younger people in church leadership. But because of lay church leadership is so time consuming, I'm not sure that it can be done by anyone but retirees.
I'm not a clergy person, but I am actively involved in the lay leadership of our church (UMC). It is indeed time consuming. I am not a retiree, but close to it, since I am a baby boomer, myself; I'm a junior college English instructor, so I'm always with young people. I am interested in this discussion, being aware of the disconnect and what that bodes for the future of our church. My three kids are Gen Xers. They are all dedicated Christians and all take responsible roles in their churches--not one of the three wound up as UM's, but all are Baptists!
The UMC church I belong it is small, and we have a few Gen X couples who attend regularly. They have small children and jobs and are very busy. We have found that they want to be involved with "church work" and leadership roles, but they can be burned out if we aren't careful. They want some meaningful Bible study. They want to help with the children's program, but not altogether. As one pointed out to me, "I could stay home and teach them Sunday school. I want to sometimes go to Sunday school myself!"
I think it is important to teach people of all generations, youth to elderly, the straight-up truth about who Jesus is. They need to know what it means to obey him, to follow as a disciple, to be a servant, and to fulfull the Great Commission. And they need true worship; they need to see his passionate love and to fall in love with him themselves. If the UMC would be a place where these things happen, I believe we'd see amazing things.
Thanks for the opportunity to sound off! Judy Callarman
These are all great observations. The last two comments in particular drive at one of the greatest difficulties in really cultivating young (lay) leadership. In the church I served until last June, I often heard younger couples in the church express the sentiment that their desire to serve more was hampered by the demands on their time.
On one level, this is just one symptom of a huge cultural problem - the pace of life and the extreme busyness of everybody. (I'm acutally going to write about this in my next Reporter column.) So that is just to say that the church experiences what every other part of society experiences.
But there's also something more specific to look at. And it is simply this: What if the reason young people have a hard time committing themselves to the church is because the church does not really function as the community of redemption that it should? If the church is only one among a number of options on a young adult's schedule, its importance will be greatly lessened. The church must exist as the community of Jesus Christ - the central place in the world where we find LIFE - or it will be no church at all.
If it will be that, then I think young adults will find that they have all the time in the world for it.
Andrew - thanks for bringing some attention to this topic. I can remember just 5 years ago sitting through Annual Conference thoroughly disgusted at how backwards thinking and institutional the whole experience had become. I would sit with other young colleagues and we would joke at how meaningless the process had become.
But then two years ago I realized that within 10-15 years my generation (I am an early genXer) would be inheriting this mess. And then my humor turned to fear. How in the world will we retool this institution to become a community of redemption that is all about the Gospel?
Thankfully things were already changing. Bishop Huie was appointed to our conference (Texas) and things began changing. Her leadership has restored function, dialogue, and excellence to what we are doing. Before Conference meetings were about pension, insurance, and benefits. Now we are discussing formation, recruitment of young clergy and excellence in ministry and leadership.
I think like anything - genxers are attracted to things that are of quality, that are genuine, and that are focused. If we want them to attend our church services then we need to be focused in our worship, genuine in our relationships and provide a quality experience. If we want genxers to be in leadership the same applies.
I have written before about the generational differences between those in power and the next generation that is coming. There is much to be gained by sharing power.
I firmly believe that the answers for any question in the church are present when the church assembles. Through the Holy Spirit we are provided with the answers for the future. The Spirit has given each generation a set of gifts. GenXers bring there gifts -- the question is whether or not they will be permitted to be in the room when the questions are asked, and the decisions are made.
One of the things I wonder about as we talk about "empowering younger generations" is whether we're saying something like: "You want power? Ok, here it is. Now do the same things we've been doing, the same we we've been doing them." As one born on the borderline of generations, that just doesn't sound very attractive to me.
So much of the institution is still bogged down in having meetings for the sake of meetings (since so many of the higher ups still don't understand the internet or technology), and top down decision making (how many times have you taken a day to travel to a meeting, supposedly to make some momentous decision, when you get there and find out all you're doing is ratifying decisions already made on high - and now you're there to "celebrate"?).
Another challenge with seeking to bring changes to incorporate a rising generation (or, more accurarely, generationS), is that most of the changes we need may take at least a generation or two to implement.
Andrew, et. al.,
Great question...I kind of begged it, huh?
Well, I'm looking for them. I can think of a DS or I know that are more or less like that, and I can think of at least one large church Sr. Pastor. Of couse, I don't claim to know everyone who might fit my hypothetical description.
I must add that I'm blessed to be my conference's chair of the Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry. I provide leadership to the body that oversees our conference-level Wesley Foundations and relates with our UM colleges and scholarship programs. In that position, I work closely with the Assistant to the Bishop as well as the Conference Treasurer and various DS's.
So, I have been included in a leadership role in the conference.
I really appreciate all the thoughts that have been shared on this topic. I was a bit surprised that it struck this much of a nerve. What that says to me is that the need for Gen X leadership is recognized across the connection.
There are surely no 'magic bullets' to address the issue in practical ways. In local churches, a lot of it probably comes down to identifying potential leaders and asking/encouraging them to take roles they might not think about otherwise.
For clergy, it's trickier because of conference politics. I do believe that younger clergy coming together in official or quasi-official bodies can make a difference by collective effort.
And of course, the Internet helps in our encouragement of one another.
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