Never Before in History

Ronald Inglehart concludes in his paper “Globalization and Postmodern Values” that “A growing body of evidence indicates that deep-rooted changes in world views are taking place. These changes seem to be reshaping economic, political, and social life in societies around the world”. 

 

I believe that Baby Boomers (1943-1960) and those generations that came before them know instinctively that something is changing, and it doesn’t feel good.  With the end of the Cold War the world seemed safe again.  We could focus on building a comfortable life, and we did.  We went happily on our way, enthralled with the changes technology was making in our lives. 

 

Don’t ask me why, but I got to reminiscing about full-service gas stations (if you remember them you are not a twenty-something).  I remember the sound of the bell going off somewhere in the store as our car pulled over the rubber hose.  A smiling young man in a uniform would come out to the car and ask “fill ‘er up?”  Dad would say “yes” and the young man would pop the hood, check all the fluids, wash the windows, and check the air pressure in the tires.

 

Have you ever stopped to think the twenty-somethings going to your church have no recollection of this unless they live in New Jersey or Oregon (the only states with laws outlawing self-serve)?  The other night a 25 year old in our young adult small group asked me how much gas was when I was growing up.  Well, to give away my age somewhat, I remember times when gas was 17 cents a gallon.  Sadly, those days are long gone.  And, according to statistics, the heyday of America’s civil religion is gone as well.

We see this in the decline of mainline denominations.

 

Many books and articles coming from Christian authors are pointing to something historical taking place.  I believe invention of the internet is fueling this historical change.  It is akin to Gutenberg inventing the printing press.  The printed word fueled the Renaissance and was a major catalyst for the Scientific Revolution and Reformation.  The Western world was completely changed.  We are a legacy of it even today.

 

The situation the American church is facing is historical.  To be sure, the American church has gone through and survived historical changes before.  One only need point to the Puritans, Wesley, or the Great Awakenings for proof of this.  The difference we face at this point in time – this epoch – is the fact of globalism. 

 

It is going to take the church of Jesus Christ making the decision to follow hard after his leading and to be willing to go, as Mark Batterson says, on a “Wild Goose Chase.”  Leaders have to learn to think outside the box and do things they’ve never done before because we are on the cusp of a time that has never been before in history.  You find that hard to believe? There are many examples of “never before in history” taking place right now.  Let me provide a few:

 

·           Never before in U.S. history has there been four generations working together in the workforce.

 

·           Never before in U.S. history has so many people been living so long.  Science has created a second “middle age”.

 

·           Never before in U.S. history has the median age for marriage been 27.5 for men and 25.5 for women.

 

·           Never before in U.S history has the number of women that haven’t given birth been at 19 percent.

 

·           Never before in U.S history has the number of American families with both parents working been at 51.8 percent.

 

·           Never before in U.S history have 29.5 percent of males 25 or older and 28 percent of women 25 or older completed higher education.

 

·           Never before in U.S history has extended family relationships been so loosened through mobility. 

 

·           Never before in U.S history has the agent of wealth creation not been large business ventures.  The computer has opened up vistas to wealth creation to whole new classes of people and the Internet has taken away all national boundaries.

 

·           Never before in U.S history has an entire generation grown up in an entirely digital world.  Twenty-somethings are that generation.

 

·           Never before in U.S history has an entire generation been as protected and sheltered as twenty-somethings were growing up.

 

·           Never before in U.S history has the parent/child ratio been as low as with twenty-somethings and their parents.

 

·           Never before in U.S history has a generation been as heavily marketed as twenty-somethings.

 

·           Twenty-somethings have never lived during an extended time of crisis.  For them, the stock market has always gone up.  In fact, they were born into the longest stretch of prosperity the world has ever known (This may be changing as I write this). 

 

·           Did you know that the daily New York Times contains more information than a 17^th century man or woman would have encountered in a lifetime.  Access to the world’s information has never been as accessible.

 

These are just a few examples.  I think if you were to find this many “never before in history” grouping of facts in history you would find a world going through the pangs of change.

 

What do we do with this information?  First, we need to think, who is going to make it into the next stage of history?  For whatever reason, 2050 seems to be a mark on the wall many futurists point to.  Those born in 1980 and after will be the cohort that inherits 2050. 

 

The problem the church has to face right now is 70% of 18-22 year olds are dropping out of church and aren’t being replaced.  “Its how we’ve always done it” isn’t working anymore.  “Let them go, they weren’t of us anyway” is a scary thought and in my experience a cover for laziness or ignorance in that those leaders aren’t spending the time or energy to find out why young people are leaving their congregations.

 

Here’s the bottom line, if the cohort that was born between 1982 and 2002 (and is the second largest generation in U.S. history) is going to be the cohort that inherits 2050, yet 70% of them are leaving the church, who will be there for the church when the calendar turns 2050?  Societies are like a vacuum.  They don’t like emptiness.  Something will replace church as we know it today that is for sure.  It may be secularism, individualism, or some other ism.  That is the reason I write.  I love Jesus and his body, the church, too much not to try to bring this to somebody’s attention.  My prayer is you will do something now to stop the flow of young people out the back door of your church.

 

*sources available on request

 

The Changing American Church

Some months ago I was at a district church meeting. We were late getting to the meeting so we sat in the back.  I didn’t notice it at first, but as I looked around it struck me that at least 80% of the heads had grey hair.  It brought on a sense of sadness – for two reasons actually, first, the realization within the next 10-15 years many of these people will have gone home to be with the Lord and second, where were the young people who should be filling their shoes?

 

Many are claiming the American church is in crisis.  The May/June 2006 issue of Outreach Magazine presented seven startling facts which indicate the church is heading into troubled waters.

 

The siren’s sound is being heeded. Discussions are taking place in denominational literature and popular books. Congregations cannot help but notice what is taking place as their rolls are slowly being pared down.  Declining attendance is particularly being felt in established and mid-sized churches. 

 

It may help to know it’s not just the church experiencing the rumble of an approaching tsunami. The fact is the education system, particularly universities and colleges have noticed a change in their incoming students.  As far back as 2000, Howe & Strauss assessed this rising generation in their book, Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation, which university administrators extensively cite in briefings to staff.

 

Business and government have also taken notice of the incoming crop of recent high school and college graduates.  Deloitte & Touche has done some great work studying the generational shift that is taking place.

 

Along with a generational shift taking place in the West, there is a culture shift taking place globally.  International travel by jet, satellite news, and the internet are all playing a part in this culture shift.  Immigration is a huge player in this shift as well.  A Pew Research Center study on U.S. Population Projections released Feb 11, 2008 states:

If current trends continue, the population of the United States will rise to 438 million in 2050, from 296 million in 2005, and 82% of the increase will be due to immigrants arriving from 2005 to 2050 and their U.S.-born descendants … Of the 117 million people added to the population during this period due to the effect of new immigration, 67 million will be the immigrants themselves and 50 million will be their U.S.-born children or grandchildren (see #6 of Outreach Magazine’s list of startling facts).

The challenge the church faces as I see it is multi-faceted. 

 

To name a few:

·           Aging congregations/ministers/pastors

·           Globalization

·           Irrelevance

·           Increase in workweek

·           Increased college enrollment

·           Losing 18-24 year olds

·           Negative view of young unchurched

·           Lost respect of traditional institutions

 

There are undoubtedly more challenges than these and I would be interested in exploring them.  My wife asked me last night what I hoped to accomplish by having a blog on the subject of the church and Christianity.  It wasn’t difficult to answer her.  I know I need to start writing more.  The older I get the less I will be white water rafting, camping, hiking, taking long trips, etc. with the young adult ministry in our church.  In other words, I’m positioning myself to still be doing something for God in the time I have left (which I hope is a very long time).

 

My wife and I have raised five children who are young adults now.  I love them dearly.  The college age and young adults we have ministered to over many years will always have a special place in my heart and have opened my eyes to a generation.  I’m passionate about the Millennial Generation.  I believe they have the potential to do exploits for the Kingdom of God far beyond what anyone dares to imagine.  But, they have to be reached, retained, trained, and empowered to make a difference

 

I can see that the America I grew up knowing is changing.  The generation that won WWII is passing away at an estimated rate of 1500 a day.  The youngest soldier/sailor/airman of enlistment age would now be 84.  It won’t be all that long before they have passed into memory.  The majority of the Baby Boomers will be retired within the next 15 years.  American society is changing…period.

 

The church can’t keep doing business as usual to stay relevant.  The writing is on the wall – America will become like Europe with respect to church attendance if nothing is done.  My fear is cultural lag is in play and when the reality of the change taking place in America and the world sets in, it will be too late.

 

I realize the best I can hope for in doing this blog is for dialog to take place.  I hope that people more talented, resourceful, entrepreneurial, wiser, or whatever God needs right now will think about some of the ideas I posit and take up the challenge and work to meet the opportunities ahead. So, for these reasons, I put pen to paper (oh, wait, computers have been invented), wow, that great literary cliché is no longer usable.  See what I mean, change has caught up to me.