generation x

The following is an admittedly half-baked, totally un-researched, and perhaps unbelievably silly line of thought that I’ve been contemplating. Enjoy.

I am a man who lives between two great generations. My peers and I split the gap between the Boomers and the Millennials almost evenly. We are a generation without an identity of our own – perhaps that’s why we are called Generation X. I think it is our lot to simultaneously honor the values of our fathers while ushering in those of our children.

Being bilingual no longer just means speaking the language of two nations – it can also mean speaking the language of two great generations. I think that society is undergoing massive changes. We are rapidly shifting our primary means of communication. We are moving from a dominantly oral paradigm to one built largely on text and graphics. Instead of getting a phone call, we get a text message. We now have the capacity to take and send pictures anytime to anywhere. Ironically, the telegraph replaced the post mail, the phone replaced the telegraph, the newspaper replaced the town crier, television replaced the newspaper, and now instant text messages are replacing the telephone, and the internet is replacing the television. We seem to be bouncing back and forth over the generations from oral to written and back again.

Remarkably, these changes are no longer isolated in the west. When I was traveling in Rwanda, I was struck by how when you drive out of the city – you are not just commuting from an urban to rural area. You are also traveling through time. In Kigali City, you can access free wireless internet at the International Airport while sipping a cup of gourmet coffee. Drive two hours outside of the city and the clock turns back hundreds of years. People are living in small round mud huts with thatch roofs. Even though I have been there a couple of times, I still cannot fathom what that must mean to the people of that tiny country. At least in the States, everyone is compelled to navigate these changes equally.

In the midst of all this change, it is easy for people to feel lost and become desperate for something familiar – especially those in the Boomer generation. They have been this great sweeping force, not only in the States, but really have had a world shaping impact. For a long time, their values were the clear, dominant force shaping the culture. That is beginning to change. The Millenials and their cohorts are asserting themselves and their ideals and it is beginning to generate competition in society. It strikes me as slightly humorous that no doubt the Boomers experienced this whole generational shift from the other end when they began asserting themselves with the “Greatest Generation.” I mean that is a tough nut to crack – succeeding a generation whose very name implies their claim on societal norms and values!

This shift in society and competition to define societal norms will necessarily impact the church. As it does, people need not feel left behind, put out, or ignored (on either end of the generational spectrum). Our means of communicating, doing life together, and generally ordering our lives may continue to change. However, our primary mission will not. For those of you who may be looking for something familiar to hang onto – something solid upon which to stand: Let me suggest that the familiar is here and – so long as we are faithful to him – always will be. Christ is the unchanging in our church and he is sufficient.

As a genXer who is stretching himself to “become all things to all men,” I’d love to hear your thoughts in and around this issue . . .