WHAT'S A PASTOR TO DO?

Stillmeadow Church of the Nazarene, York, PA 

As a pastor I am aware, like never before, that the church I pastor is one church made up of four generations of adults.

These four generations have their own preferences and convictions concerning their understanding of and participation in church. Engaging all four generations feels like a daunting task to me. That’s why I want to enter into a conversation with as many folks as I can as to how to effectively connect with all four generations.


Russell Earle Richey, in the keynote presentation made at an Asbury Celebration held at the First United Methodist Church, Trenton, New Jersey suggested that boomers and builders (older Christians) tend to associate Christianity with “place”.

• A church building where religious life is focused
• Neighborhood – oriented church campus and facilities
• A “sanctuary style” worship space
• A church cemetery where members are laid to rest
• Retreat centers and camp-meetings
• Church owned college campuses

Richey writes:

“The older generations expect, if they have not always achieved, a similar stability organizationally and confessionally. They anticipate or desire to remain loyal to a congregation and denomination. They hold to the beliefs with which they were raised, enriching and adjusting them to suit the new day. They know the ancient landmarks and they revere them.”

Quite frankly, I’ve had little trouble connecting with the older folks because, well, I am one. Stillmeadow does builder church and boomer church fairly well.

However, Richey’s description of millenial’s and generation Xer’s is quite the study in contrast. These generations associate their understanding of the Christian life, not with place, as much as with journey . . . with movement . . . with pilgrimage. They tend to be seekers (not in the Bill Hybels, Willow Creek sense necessarily) but in the sense that their parents and grandparents connection with and experiences of church is unsatisfactory.


Again Richey writes:

“With little sense of embarrassment or discomfort they describe life as a journey

• Raised Roman Catholic
• Converted to evangelical Protestantism
• Transformed by college into a secularist
• After college raised into New Age or Zen
• Then interred into Environmentalism
• Now with children discovering the beauties of Anglicanism

Seekers, they view the spiritual life not in terms of places but as a journey, as movement. They orient themselves not to landmarks but to signposts. This spirituality of travel looks a bit like that of Abraham, the wandering Aramean.


(p. 14 The Historical Trail: Yearbook of Conference, Historical Society and Commission on History. Southern New Jersey Conference. The United Methodist Church. 1997)


So, that being said, how in the world does a baby boomer pastor who has been given oversight for a church made up of four generations and two places where we gather for worship, discipleship, fellowship, possibly connect (or more accordingly, re-connect) with the tent-dwelling, younger generation? We have a few, but it’s a disproportionate number . . . and I’m very uncomfortable with that.

So friends, can you help a brother out? I’m listening! You can leave a comment in the box below or contact me at pastorbud@stillnaz.com