Online Archives

BY LINDA WORTHINGTON
UMCONNECTION STAFF

While ministries to every age group are important, for a church today to thrive it must address the lifestyle and needs of Baby Boomers.

To help church leaders gain an understanding of this ubiquitous group, the Rev. James Shopshire Sr., professor of Sociology of Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary, recently held a workshop at Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg.

“Boomers,” he explained, are born between 1946 and 1964, are the largest segment of the population today, accounting for 78 million people. According to Shopshire, the Boomers are the majority of CEOs, doctors, engineers, teachers, computer systems managers and clergy. Only 1 percent make minimum wage or less.

This large group of people, which includes most United Methodist pastors, (the average age of clergy in the Baltimore-Washington Conference is 57), is poised to transform the church, as they have done in all segments of society almost since they were born.

What will that transformation be?

Before looking at those possibilities, it is helpful to realize that “not all Boomers are alike.” There are two quite different segments to the generation. The 36.7 million Older Boomers, born between 1946 and 1955, are now beginning to retire from their active work years. They grew up in the rebellious 1960s and 70s, are the nation’s biggest spenders, and also biggest debtors, and even today receive most of the media attention.

The larger segment, 40.6 million Younger Boomers, born from 1956-1964, are in the prime of their work years and most of them, women and men, are in the workforce. Seventy percent of Boomer couples are both employed.

Boomers as a whole “have a distrust of institutional authority, including the church,” Shopshire said. “I believe in God but I don’t believe in the church,” is the way Boomers express their religion, Shopshire said.

“Boomers are not interested in denominations, but in bringing people to an encounter with God,” said the Rev. Ramonia Lee, chaplain of the Interfaith Center at Leisure World.

Millions of Boomers are on the side of sharing experiences and have an openness to members’ different gifts. “We need traditions that are true to the faith,” they say.

Boomers are returning to church. In the 1970s only 30 percent attended services, today 43 percent attend services.

What do Boomers seek in a church? They want a church open to spiritual experience, Bible studies that stress the practical, a healthy emphasis on relationships, fewer titles and less formality, Shopshire said.

They want an understanding of the new families in America, and they look at a church as part of a family of churches. They share their faith and want others to share their faith by both what they say and do.

“Boomers sometimes say the church is full of hypocrites,” Lee said. “They’re leading the way in taking the church outside the door and being involved in community.” They’re action oriented.

Boomers want to link having a “spiritual experience” with “worship,” and expect worship to be participatory with a friendly and casual atmosphere, visual stimulation (using screens, not hymn books), and arts and music, Lee said. They want variety in worship, service and study, and are insistent on excellence. They prefer worship that leaves room for interpretation, spiritual reflection and personal application. They are open to theological interpretation as long as it is free of dogmatism.

“If the church is just religious, or just spiritual, it doesn’t meet the needs of Boomers,” Shopshire said. They don’t want structure, form and conformity to interfere with a freedom of spirit and their relationship with God.

As they return to the church, Boomers are not as committed to attendance and their participation patterns vary, not just in church, but in their work, friendships and mobility. “Boomers are not belongers,” as their parents were, Lee said. “They trust individuals, not institutions.”

“We’re used to people being in the church every week,” Lee said, but with the Boomer fluidity, that’s less likely to be the case.

One method of adult Christian education many like, Shopshire said, is to receive by e-mail a news story, text and questions, which they see ahead of time then can meet on Monday to discuss, “God’s views on the news.”

Age-segregated ministries do not appeal to Boomers; they will take advantage of every possible opportunity to mix with the generations, Lee said. They want partnerships with other groups in the church and the community, including mission groups, choirs, coffee conversation groups, even confirmation classes with older members studying with the children. Use the gifts of the aging Boomers, half of whom are not married, they say.

One of many challenges to the church in the Boomer generation is to teach a theology of aging, death and dying to a generation that resents growing older, in a time when an increasing number of members have dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. “We have to find ways to reach them,” Lee said.