For Pastors and Church Leaders who really want to learn new strategies and paradigms in order to reach the Boomer Wave that is coming our way, I have three more suggestions for you.
1. Exit Interviews (Moody, 1993) William Hendricks
The author interviewed several people who had left the church to find out why they were no long involved. Very Revealing!!!
2. Made To Stick (Random House, 2007) Chip and Dan Heath
This is a book Dr. Gary Sweeten suggested that I read. It deals with ways to transform the way we communicate ideas. These brothers give us examples of strategies to make these ideas "stickier". The book identifies 6 qualities of an idea that is made to stick.
3. One of the most helpful websites I have found for those who want to retool the church's paradigm and develop "sticky" ideas is
www.JoshHunt.com. He is a nationally known Christian coach and educator.
THE BOOMER BLOGGER
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Why Haven't We Reached Them?
Contrary to much of the evangelical media hype on the secularization of America, we live in a very God-conscious country. Barna found that 7% of the unchurched plan to visit a church this year.(1) Another 33 percent say they would consider returning to church. They are waiting for a friend to ask or for a top quality and interesting offering from a church.
Forty percent of the unchurched population are open to returning to church this year! Two thirds of the unchurched said religion was either very important or somewhat important to them.(2) Most unchurched have attended church regularly in the past. "Eighty five percent of all unchurched adults have had a prolonged period of time during which they consistently attended a church."(3)
Who are these people?
William Hendricks interviewed several of them and told their stories in the must-read book, Exit Interviews (Moody, 1993).
Here is what he found out about those who have left the church:(4)
• They are not saying they want to leave the faith.
• They are not saying they want to leave the church.
I say it again: we live in a culture radically exposed to Christianity and interested in God. Evangelism ought to be shooting fish in a barrel.
Two questions:
• Why aren't we reaching them?
• What can we do about it?
The answer to the first question is as easy as it is unsettling. People came looking for God in our churches and didn't find him. Three-fourths of unchurched Americans describe having a meaningful relationship with God as either very important or somewhat important.(5)
Yet, two-thirds of people who attend church say they do not experience God in their worship services on a regular basis.(6) "What they typically get is an experience with people who talk about and hope to interact with God."(7) It is not that they are not interested. They have come asking. We have failed to deliver. We are like a restaurant where hungry people came looking for food and walked away frustrated and still hungry.
____________________________________
1. George Barna, Evangelism that Works (Ventura, California: Regal, 1995), p. 68.
2. Ibid, page 52.
3. Ibid, page 50.
4. William Hendricks, Exit Interviews, (Chicago: Moody, 1993), p. 258.
5. George Barna, Evangelism that Works (Ventura, California: Regal, 1995), page 57.
6. Ibid, page 58.
7. Ibid, page 58.
The Boomer Blogger
Forty percent of the unchurched population are open to returning to church this year! Two thirds of the unchurched said religion was either very important or somewhat important to them.(2) Most unchurched have attended church regularly in the past. "Eighty five percent of all unchurched adults have had a prolonged period of time during which they consistently attended a church."(3)
Who are these people?
William Hendricks interviewed several of them and told their stories in the must-read book, Exit Interviews (Moody, 1993).
Here is what he found out about those who have left the church:(4)
• They are not saying they want to leave the faith.
• They are not saying they want to leave the church.
I say it again: we live in a culture radically exposed to Christianity and interested in God. Evangelism ought to be shooting fish in a barrel.
Two questions:
• Why aren't we reaching them?
• What can we do about it?
The answer to the first question is as easy as it is unsettling. People came looking for God in our churches and didn't find him. Three-fourths of unchurched Americans describe having a meaningful relationship with God as either very important or somewhat important.(5)
Yet, two-thirds of people who attend church say they do not experience God in their worship services on a regular basis.(6) "What they typically get is an experience with people who talk about and hope to interact with God."(7) It is not that they are not interested. They have come asking. We have failed to deliver. We are like a restaurant where hungry people came looking for food and walked away frustrated and still hungry.
____________________________________
1. George Barna, Evangelism that Works (Ventura, California: Regal, 1995), p. 68.
2. Ibid, page 52.
3. Ibid, page 50.
4. William Hendricks, Exit Interviews, (Chicago: Moody, 1993), p. 258.
5. George Barna, Evangelism that Works (Ventura, California: Regal, 1995), page 57.
6. Ibid, page 58.
7. Ibid, page 58.
The Boomer Blogger
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Refreshing Our Memories re : Boomer Wave
Retiring Boomers Pose Policy Challenge
Starting Jan. 1, every 7.7 seconds a baby boomer will turn 60.
Boomers at a Glance
The sheer size of the baby boomer generation has meant that society in general has had to adjust to its needs, from a school building boom in the 1950s to the counterculture revolution of the 1960s.
A look at who the boomers are:
-- A boomer is any U.S. resident born between 1946 and 1964, when the country saw a bulge in birthrates.
-- More than 75 million adults are boomers.
-- Boomers make up 26 percent of U.S. population.
-- Starting Jan. 1, every 7.7 seconds, a boomer will turn 60
-- The number of retirees will soon be growing much faster than the number of new workers.
-- Average median boomer household income: $60,000.
-- Average median household income: $44,500.
-- 26 percent of boomers expect to live comfortably in retirement.
-- 17 percent say they won't have enough money to cover basic needs.
-- 21 percent expect Social Security to be their main source of income.
-- 33 percent expect to have a more comfortable retirement than their parents' or their children's generation.
Source: Pew Research Center, "Baby Boomers Approach Age 60"
Starting Jan. 1, every 7.7 seconds a baby boomer will turn 60.
Boomers at a Glance
The sheer size of the baby boomer generation has meant that society in general has had to adjust to its needs, from a school building boom in the 1950s to the counterculture revolution of the 1960s.
A look at who the boomers are:
-- A boomer is any U.S. resident born between 1946 and 1964, when the country saw a bulge in birthrates.
-- More than 75 million adults are boomers.
-- Boomers make up 26 percent of U.S. population.
-- Starting Jan. 1, every 7.7 seconds, a boomer will turn 60
-- The number of retirees will soon be growing much faster than the number of new workers.
-- Average median boomer household income: $60,000.
-- Average median household income: $44,500.
-- 26 percent of boomers expect to live comfortably in retirement.
-- 17 percent say they won't have enough money to cover basic needs.
-- 21 percent expect Social Security to be their main source of income.
-- 33 percent expect to have a more comfortable retirement than their parents' or their children's generation.
Source: Pew Research Center, "Baby Boomers Approach Age 60"
Thursday, December 27, 2007
What kind of paradigm does the church offer??
“In the corporate world, there are two types of partnerships (paradigms):
limited and unlimited.
"In the limited partnership model, the pastor is the general partner who brings the limited partners alongside of him."((Unlimited Partnership by Lloyd Reeb and Bill Wellons)
They have limited roles and virtually no risk but, as limited partners, they are expected to put their money into the organization. These limited roles happen mostly inside the church: small group leadership, Sunday School classes, missions, ushers,greeters, choir director, etc..
There are some areas where the limited partners have no role. An area of some concern among "Seasoned Believers" in many churches is the selection of worship music. The worship music and choruses are touted as "contemporary music". When you have 4 - 5 generations represented in the assembly and the praise and worship part is geared to the youngest group, it hardly represents "contemporary" music to the other 4 generations.
When have you seen the church hand out a questionaire asking you for your 25 favorite worship hymns and choruses?? A friend told me about a funeral he attended where the lady had been a member of large church noted for singing off the wall instead of from the hymn book. However, at her funeral, they sang "It Is Well With My Soul". My question is why didn't they play it when she could still sing it?
"In the unlimited partnership model, the pastor and/or others in leadership, come along side of individuals and help them realize how they can use the gifts and talents God has given them. This realization will motivate them to be purposeful ambassadors for God outside the four walls of the church. He wants us to make eye contact with the world.” (Unlimited Partnership by Lloyd Reeb and Bill Wellons)
Multitudes of this generation want to get out on the playing field. In the Metro Cincinnati area (five counties in SW Ohio, three counties in Northern Kentucky and one county in SE Indiana), the US Census Bureau estimates that there are 555,000 boomers who will finish their first career beginning January 1, 2008.
According to George Barna, Gallup and other researchers, they have estimated that two thirds of them are “unchurched” (that is attending church services less than twice a year).
If they are anywhere close in their estimates, that means there are some 374,000 “unchurched” boomers coming down the “refire” highway.
Whether they retire to the shelf or refire for God will be determined, in large part, by how we in the church receive them .
The Boomer Blogger
limited and unlimited.
"In the limited partnership model, the pastor is the general partner who brings the limited partners alongside of him."((Unlimited Partnership by Lloyd Reeb and Bill Wellons)
They have limited roles and virtually no risk but, as limited partners, they are expected to put their money into the organization. These limited roles happen mostly inside the church: small group leadership, Sunday School classes, missions, ushers,greeters, choir director, etc..
There are some areas where the limited partners have no role. An area of some concern among "Seasoned Believers" in many churches is the selection of worship music. The worship music and choruses are touted as "contemporary music". When you have 4 - 5 generations represented in the assembly and the praise and worship part is geared to the youngest group, it hardly represents "contemporary" music to the other 4 generations.
When have you seen the church hand out a questionaire asking you for your 25 favorite worship hymns and choruses?? A friend told me about a funeral he attended where the lady had been a member of large church noted for singing off the wall instead of from the hymn book. However, at her funeral, they sang "It Is Well With My Soul". My question is why didn't they play it when she could still sing it?
"In the unlimited partnership model, the pastor and/or others in leadership, come along side of individuals and help them realize how they can use the gifts and talents God has given them. This realization will motivate them to be purposeful ambassadors for God outside the four walls of the church. He wants us to make eye contact with the world.” (Unlimited Partnership by Lloyd Reeb and Bill Wellons)
Multitudes of this generation want to get out on the playing field. In the Metro Cincinnati area (five counties in SW Ohio, three counties in Northern Kentucky and one county in SE Indiana), the US Census Bureau estimates that there are 555,000 boomers who will finish their first career beginning January 1, 2008.
According to George Barna, Gallup and other researchers, they have estimated that two thirds of them are “unchurched” (that is attending church services less than twice a year).
If they are anywhere close in their estimates, that means there are some 374,000 “unchurched” boomers coming down the “refire” highway.
Whether they retire to the shelf or refire for God will be determined, in large part, by how we in the church receive them .
The Boomer Blogger
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Back To Ephesians 2:10
What is it that I was created to do and what are the things prepared for me?
More likely, it's going to be a portfolio of serving roles. If I stop long enough to listen carefully to God and His call in my life, it's not likely that He has been using all these years in my life just for some kind of drifting period. Instead, it was preparation.
If you look at Acts chapter 7, it gives us an incredible fly over of Moses' life. In today's language, we would say he spent his first forty years in Egypt getting his MBA and working his way up through corporate Egypt.
Then at age 40, God tapped him on the heart. He looked up from his desk and, for the first time, he walked out into his community and saw the pain and suffering and the needs around him through a totally different lens.
The passion that God had put deep in his heart to free God's people from their bondage just exploded. We know that he reacted wrongly and he had to go out into the wilderness. In that wilderness experience, his halftime experience, God detoxed him from some of the baggage from his first half. It gave him a time of solitude and reflection to think and listen and then, finally, he encountered God in the burning bush. It was there he got his assignment from God. It is not a coincidence that that's where we get our assignment.
The big deal is not affluence. It's availability. It's stopping to make eye contact with God and to get our assignments from Him. Then we must make eye contact with the world.
It's going to cost us something. There is an ancient writer who wrote this one compelling line – "God doesn't need me, He wants me.".
The reason a life of significance always involves risk and sacrifice is because, frankly, God doesn't need me (or you, for that matter) to show up for His plan to succeed. He wants me. He wants you. He wants to move each of us from the things that have captivated us to a place where we are satisfied to partner with Him in order to change the world one person at a time.
It's going to demand not only the eye contact with God but also the heart contact to get the mission accomplished. Then it will take the courage and the faith to step out. But whatever we do, we must make sure we are fulfilling His mission, His assignment for our lives.
+++++++++++++++++++
This post contains concepts and ideas found in one of the books I strongly encourage you to read:
Unlimited Partnership by Lloyd Reeb and Bill Wellons
More likely, it's going to be a portfolio of serving roles. If I stop long enough to listen carefully to God and His call in my life, it's not likely that He has been using all these years in my life just for some kind of drifting period. Instead, it was preparation.
If you look at Acts chapter 7, it gives us an incredible fly over of Moses' life. In today's language, we would say he spent his first forty years in Egypt getting his MBA and working his way up through corporate Egypt.
Then at age 40, God tapped him on the heart. He looked up from his desk and, for the first time, he walked out into his community and saw the pain and suffering and the needs around him through a totally different lens.
The passion that God had put deep in his heart to free God's people from their bondage just exploded. We know that he reacted wrongly and he had to go out into the wilderness. In that wilderness experience, his halftime experience, God detoxed him from some of the baggage from his first half. It gave him a time of solitude and reflection to think and listen and then, finally, he encountered God in the burning bush. It was there he got his assignment from God. It is not a coincidence that that's where we get our assignment.
The big deal is not affluence. It's availability. It's stopping to make eye contact with God and to get our assignments from Him. Then we must make eye contact with the world.
It's going to cost us something. There is an ancient writer who wrote this one compelling line – "God doesn't need me, He wants me.".
The reason a life of significance always involves risk and sacrifice is because, frankly, God doesn't need me (or you, for that matter) to show up for His plan to succeed. He wants me. He wants you. He wants to move each of us from the things that have captivated us to a place where we are satisfied to partner with Him in order to change the world one person at a time.
It's going to demand not only the eye contact with God but also the heart contact to get the mission accomplished. Then it will take the courage and the faith to step out. But whatever we do, we must make sure we are fulfilling His mission, His assignment for our lives.
+++++++++++++++++++
This post contains concepts and ideas found in one of the books I strongly encourage you to read:
Unlimited Partnership by Lloyd Reeb and Bill Wellons
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Core, Capacity, and Context
Is there a question that ultimately is the one that sends "Seasoned Believers" off into this pursuit? Is there some burning passion or a cause that begins the process?
It's a great question and the word "process," needs to be noted. This is a journey. It is a process. It is a lot more than a point-in-time statement or idea. Regardless of how we get at it, we need to focus on three simple words –
core, capacity and context.
When we speak of core, we're trying to help "Seasoned Believers" really come to grips with how God has wired them, what their God-given gifts and abilities are, what their strengths are, what's at the core?
Capacity refers more to margin – time margin for giving themselves away. You may ask , "What about the guy who is working or the woman who is working?"
All of that comes into play to determine what kind of time margin each would have for leveraging who they are in other areas.
That's what context is all about – best fit, serving opportunity, one that aligns with what God has wired them to do, so that's really what we're trying to get at.
+++++++++++++++++++
This post contains concepts and ideas found in one of the books I strongly encourage you to read:
Unlimited Partnership by Lloyd Reeb and Bill Wellons
It's a great question and the word "process," needs to be noted. This is a journey. It is a process. It is a lot more than a point-in-time statement or idea. Regardless of how we get at it, we need to focus on three simple words –
core, capacity and context.
When we speak of core, we're trying to help "Seasoned Believers" really come to grips with how God has wired them, what their God-given gifts and abilities are, what their strengths are, what's at the core?
Capacity refers more to margin – time margin for giving themselves away. You may ask , "What about the guy who is working or the woman who is working?"
All of that comes into play to determine what kind of time margin each would have for leveraging who they are in other areas.
That's what context is all about – best fit, serving opportunity, one that aligns with what God has wired them to do, so that's really what we're trying to get at.
+++++++++++++++++++
This post contains concepts and ideas found in one of the books I strongly encourage you to read:
Unlimited Partnership by Lloyd Reeb and Bill Wellons
Monday, December 24, 2007
Invest or Divest ??
The boomers who are finishing their first careers are the most educated, have more wealth and have contributed more to making a difference than any other generation in the history of mankind. Their desire to make a difference has, for many, not diminished.
The “Seasoned Believers” among the boomer generation face a dilemma. The church, by and large, has failed to recognize the boomer wave that is approaching and has not re-tooled to receive them.
Society (including the Churched ( ed. note) does not yet know how to engage 77 million people in rebuilding social capital over a 15- or 20-year span of later adulthood. The demographic phenomenon that makes this vision possible is much too recent for society to have adapted, resulting in what sociologists call “structural lag” (Moen 2003).
It is not simply a question of revamping existing institutions to absorb the boomers when they come. Nor is it only about keeping boomers busy, doing something that interests them in a way that has some marginal social value. Creating the infrastructure that will support and sustain the kind of vision that has been described may require creating new institutions, transforming existing ones,(Cobb and Johnson 2003; Johnson et al. 2004)
Unless the Church changes the current paradigm, we will fail to utilize the life experiences, the talents and the dreams of some 374,000 local “unchurched” boomers.
We had better begin the changes now to allow the Boomer generation, already in the church, to find the “good work which God has prepared for them”. They will not allow themselves to be relegated to sitting on the “shelf”. We are to purposely represent God in our communities.
Will we invest in them or will we divest ourselves of the Boomer Generation??
The “Seasoned Believers” among the boomer generation face a dilemma. The church, by and large, has failed to recognize the boomer wave that is approaching and has not re-tooled to receive them.
Society (including the Churched ( ed. note) does not yet know how to engage 77 million people in rebuilding social capital over a 15- or 20-year span of later adulthood. The demographic phenomenon that makes this vision possible is much too recent for society to have adapted, resulting in what sociologists call “structural lag” (Moen 2003).
It is not simply a question of revamping existing institutions to absorb the boomers when they come. Nor is it only about keeping boomers busy, doing something that interests them in a way that has some marginal social value. Creating the infrastructure that will support and sustain the kind of vision that has been described may require creating new institutions, transforming existing ones,(Cobb and Johnson 2003; Johnson et al. 2004)
Unless the Church changes the current paradigm, we will fail to utilize the life experiences, the talents and the dreams of some 374,000 local “unchurched” boomers.
We had better begin the changes now to allow the Boomer generation, already in the church, to find the “good work which God has prepared for them”. They will not allow themselves to be relegated to sitting on the “shelf”. We are to purposely represent God in our communities.
Will we invest in them or will we divest ourselves of the Boomer Generation??
From Success To Significance *
Why do so many people react negatively to our writings and talks about staying active and involved as Seasoned Believers? Why is there so much resistance by Boomers and Pioneers when they hear us say, those generations of Believers have the greatest reservoir of talents, gifts and experiences to say nothing of financial resources the world has ever seen?
Maybe they think we are talking in code. Maybe they have been used to hearing Pastors brag on them just to pull them into some activity that the Pastor is interested in. One time a Pastor approached a friend and another fellow about taking, what he termed, a “leading role of great importance” at a Pastors’ Conference he was sponsoring.
They were thrilled to be asked and eagerly wanted to know what he had in mind for them to do. Maybe he wanted them to tell the Pastors about their experiences and ideas. Maybe he had seen their gifts and talents in action and wanted to show case them in front of all these clergymen and they would be in the limelight. No, none of those things were on his list. The very important, highly critical role was to provide the donuts.
Bill Bright is famous for many reasons. One of his slogans was, “God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life.” Far too many religious leaders are known by a different slogan. “God loves you and I have a plan for your involvement.”
But God gave us a plan of action that is like that of Dr. Bright’s and it is revealed in Ephesians 2:8-10
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
We are all familiar with verses 8-9. The problem is we stop there.
Very seldom do we include verse 10.
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
It is not our goal to get you to carry out more of our plans. Quite the opposite. We want to help you discover your gifts, talents and call and find a place where you can be involved in activities that fulfill your passion. We want you to find the “Good Works” Paul mentions in Ephesians. God already has them planned out for us so it shouldn’t be so hard.
Most of us have been involved in ministries and jobs to please others. As Seasoned Believers, it is time to find places where that really fits us not just “carry donuts”.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
* Title of this blog posting is taken from a chapter of a book I have encouraged as many as will to read: "Unlimited Partnership" by Lloyd Reeb and Bill Wellons
Also my thanks to Dr. Gary Sweeten for helping me make this posting coherent
Maybe they think we are talking in code. Maybe they have been used to hearing Pastors brag on them just to pull them into some activity that the Pastor is interested in. One time a Pastor approached a friend and another fellow about taking, what he termed, a “leading role of great importance” at a Pastors’ Conference he was sponsoring.
They were thrilled to be asked and eagerly wanted to know what he had in mind for them to do. Maybe he wanted them to tell the Pastors about their experiences and ideas. Maybe he had seen their gifts and talents in action and wanted to show case them in front of all these clergymen and they would be in the limelight. No, none of those things were on his list. The very important, highly critical role was to provide the donuts.
Bill Bright is famous for many reasons. One of his slogans was, “God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life.” Far too many religious leaders are known by a different slogan. “God loves you and I have a plan for your involvement.”
But God gave us a plan of action that is like that of Dr. Bright’s and it is revealed in Ephesians 2:8-10
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
We are all familiar with verses 8-9. The problem is we stop there.
Very seldom do we include verse 10.
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
It is not our goal to get you to carry out more of our plans. Quite the opposite. We want to help you discover your gifts, talents and call and find a place where you can be involved in activities that fulfill your passion. We want you to find the “Good Works” Paul mentions in Ephesians. God already has them planned out for us so it shouldn’t be so hard.
Most of us have been involved in ministries and jobs to please others. As Seasoned Believers, it is time to find places where that really fits us not just “carry donuts”.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
* Title of this blog posting is taken from a chapter of a book I have encouraged as many as will to read: "Unlimited Partnership" by Lloyd Reeb and Bill Wellons
Also my thanks to Dr. Gary Sweeten for helping me make this posting coherent
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Blog Bibliography (to Date)
I would strongly encourage those who are interested in learning more about this demographic phenomenon called The Boomer Wave to read the following books and articles:
Books
Halftime: Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance by Bob Buford,
Unlimited Partnership by Lloyd Reeb and Bill Wellons
The Power Years: A User's Guide to the Rest Of Your Life (2005) by Ken Dychtwald and Daniel J. Kadlec
Practicing Greatness, Reggie McNeal, Jossey-Bass, 2006
Baby Boomerang: Catching the Boomer Generation As They Return to Church (1990) Doug Murren
The Boomer Century 1946-2046: How America's Most Influential Generation Changed Everything (2007) by Richard Croker
ARTICLES
Editorial: "Involved Seniors"/It's Time for Boomers to Plan July 5, 2004, Minnesota Star Tribune
Report on "Reinventing Aging: Baby Boomers and Civic Engagement,", MetLife/Harvard School for Public Health,2004
Me Generation' becomes 'We Generation,( USA Today 8/2/2006) by Daniel J. Kadlec,
How can your church reach baby boomers? Steve Mills,Executive Director of Church Ministries,Northwest District,The Assemblies of God,
Churches Neglect Older Folks; Potlucks Won't Do, Lillian Kwon, Christian Post Reporter Fri, Jan. 12 2007
The Church In 2011: Catching The Age Wave, (Lifeway Biblical Solutions for Life, 7/10/06), by Thom S. Rainer
Books
Halftime: Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance by Bob Buford,
Unlimited Partnership by Lloyd Reeb and Bill Wellons
The Power Years: A User's Guide to the Rest Of Your Life (2005) by Ken Dychtwald and Daniel J. Kadlec
Practicing Greatness, Reggie McNeal, Jossey-Bass, 2006
Baby Boomerang: Catching the Boomer Generation As They Return to Church (1990) Doug Murren
The Boomer Century 1946-2046: How America's Most Influential Generation Changed Everything (2007) by Richard Croker
ARTICLES
Editorial: "Involved Seniors"/It's Time for Boomers to Plan July 5, 2004, Minnesota Star Tribune
Report on "Reinventing Aging: Baby Boomers and Civic Engagement,", MetLife/Harvard School for Public Health,2004
Me Generation' becomes 'We Generation,( USA Today 8/2/2006) by Daniel J. Kadlec,
How can your church reach baby boomers? Steve Mills,Executive Director of Church Ministries,Northwest District,The Assemblies of God,
Churches Neglect Older Folks; Potlucks Won't Do, Lillian Kwon, Christian Post Reporter Fri, Jan. 12 2007
The Church In 2011: Catching The Age Wave, (Lifeway Biblical Solutions for Life, 7/10/06), by Thom S. Rainer
Editorial: "Involved Seniors"/It's Time for Boomers to Plan
July 5, 2004, Minnesota Star Tribune
Can the people who brought America the "designated driver" concept sell the nation on the "involved senior"?
They've announced that they plan to try. For the sake of a society that will be swamped with 60-somethings in only a few more years, they should get lots of encouragement.
The Center for Health Communication of the Harvard School of Public Health and MetLife Foundation announced on June 15 that they are collaborating on a national media campaign aimed at today's senior citizens and the baby boomers who will join their ranks in only a few years. They plan to promote the idea that service to society, through either paid or volunteer work, is the American way to spend one's senior years.
The MetLife and Harvard folks are plotting such a campaign now, for good reasons: The first wave of the giant baby boom generation is just four years away from age 62, the age after which retirement from full-time employment becomes commonplace.
In surveys, many of those early boomers have said they plan to become community volunteers when they leave full-time work. But research has found that people tend to be less likely, not more, to volunteer after retirement than at midlife. What's more, on average, baby boomers have shown less propensity than their parents did at every stage of life to vote, join community groups, give time and money to charity, and otherwise serve their communities.
The boomers' retirement has the potential to unleash "a social resource of unprecedented proportions," the MetLife-Harvard project says -- but only if boomers get hooked on civic involvement. If they don't, society stands to be burdened by retired boomers, not enriched.
Minnesota state demographer Tom Gillaspy said as much when he addressed a Citizens League audience last month: "In part, our future will depend on our ability to break the link between age and dependency. How can we keep senior citizens involved, actively participating in the paid workforce, actively participating in the volunteer workforce? How can we make sure that we will not see a major expansion of dependent populations, but rather of people who are still actively involved, actively participating in our economy?"
The Harvard-MetLife project says part of the answer lies in changing the image of seniors conveyed in the medium the boomers know best -- television. Susan Moses, the project's codirector, said last week that her group will work with the Hollywood creative community to foster positive images of involved seniors in a variety of TV program settings.
The project also encourages organizations that want to put seniors to work in their communities to gear up now to recruit and engage the larger pool that's coming. The project's report, "Reinventing Aging: Baby Boomers and Civic Engagement," offers helpful suggestions, as does Minnesota's own Vital Aging Network. Those resources are available at www.hsph.harvard.edu/chc/ and www.van.umn.edu.
Can the people who brought America the "designated driver" concept sell the nation on the "involved senior"?
They've announced that they plan to try. For the sake of a society that will be swamped with 60-somethings in only a few more years, they should get lots of encouragement.
The Center for Health Communication of the Harvard School of Public Health and MetLife Foundation announced on June 15 that they are collaborating on a national media campaign aimed at today's senior citizens and the baby boomers who will join their ranks in only a few years. They plan to promote the idea that service to society, through either paid or volunteer work, is the American way to spend one's senior years.
The MetLife and Harvard folks are plotting such a campaign now, for good reasons: The first wave of the giant baby boom generation is just four years away from age 62, the age after which retirement from full-time employment becomes commonplace.
In surveys, many of those early boomers have said they plan to become community volunteers when they leave full-time work. But research has found that people tend to be less likely, not more, to volunteer after retirement than at midlife. What's more, on average, baby boomers have shown less propensity than their parents did at every stage of life to vote, join community groups, give time and money to charity, and otherwise serve their communities.
The boomers' retirement has the potential to unleash "a social resource of unprecedented proportions," the MetLife-Harvard project says -- but only if boomers get hooked on civic involvement. If they don't, society stands to be burdened by retired boomers, not enriched.
Minnesota state demographer Tom Gillaspy said as much when he addressed a Citizens League audience last month: "In part, our future will depend on our ability to break the link between age and dependency. How can we keep senior citizens involved, actively participating in the paid workforce, actively participating in the volunteer workforce? How can we make sure that we will not see a major expansion of dependent populations, but rather of people who are still actively involved, actively participating in our economy?"
The Harvard-MetLife project says part of the answer lies in changing the image of seniors conveyed in the medium the boomers know best -- television. Susan Moses, the project's codirector, said last week that her group will work with the Hollywood creative community to foster positive images of involved seniors in a variety of TV program settings.
The project also encourages organizations that want to put seniors to work in their communities to gear up now to recruit and engage the larger pool that's coming. The project's report, "Reinventing Aging: Baby Boomers and Civic Engagement," offers helpful suggestions, as does Minnesota's own Vital Aging Network. Those resources are available at www.hsph.harvard.edu/chc/ and www.van.umn.edu.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Me Generation' becomes 'We Generation
Sometime ago I read an article in the USA Today with the above title. It is written by Daniel J. Kadlec, who co-authored The Power Years: A User's Guide to the Rest Of Your Life. In my opinion, this book is the best source of information available on the "new old" in America. For people seeking to reach and engage the Baby Boomer, this book is also a must read.
Kadlec, in the USA Today story, profiles the "new old" in this nation. "Many prosperous Americans are choosing to give while they live so they can control how their money is spent or enjoy watching it do some good. As boomers seek to give something back and stay at work longer, they will begin to blend the two by developing personally rewarding businesses designed to serve the greater good. Like Robert Chambers, 62, who retired to start a non-profit that makes low-interest car loans to the working poor in New Hampshire, and Martha Rollins, 63, who has a furniture company staffed by former convicts in Virginia."
"The challenge is not, as many have argued, how to pay for an aging society. It's how to harness the skills of a vast, willing and able new crop of maturing Americans who want to stay in the game longer, give something back and help cure society's ills. If we can do that, our aging society may pay for itself--and then some."
This is a golden opportunity for the church in America that "gets it" with what some are calling the Encore Generation. But will the church find new ways to "harness the skills" of this massive cohort of mature adults, and find significant ways to "keep them in the game" and impact the Kingdom of God?
Here is another tidbit I saw on the Leadership Journal website:
Fewer Kids Among Us: Children under age 18 made up 26% of the U.S. population in the year 2000. By 2020, that number will decline to 24%. By contrast, at the end of the baby boom in 1964, kids made up 36% of the population. With fewer kids and longer lives, expect greater need for senior adult ministry.
Did you catch that? "Expect greater need for senior adult ministry." People who really get the current demographic in the U.S. are coming to the same conclusions with respect to church ministry. We need to give more focused attention to the Older Adult population in our churches and in our communities.
The Boomer Blogger
Kadlec, in the USA Today story, profiles the "new old" in this nation. "Many prosperous Americans are choosing to give while they live so they can control how their money is spent or enjoy watching it do some good. As boomers seek to give something back and stay at work longer, they will begin to blend the two by developing personally rewarding businesses designed to serve the greater good. Like Robert Chambers, 62, who retired to start a non-profit that makes low-interest car loans to the working poor in New Hampshire, and Martha Rollins, 63, who has a furniture company staffed by former convicts in Virginia."
"The challenge is not, as many have argued, how to pay for an aging society. It's how to harness the skills of a vast, willing and able new crop of maturing Americans who want to stay in the game longer, give something back and help cure society's ills. If we can do that, our aging society may pay for itself--and then some."
This is a golden opportunity for the church in America that "gets it" with what some are calling the Encore Generation. But will the church find new ways to "harness the skills" of this massive cohort of mature adults, and find significant ways to "keep them in the game" and impact the Kingdom of God?
Here is another tidbit I saw on the Leadership Journal website:
Fewer Kids Among Us: Children under age 18 made up 26% of the U.S. population in the year 2000. By 2020, that number will decline to 24%. By contrast, at the end of the baby boom in 1964, kids made up 36% of the population. With fewer kids and longer lives, expect greater need for senior adult ministry.
Did you catch that? "Expect greater need for senior adult ministry." People who really get the current demographic in the U.S. are coming to the same conclusions with respect to church ministry. We need to give more focused attention to the Older Adult population in our churches and in our communities.
The Boomer Blogger
The Power Years Part 2
4. We'll be Wiser about What Matters
"Having climbed much of the mountain, you now have a pretty good view of life. As we accumulate and make sense of life's lessons, most of us have come to appreciate that the joy that money alone brings is fleeting, and that true happiness revolves around love, relationships, and our sense of fulfillment at work and at play.
Most of us reach this basic understanding in our middle years--sometimes precipitated by the death of a parent, our kids leaving home, or the failure of a career or marriage. But for the most part, by the time we're fifty and still young enough to shape our later years, we understand that money, while it's important is not what underlies happiness..."
5. We'll have New Freedoms
"The kids are gone or soon will be. College and house are paid for--well, mostly paid for... In addition to braces and summer camp and all the things you put in your house are largely paid for; you don't need a lot more stuff. With many of your biggest parenting-related financial obligations coming to an end, you'll be endowed with greater freedom to do the things you've always wanted. Meanwhile, your busy schedule is beginning to let up, providing you with a windfall of free time that will let you take on new challenges or pursue hidden passions and long-suppressed dreams."
"And because the economy will want to simultaneously prevent a brain drain and declining consumption by keeping all of us earning and spending longer, it will become easier to stay at work or start a new career. The vacuum of workers maturing means that older adults will be in demand and more able to choose our own schedules, and still remain valuable. With the rise of flextime and part-time schedules and contract and project jobs and job sharing, there are millions of exciting paths for us to explore in the work world--throughout the world. With online universities, we can retrain at home or pursue a life as a writer or artist or some other dream."
6. We'll still have Clout in the Marketplace
"Our huge numbers and often free-spending ways have ensured throughout our lifetime that anyone with something to sell would be inclined to tailor it to our wants and needs. Our demographic and financial wells of influence won't run dry as we mature. We will live longer and healthier and remain active consumers... While we are just 30 percent of the population, we control more than 70 percent of all the wealth and account for more than 50 percent of consumer spending. As we mature and collectively inherit an estimated $20 trillion, we will be as cherished as ever in the marketplace."
"Advertisers will need to break free of their addiction to youth. Many wrongly believe that all adults have already chosen the brands they will stick with for life, while young people have yet to choose their cola, sneaker, cell phone, or whatever. This flawed view will stop paying off; marketers will increasingly come to realize that at fifty or sixty we not only have money to spend but also are eager to ditch our old lipstick for the latest colors. As we age, we will remain interested in new adventures and experiences, and we will spend freely to reach our full potential in the power years."
7. We'll be Open to Change
"Personal growth and self-improvement are the new order, and as this mind-set blossoms, it will open the doors to fulfillment and achievement that might otherwise have been stifled. The world of continuing education may best illustrate the appetites of a generation that loves to learn and grow. Already a thriving adult-education industry has begun to flourish, including magazines, books, audio, video, Internet learning programs, and adult-education seminars, workshops, and courses."
"About forty million adults participate in one or more educational activities each year. As the need to continuously upgrade skills becomes a requirement, lifelong learning will become commonplace. In response, colleges and universities have begun to aggressively pursue adult students. USA Today recounted: 'admission officers and financial-aid directors from campuses across the USA echo the message: Older students are as desirable--often more so--as the traditional 18-24 college crowd. And they're just as eligible for grants and loans as their younger brethren.' Adults, they say are better motivated, usually have educational goals in focus, and have experiences to share with younger students."
I think Dychtwald and Kadlec make a pretty compelling argument for why the remaining years for the boomer aged American are accurately characterized by them as the power years. But at the same time, I wonder who is getting this message out to these very people?
I heard recently about a man who was laid off from a large company that he helped start with two others some 20 years ago. The man is 60 years old, and his company has pretty much told him that his value to the organization is no longer great enough to warrant him staying on the payroll. He expressed to my friend that even though his work culture is telling him that he is no longer valuable, he has never felt like he had more to give in terms of wisdom, expertise, and even energy.
I wonder how many millions of boomers are feeling a similar kind of dissonance.
While the culture is trying to tell them they are finished, they don't at all want to feel like they are. And in fact they aren't. Could it be that this is a prime opportunity for the church to rise up and bring this information out of the closet and thereby affirm to these oncoming millions of mature adults that perhaps the best years of real life and significant contribution are still ahead of them?
Questions to ponder:
How should this information influence the way our churches seek to connect with the Baby Boomers?
What are some of the differences you notice between the boomer and the builder in their perspectives on aging?
What kinds of things might need to change in the way you do ministry with older adults in order to engage the boomer more effectively?
"Having climbed much of the mountain, you now have a pretty good view of life. As we accumulate and make sense of life's lessons, most of us have come to appreciate that the joy that money alone brings is fleeting, and that true happiness revolves around love, relationships, and our sense of fulfillment at work and at play.
Most of us reach this basic understanding in our middle years--sometimes precipitated by the death of a parent, our kids leaving home, or the failure of a career or marriage. But for the most part, by the time we're fifty and still young enough to shape our later years, we understand that money, while it's important is not what underlies happiness..."
5. We'll have New Freedoms
"The kids are gone or soon will be. College and house are paid for--well, mostly paid for... In addition to braces and summer camp and all the things you put in your house are largely paid for; you don't need a lot more stuff. With many of your biggest parenting-related financial obligations coming to an end, you'll be endowed with greater freedom to do the things you've always wanted. Meanwhile, your busy schedule is beginning to let up, providing you with a windfall of free time that will let you take on new challenges or pursue hidden passions and long-suppressed dreams."
"And because the economy will want to simultaneously prevent a brain drain and declining consumption by keeping all of us earning and spending longer, it will become easier to stay at work or start a new career. The vacuum of workers maturing means that older adults will be in demand and more able to choose our own schedules, and still remain valuable. With the rise of flextime and part-time schedules and contract and project jobs and job sharing, there are millions of exciting paths for us to explore in the work world--throughout the world. With online universities, we can retrain at home or pursue a life as a writer or artist or some other dream."
6. We'll still have Clout in the Marketplace
"Our huge numbers and often free-spending ways have ensured throughout our lifetime that anyone with something to sell would be inclined to tailor it to our wants and needs. Our demographic and financial wells of influence won't run dry as we mature. We will live longer and healthier and remain active consumers... While we are just 30 percent of the population, we control more than 70 percent of all the wealth and account for more than 50 percent of consumer spending. As we mature and collectively inherit an estimated $20 trillion, we will be as cherished as ever in the marketplace."
"Advertisers will need to break free of their addiction to youth. Many wrongly believe that all adults have already chosen the brands they will stick with for life, while young people have yet to choose their cola, sneaker, cell phone, or whatever. This flawed view will stop paying off; marketers will increasingly come to realize that at fifty or sixty we not only have money to spend but also are eager to ditch our old lipstick for the latest colors. As we age, we will remain interested in new adventures and experiences, and we will spend freely to reach our full potential in the power years."
7. We'll be Open to Change
"Personal growth and self-improvement are the new order, and as this mind-set blossoms, it will open the doors to fulfillment and achievement that might otherwise have been stifled. The world of continuing education may best illustrate the appetites of a generation that loves to learn and grow. Already a thriving adult-education industry has begun to flourish, including magazines, books, audio, video, Internet learning programs, and adult-education seminars, workshops, and courses."
"About forty million adults participate in one or more educational activities each year. As the need to continuously upgrade skills becomes a requirement, lifelong learning will become commonplace. In response, colleges and universities have begun to aggressively pursue adult students. USA Today recounted: 'admission officers and financial-aid directors from campuses across the USA echo the message: Older students are as desirable--often more so--as the traditional 18-24 college crowd. And they're just as eligible for grants and loans as their younger brethren.' Adults, they say are better motivated, usually have educational goals in focus, and have experiences to share with younger students."
I think Dychtwald and Kadlec make a pretty compelling argument for why the remaining years for the boomer aged American are accurately characterized by them as the power years. But at the same time, I wonder who is getting this message out to these very people?
I heard recently about a man who was laid off from a large company that he helped start with two others some 20 years ago. The man is 60 years old, and his company has pretty much told him that his value to the organization is no longer great enough to warrant him staying on the payroll. He expressed to my friend that even though his work culture is telling him that he is no longer valuable, he has never felt like he had more to give in terms of wisdom, expertise, and even energy.
I wonder how many millions of boomers are feeling a similar kind of dissonance.
While the culture is trying to tell them they are finished, they don't at all want to feel like they are. And in fact they aren't. Could it be that this is a prime opportunity for the church to rise up and bring this information out of the closet and thereby affirm to these oncoming millions of mature adults that perhaps the best years of real life and significant contribution are still ahead of them?
Questions to ponder:
How should this information influence the way our churches seek to connect with the Baby Boomers?
What are some of the differences you notice between the boomer and the builder in their perspectives on aging?
What kinds of things might need to change in the way you do ministry with older adults in order to engage the boomer more effectively?
The Power Years
Ken Dychtwald is known as an expert on the Baby Boomer in the United States. He is a boomer himself, and as a gerontologist he has studied the Boomers for more than 30 years. The thing I like most about him is the fact that he is so positive about the limitless potential of the Boomer. The Power Years--A Users Guide to the Rest of Your Life was published in 2005 by Ken Dychtwald and Daniel J. Kadlec.
It is a must read for anybody who is seeking to engage the Baby Boomers in active church ministry and kingdom building. In the first chapter of the book, the authors make the case as to why the remaining years of life for the "new old" are truly the Power Years. They list 7 reasons:
1. We'll Be Living Longer and Healthier
"We will live longer and grow old later in life than any previous generation. Incredibly, two-thirds of all those who have made it to age sixty-five in the history of mankind are today walking the earth. We are not just living longer; we are also in better health and enjoy greater youthfulness and vitality. There are more 50-and sixty-year-olds running marathons, buying Harleys, starting new careers, going to rock concerts, and getting facelifts than ever before. Our increasing longevity and good health, coupled with our natural desire to remain youthful, are the greatest forces behind the power years...The upshot is that great numbers of people--not just exceptions--are able to work and play as they like far longer than anyone might have expected."
2. The Cyclic Life plan will replace the Outmoded Linear Model
"The landmark New Retirement Survey that he (Dychtwald) directed in 2004 with Merrill Lynch was based on interviews with more than three thousand boomers. The study found that only 17 percent of them said they intended to stop working for pay forever in their next stage of life. A whopping 42 percent reported that they hoped to cycle in and out of work and leisure for extended periods throughout life; 16 percent expected to continue working part-time; 13 percent were planning on starting their own business; and 6 percent fully intended to keep working full-time right through their retirement years."
Incredibly, of the 76 percent who intended to continue working in some fashion, more than half were hoping to do so in a completely new career or line of work!
"Further, when asked why so many wanted to stay involved with work, the overwhelming response was not money. Instead, two of three said the main reason was to stay mentally active. Members of our highly educated and productive generation simply don't want to live a life of intellectual stagnation and mental irrelevance."
3. We'll Have a Big--and Growing Pool of Role Models
Late achievement, while multiplying in frequency, isn't altogether new.
Grandma Moses didn't start painting until she was almost eighty.
Groucho Marx launched a new career as a television show host at sixty-five.
George Bernard Shaw was at work on a new play when he died at ninety-four.
Galileo published his masterpiece Dialogue Concerning the Top New Sciences at seventy-four.
Noah Webster was seventy when he published An American Dictionary of the English Language.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Guggenheim Museum in New York at ninety-one.
Mahatma Gandhi was seventy-two when he completed successful negotiations with Britain for India's independence.
Colonel Sanders was 65 when he began Kentucky Fried Chicken."
"In their day, these remarkable men and women may have been considered highly unusual. But these Ageless Explorers have carved new trails ahead of us and represent the first wave of maturity pioneers. We baby boomers will be next, and we'll turn this thorny trail into a superhighway. "
(More in next post)
The Boomer Blogger
It is a must read for anybody who is seeking to engage the Baby Boomers in active church ministry and kingdom building. In the first chapter of the book, the authors make the case as to why the remaining years of life for the "new old" are truly the Power Years. They list 7 reasons:
1. We'll Be Living Longer and Healthier
"We will live longer and grow old later in life than any previous generation. Incredibly, two-thirds of all those who have made it to age sixty-five in the history of mankind are today walking the earth. We are not just living longer; we are also in better health and enjoy greater youthfulness and vitality. There are more 50-and sixty-year-olds running marathons, buying Harleys, starting new careers, going to rock concerts, and getting facelifts than ever before. Our increasing longevity and good health, coupled with our natural desire to remain youthful, are the greatest forces behind the power years...The upshot is that great numbers of people--not just exceptions--are able to work and play as they like far longer than anyone might have expected."
2. The Cyclic Life plan will replace the Outmoded Linear Model
"The landmark New Retirement Survey that he (Dychtwald) directed in 2004 with Merrill Lynch was based on interviews with more than three thousand boomers. The study found that only 17 percent of them said they intended to stop working for pay forever in their next stage of life. A whopping 42 percent reported that they hoped to cycle in and out of work and leisure for extended periods throughout life; 16 percent expected to continue working part-time; 13 percent were planning on starting their own business; and 6 percent fully intended to keep working full-time right through their retirement years."
Incredibly, of the 76 percent who intended to continue working in some fashion, more than half were hoping to do so in a completely new career or line of work!
"Further, when asked why so many wanted to stay involved with work, the overwhelming response was not money. Instead, two of three said the main reason was to stay mentally active. Members of our highly educated and productive generation simply don't want to live a life of intellectual stagnation and mental irrelevance."
3. We'll Have a Big--and Growing Pool of Role Models
Late achievement, while multiplying in frequency, isn't altogether new.
Grandma Moses didn't start painting until she was almost eighty.
Groucho Marx launched a new career as a television show host at sixty-five.
George Bernard Shaw was at work on a new play when he died at ninety-four.
Galileo published his masterpiece Dialogue Concerning the Top New Sciences at seventy-four.
Noah Webster was seventy when he published An American Dictionary of the English Language.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Guggenheim Museum in New York at ninety-one.
Mahatma Gandhi was seventy-two when he completed successful negotiations with Britain for India's independence.
Colonel Sanders was 65 when he began Kentucky Fried Chicken."
"In their day, these remarkable men and women may have been considered highly unusual. But these Ageless Explorers have carved new trails ahead of us and represent the first wave of maturity pioneers. We baby boomers will be next, and we'll turn this thorny trail into a superhighway. "
(More in next post)
The Boomer Blogger
Learning Communities
For the last month, I have been leading up to the necessity of the church changing much of the old paradigm for a new and basically different one. How are we going to challenge and utilize the hoards of Boomers who will begin finishing their first career beginning Jan 1, 2008.
I want to turn to another aspect of The Boomer Wave. I have looked at the websites of 25 local churches and all 25 had basically the same superficial approach to "Seasoned Believers". They are supposed to be happy with a monthy lunch and a periodic bus ride to far and near.
One website indicated that one of the additional activities available to "Seniors" was to be a greeter. Another website added that they go bi-monthly to a Nursing home.
I was reading Practicing Greatness, Reggie McNeal, Jossey-Bass, 2006 this week. He writes about the value of learning communities. I want to excerpt out some of what he says:
"Increasing numbers of lifelong learner-leaders have either created or joined intentional learning networks. These networks are organic and fluid, based in shared affinities such as a worldview-ministry paradigm and a similar ministry assignment (church leader, staff member, and so on). Some ministry associations provide a learning network for their members as part of the value-added features of membership. Some denominations facilitate the emergence of these networks (learning communities or learning clusters) by providing resources, recruiting facilitators, and convening the networks... "
"Several reasons account for the rise of learning networks. First, smart leaders realize the short shelf life of whatever formal preparation they had for their role. They are aware that a new world poses new leadership challenges across the board, from shifting paradigms to enhancing skills to developing resources to nurturing personal development. Leaders can no longer adequately build knowledge alone; there is simply too much to learn. Privatized learning not only fails in its ability to deliver adequate content; its process is also fundamentally flawed. Collegial learning allows leaders to check their own biases and prejudices, to question their assumptions, to figure out what they don't see that keeps them from learning..."
"The rise of learning networks acknowledges the recent trend of leaders who enter spiritual leadership roles from other careers. These leaders are less likely than their predecessors to put their call on hold for years to go through academic course work and credentialing before engaging in active leadership. These leaders, coming from business and educational backgrounds, are often highly competent and usually highly motivated people who feel a sense of urgency to shift their life work, so they are anxious to be deployed and engaged as rapidly as possible. These leaders bring a boatload of skill and experience to the table. They just want to get with other leader-practitioners to shorten their learning curve and to accelerate their development so they can take on and succeed in their current assignment." (Practicing Greatness, pp. 66-68)
"Learning communities debrief the life and ministry experience of the participants. They challenge each other's biases and decisions. They create knowledge together by articulating an expanded awareness of what is going on in their lives, their ministries, and the world around them."
"There are several approaches to convening these communities. Some meet in the face-to-face sessions of two to three hours once a month, some more and some less frequently. Some communities augment their face time with Internet communication. Some peer-mentoring groups study books together; some retreat together or attend conferences together; others invite resource people to visit their group...No matter the type of learning stimulus, the major learning curriculum is the same: the participants own the leadership of the learning."
The Boomer Blogger
I want to turn to another aspect of The Boomer Wave. I have looked at the websites of 25 local churches and all 25 had basically the same superficial approach to "Seasoned Believers". They are supposed to be happy with a monthy lunch and a periodic bus ride to far and near.
One website indicated that one of the additional activities available to "Seniors" was to be a greeter. Another website added that they go bi-monthly to a Nursing home.
I was reading Practicing Greatness, Reggie McNeal, Jossey-Bass, 2006 this week. He writes about the value of learning communities. I want to excerpt out some of what he says:
"Increasing numbers of lifelong learner-leaders have either created or joined intentional learning networks. These networks are organic and fluid, based in shared affinities such as a worldview-ministry paradigm and a similar ministry assignment (church leader, staff member, and so on). Some ministry associations provide a learning network for their members as part of the value-added features of membership. Some denominations facilitate the emergence of these networks (learning communities or learning clusters) by providing resources, recruiting facilitators, and convening the networks... "
"Several reasons account for the rise of learning networks. First, smart leaders realize the short shelf life of whatever formal preparation they had for their role. They are aware that a new world poses new leadership challenges across the board, from shifting paradigms to enhancing skills to developing resources to nurturing personal development. Leaders can no longer adequately build knowledge alone; there is simply too much to learn. Privatized learning not only fails in its ability to deliver adequate content; its process is also fundamentally flawed. Collegial learning allows leaders to check their own biases and prejudices, to question their assumptions, to figure out what they don't see that keeps them from learning..."
"The rise of learning networks acknowledges the recent trend of leaders who enter spiritual leadership roles from other careers. These leaders are less likely than their predecessors to put their call on hold for years to go through academic course work and credentialing before engaging in active leadership. These leaders, coming from business and educational backgrounds, are often highly competent and usually highly motivated people who feel a sense of urgency to shift their life work, so they are anxious to be deployed and engaged as rapidly as possible. These leaders bring a boatload of skill and experience to the table. They just want to get with other leader-practitioners to shorten their learning curve and to accelerate their development so they can take on and succeed in their current assignment." (Practicing Greatness, pp. 66-68)
"Learning communities debrief the life and ministry experience of the participants. They challenge each other's biases and decisions. They create knowledge together by articulating an expanded awareness of what is going on in their lives, their ministries, and the world around them."
"There are several approaches to convening these communities. Some meet in the face-to-face sessions of two to three hours once a month, some more and some less frequently. Some communities augment their face time with Internet communication. Some peer-mentoring groups study books together; some retreat together or attend conferences together; others invite resource people to visit their group...No matter the type of learning stimulus, the major learning curriculum is the same: the participants own the leadership of the learning."
The Boomer Blogger
Saturday, December 15, 2007
The Boomer and God
The baby boomer is returning to church. In the 1970s, nearly 43 percent of the people in this age group attended church or synagogue. Today only 33 percent of persons born between 1946 and 1958 attend religious services. But they are not returning to just any church. Jack Simms, a nationally known authority on the baby boom, lists 10 characteristics common in churches that are effective in reaching the baby boom generation:
1. They are open to a spiritual experience.
2. Their Bible teaching stresses practical living.
3. They place a healthy emphasis on relationships.
4. They have fewer titles and less formality.
5. They understand the new family in America.
6. They share their faith by what they say and do.
7. They recognize the ability of women.
8. They place an emphasis on worship.
9. They have a high tolerance for diversity.
10. They are action-oriented.
Simms suggests that the church that wants to reach baby boomers should evaluate itself on a scale of 1-10 in each category listed above.
If the score is:
• 65 or less -- The church needs dramatic improvement.
• 66 to 80 -- The church is not doing badly.
• 81 or more -- Folk will miss the NFL prename show and arrive 30 minutes early to get a parking spot.
Robert Bats adds the following as characteristic of a church that attracts the baby boomers:
1. A strong worship focus.
2. A meaningful educational program for all ages.
3. An orientation toward experience and practical action rather than intellectual and theoretical approaches.
4. A high degree of tolerance and an acceptance of diversity.
5. An emphasis on inclusion, with a particular concern to include women and newcomers in leadership.
6. An informal style that is highly relational
(More later)
1. They are open to a spiritual experience.
2. Their Bible teaching stresses practical living.
3. They place a healthy emphasis on relationships.
4. They have fewer titles and less formality.
5. They understand the new family in America.
6. They share their faith by what they say and do.
7. They recognize the ability of women.
8. They place an emphasis on worship.
9. They have a high tolerance for diversity.
10. They are action-oriented.
Simms suggests that the church that wants to reach baby boomers should evaluate itself on a scale of 1-10 in each category listed above.
If the score is:
• 65 or less -- The church needs dramatic improvement.
• 66 to 80 -- The church is not doing badly.
• 81 or more -- Folk will miss the NFL prename show and arrive 30 minutes early to get a parking spot.
Robert Bats adds the following as characteristic of a church that attracts the baby boomers:
1. A strong worship focus.
2. A meaningful educational program for all ages.
3. An orientation toward experience and practical action rather than intellectual and theoretical approaches.
4. A high degree of tolerance and an acceptance of diversity.
5. An emphasis on inclusion, with a particular concern to include women and newcomers in leadership.
6. An informal style that is highly relational
(More later)
Friday, December 14, 2007
The Boomers' Belief System
The church must understand baby boomers before it can effectively reach and minister to them. In his book, The Baby Boomerang, Doug Murren says there are at least nine aspects of the boomer's belief system that must be understood if the church's ministry approaches and methods are to have any impact on them.
Boomers are not belongers. They are not as interested in membership as they are in participation. They are more interested in the individual than the institution.
Boomers detest formality. They are looking for a church that provides warm, friendly environment for developing relationships, yet is casual and practical in its approach to life. They have a low sense of denominational loyalty and won't tolerate anyone putting guilt trips on them because they are not committed to the institutional church.
Boomers have grown up wanting experience rather than theory. They want to experience life personally rather than be told about it. Their approach to spiritual life is no different. John Naisbitt, in Megatrends 2000, says that the next decade will be a time in which people will seek a "spiritual experience."
Boomers come to church to get something applicable to their lives. They are interested in how-to sermons and teaching. They look for relevancy, not simple, pat answers.
Boomers expect women to be treated as equals and to be given leadership roles. Husband and wife teams in ministry are a great way to help meet this expectation.
Boomers want the contribution of singles to be celebrated and expected. In the year 2000, singles comprised more than 50 percent of the adult population over 18 years old. Churches must accept, understand, and minister to the diversity and needs of singles. The church must be willing also to encourage the contribution of singles to the life and ministry of the church.
Boomers believe that the high level of dysfunctionality within their group needs to be addressed. They have grown up with major life problems: alcohol and drug abuse, broken homes, and sexual promiscuity. One in four women has been sexually abused. Deliverance, recovery, and support groups are part of the healing process. Sunday school classes that function as recovery and support groups should be very effective.
Boomers applaud innovation. They like to try new, adventurous things. They enjoy variety and spontaneity, expect challenge, and despise mediocrity.
Boomers have a sense of destiny. They want to make a difference. They support what they feel will make the greatest impact. They are looking for a cause that is challenging and worthy of commitment. They are active rather than passive in their general approach to life. They are busy and want to stay that way. Time is more important than money to them. Therefore, they will get involved in what they feel is the best use of their time.
Boomers are not belongers. They are not as interested in membership as they are in participation. They are more interested in the individual than the institution.
Boomers detest formality. They are looking for a church that provides warm, friendly environment for developing relationships, yet is casual and practical in its approach to life. They have a low sense of denominational loyalty and won't tolerate anyone putting guilt trips on them because they are not committed to the institutional church.
Boomers have grown up wanting experience rather than theory. They want to experience life personally rather than be told about it. Their approach to spiritual life is no different. John Naisbitt, in Megatrends 2000, says that the next decade will be a time in which people will seek a "spiritual experience."
Boomers come to church to get something applicable to their lives. They are interested in how-to sermons and teaching. They look for relevancy, not simple, pat answers.
Boomers expect women to be treated as equals and to be given leadership roles. Husband and wife teams in ministry are a great way to help meet this expectation.
Boomers want the contribution of singles to be celebrated and expected. In the year 2000, singles comprised more than 50 percent of the adult population over 18 years old. Churches must accept, understand, and minister to the diversity and needs of singles. The church must be willing also to encourage the contribution of singles to the life and ministry of the church.
Boomers believe that the high level of dysfunctionality within their group needs to be addressed. They have grown up with major life problems: alcohol and drug abuse, broken homes, and sexual promiscuity. One in four women has been sexually abused. Deliverance, recovery, and support groups are part of the healing process. Sunday school classes that function as recovery and support groups should be very effective.
Boomers applaud innovation. They like to try new, adventurous things. They enjoy variety and spontaneity, expect challenge, and despise mediocrity.
Boomers have a sense of destiny. They want to make a difference. They support what they feel will make the greatest impact. They are looking for a cause that is challenging and worthy of commitment. They are active rather than passive in their general approach to life. They are busy and want to stay that way. Time is more important than money to them. Therefore, they will get involved in what they feel is the best use of their time.
How can your church reach baby boomers? Part II (con't)
"4. Develop active lay ministry involvement. The baby boomer wants to make a difference. These people will give time to things they feel make the most difference. Causes that stimulate action include social problems, children, poverty, abortion, illiteracy, elder care, substance abuse, AIDS, and environmental protection. The Sunday school class can take advantage of these interest areas and use them for ministry and evangelism.
5 Cultivate a casual, informal atmosphere. People are looking for a place where they can be themselves. The Sunday school class can be relaxed, informal, and interactive by using more participation and fewer lectures. Even the way people dress can cause the atmosphere to be cold and formal. Let people know you are more interested in them as individuals than you are about how they dress.................................
The church cannot cater to every whim of the baby boom generation. Yet to ignore or refuse to be attentive to their needs and desires will render the church ineffective. To understand, adapt, and change will help us reach this generation."
5 Cultivate a casual, informal atmosphere. People are looking for a place where they can be themselves. The Sunday school class can be relaxed, informal, and interactive by using more participation and fewer lectures. Even the way people dress can cause the atmosphere to be cold and formal. Let people know you are more interested in them as individuals than you are about how they dress.................................
The church cannot cater to every whim of the baby boom generation. Yet to ignore or refuse to be attentive to their needs and desires will render the church ineffective. To understand, adapt, and change will help us reach this generation."
How can your church reach baby boomers? Part I
Steve Mills,Executive Director of Church Ministries,Northwest District,The Assemblies of God, has written a piece that speaks to the need for a paradigm change that is necessary for the church to ready herself for the wave of Boomers that is heading her way.
Here are his words:
How can your church reach baby boomers?
Let me suggest some ways:
"1. Provide multiple options in programs and ministries. Elective classes give options and choices. In a society where people are struggling with major life problems, such as alcoholism, addictions of many kinds and immorality, recovery and support groups provide a positive means to health and growth. Some classes can meet at different times during the week other than the traditional Sunday school time. With a class or group meeting on Tuesday night, as well as the normal Sunday school time, more people might become involved. The traditional concept of church and Sunday school must give way to new methods and approaches to reach this generation.
2. Keep the teaching practical, positive, and personal. The self-help and how-to sections of a bookstore reveal subjects of interest, such as how to have a happier marriage, how to be a better parent, how to manage your money, how to deal with your job and boss, how to deal with life problems and addictions, how to deal with your past successfully, and how to know that the Bible is God's Word. In a world marked by hopelessness, the good news is that Jesus is the answer. But we must present the good news in everyday terms to which people can relate.
3. Provide opportunities for relationships to develop. In an impersonal, high-tech society, people are searching for a place in which they feel loved, cared for, and significant. Sunday school classes need to be structured so people have time to develop significant relationships. This can be done in small group interaction during the class, by fellowship time before class, or by group activities outside of class. Three things can help you have a successful class----a coffee pot, good discussion, and ministry to personal needs of those in the class. These help build a sense of community, a need which this generation feels."
(More in next blog post)
Here are his words:
How can your church reach baby boomers?
Let me suggest some ways:
"1. Provide multiple options in programs and ministries. Elective classes give options and choices. In a society where people are struggling with major life problems, such as alcoholism, addictions of many kinds and immorality, recovery and support groups provide a positive means to health and growth. Some classes can meet at different times during the week other than the traditional Sunday school time. With a class or group meeting on Tuesday night, as well as the normal Sunday school time, more people might become involved. The traditional concept of church and Sunday school must give way to new methods and approaches to reach this generation.
2. Keep the teaching practical, positive, and personal. The self-help and how-to sections of a bookstore reveal subjects of interest, such as how to have a happier marriage, how to be a better parent, how to manage your money, how to deal with your job and boss, how to deal with life problems and addictions, how to deal with your past successfully, and how to know that the Bible is God's Word. In a world marked by hopelessness, the good news is that Jesus is the answer. But we must present the good news in everyday terms to which people can relate.
3. Provide opportunities for relationships to develop. In an impersonal, high-tech society, people are searching for a place in which they feel loved, cared for, and significant. Sunday school classes need to be structured so people have time to develop significant relationships. This can be done in small group interaction during the class, by fellowship time before class, or by group activities outside of class. Three things can help you have a successful class----a coffee pot, good discussion, and ministry to personal needs of those in the class. These help build a sense of community, a need which this generation feels."
(More in next blog post)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Statistics According to Social Security
Statistics According to Social Security,
"Over the next 14 years, the number of people over 50 in the U.S. will grow 74 percent, while people under 50 will increase by only 1 percent," according to research conducted by Edwin J. Pittock, president of the Society of Certified Senior Advisors.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 10,000 Baby Boomers are turning 50 every day and the trend will continue for the next 10 years. In 2000, the elderly population increased from 130 million to 419 million over the last 50 years.
More people are living longer which will cause all of the stages of life to shift; fewer children are being born and more older adults are living longer; and many older adults will continue to work long after "the normal" age of retirement.
This will pose several serious problems for the church unless we are willing to make some changes in the culture and operational structure. Any attempt to implement these changes must be handled with care
"Over the next 14 years, the number of people over 50 in the U.S. will grow 74 percent, while people under 50 will increase by only 1 percent," according to research conducted by Edwin J. Pittock, president of the Society of Certified Senior Advisors.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 10,000 Baby Boomers are turning 50 every day and the trend will continue for the next 10 years. In 2000, the elderly population increased from 130 million to 419 million over the last 50 years.
More people are living longer which will cause all of the stages of life to shift; fewer children are being born and more older adults are living longer; and many older adults will continue to work long after "the normal" age of retirement.
This will pose several serious problems for the church unless we are willing to make some changes in the culture and operational structure. Any attempt to implement these changes must be handled with care
Monday, December 3, 2007
Paradigm Shift Needed
Traditional Service 8:30 am Contemporary Service 10:30
Services will be required for “Seasoned Believers” at a time of day suited to their age and state of health. If 8:30 a.m. is the only time this intergenerational service is offered, it disfranchises many elderly people who cannot be up and dressed by that hour, having also coped with essential medication and toiletries. (Allow me a personal note: 8 am is not the best time for many aging bladders!) By way of contrast, most of their grandchildren are still sound asleep in bed and would not appreciate their Youth Service being at 8:30 a.m.
“Seasoned Believers” need such an opportunity – but as a regular feature of church life, not as an occasional special extra!
Participation in Services
“Seasoned Believers” belong to a generation brought up to community singing and, of course, to congregational hymn singing. Not only are they pre-TV, but some are even pre-radio. They sang around the piano in homes, sang hymns and choruses at Sunday School, fellowship meetings, fellowship teas, rallies and the like.
Many of us gathered around the piano in the fellowship hall after an evening service and sang hymns and choruses for an hour or more. Many were members of church choirs consisting of children, youth and adults who practiced and sang hymns, etc (a significant example of intergenerational co-operation and fellowship).
“Seasoned Believers” predate the ‘listening’ culture of the transistor and walkman era, rock concerts, singing groups, bands and soloist, and the un-singable syncopated meters of many modern hymns and choruses. They, therefore, expect to be able to join actively in the singing. Such forms of services are not mere nostalgia or a yearning for sentimental self-gratification, but are a means of spiritual refreshment and encouragement to spiritual growth. They are also essential if “Seasoned Believers” are to have confidence in inviting their peers to evangelistic and outreach services.
By some odd form of logic, the choir singing or a cantata and the very playing of an organ are seen as signs of senile self-indulgence, in fact, almost a form of idolatry. Yet the domination of a service by a band (with strong beat and loud amplification) is an indication of vitality in worship! The value of well planned intergenerational services and social activities from time to time within the total church community will lie in the degree to which they are generationally representative.
The Boomer Blogger
Services will be required for “Seasoned Believers” at a time of day suited to their age and state of health. If 8:30 a.m. is the only time this intergenerational service is offered, it disfranchises many elderly people who cannot be up and dressed by that hour, having also coped with essential medication and toiletries. (Allow me a personal note: 8 am is not the best time for many aging bladders!) By way of contrast, most of their grandchildren are still sound asleep in bed and would not appreciate their Youth Service being at 8:30 a.m.
“Seasoned Believers” need such an opportunity – but as a regular feature of church life, not as an occasional special extra!
Participation in Services
“Seasoned Believers” belong to a generation brought up to community singing and, of course, to congregational hymn singing. Not only are they pre-TV, but some are even pre-radio. They sang around the piano in homes, sang hymns and choruses at Sunday School, fellowship meetings, fellowship teas, rallies and the like.
Many of us gathered around the piano in the fellowship hall after an evening service and sang hymns and choruses for an hour or more. Many were members of church choirs consisting of children, youth and adults who practiced and sang hymns, etc (a significant example of intergenerational co-operation and fellowship).
“Seasoned Believers” predate the ‘listening’ culture of the transistor and walkman era, rock concerts, singing groups, bands and soloist, and the un-singable syncopated meters of many modern hymns and choruses. They, therefore, expect to be able to join actively in the singing. Such forms of services are not mere nostalgia or a yearning for sentimental self-gratification, but are a means of spiritual refreshment and encouragement to spiritual growth. They are also essential if “Seasoned Believers” are to have confidence in inviting their peers to evangelistic and outreach services.
By some odd form of logic, the choir singing or a cantata and the very playing of an organ are seen as signs of senile self-indulgence, in fact, almost a form of idolatry. Yet the domination of a service by a band (with strong beat and loud amplification) is an indication of vitality in worship! The value of well planned intergenerational services and social activities from time to time within the total church community will lie in the degree to which they are generationally representative.
The Boomer Blogger
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Reconnecting Boomers with the Body of Christ
Older folk do not seem part of most churches vision for growth. This is despite the fact that are already the fastest growing segment of the community and will continue to be so as ‘Baby Boomers’ begin to join the ranks of the “Seasoned”.
While fully supporting the need to plant new churches - perhaps of an unconventional kind - to attract the unchurched, what about reaching the ranks of the many older folk who are the ‘were-once-churched’?
These ministries are not even mentioned in the vision statements of most churches. If your church’s outreach to this age group is limited to visits to nursing homes (valuable and essential as they are), note that statistics show that over 90 per cent of “Seasoned Believers” are not to be found there! They want more than a couple of bus trips and a potluck each month.
We seem to have forgotten that in their childhood and youth, a goodly percentage of both the older and the newer band of “Seasoned Believers” attended Sunday School.
This is particularly true of the Baby Boomer generation who, in the two post-war decades, were the catalysts of the building of many Christian Education Centers in churches. They were also in home Bible studies, and participated in youth groups, fellowship teas and evening services, house parties, camps and rallies, as well as sporting teams under the auspices of the churches.
As they approached adulthood, the rapid secularization of our society in the 60s and 70s presented them with competing influences, interests, activities and commitments that left no time for God or church-related activities.
However, not all their earlier contacts had been negative. In many cases there is a reservoir of positive experiences and good relation-ships waiting to be tapped. For many, in the absence of a genuine Christian commitment or parental example, it was not a matter of conscious rejection, as much as neglect in the face of attractive alternatives – and those attractions no longer apply today.
Those who are invited to ‘come back’ to church often find nothing that accords with their memory, nothing familiar, nothing they recognize and not even one hymn or song or chorus they can even follow, let alone attempt to sing!
As quoted in the September 2006 Southern Cross: “New research by the Southern Baptists indicates many Boomers are profoundly nostalgic. Among ‘de-churched’ Boomers, it was found that a significant number would return to church if it resembled the church of their 1950s childhood.”
In order to be “seeker friendly”, many churches began to change their worship service to what they called “contemporary worship” with contemporary songs, contemporary music and contemporary worship bands.
What they did not realize that “contemporary” is an ever moving target like the simplistic computer game “Duck Hunt”. The definition of contemporary is “happening, existing, living, or coming into being during the same period of time”. What is going on in most churches today is not contemporary to the “Seasoned Believers”.
If it is appropriate to hold services that are specially designed to appeal to youth or to young families, with their kind of music and message, why not for “Seasoned Boomers”?
Any evangelistic outreach to this potential harvest field must include "Seasoned Believers” in the planning and execution.
Most churches provide services that cater for the sub-culture of youth and of young families, but services suited to the sensitivities, interests and learning needs of “Seasoned Believers” are equally as essential. In any case, many older Christians with hearing aids are physically unable to attend some modern services!
Moreover, if “Seasoned Believers” are to continue to grow and mature in worship and fellowship, being restricted to an 8 am service is not the answer.
I do have some suggestions. (more later)
The Boomer Blogger
While fully supporting the need to plant new churches - perhaps of an unconventional kind - to attract the unchurched, what about reaching the ranks of the many older folk who are the ‘were-once-churched’?
These ministries are not even mentioned in the vision statements of most churches. If your church’s outreach to this age group is limited to visits to nursing homes (valuable and essential as they are), note that statistics show that over 90 per cent of “Seasoned Believers” are not to be found there! They want more than a couple of bus trips and a potluck each month.
We seem to have forgotten that in their childhood and youth, a goodly percentage of both the older and the newer band of “Seasoned Believers” attended Sunday School.
This is particularly true of the Baby Boomer generation who, in the two post-war decades, were the catalysts of the building of many Christian Education Centers in churches. They were also in home Bible studies, and participated in youth groups, fellowship teas and evening services, house parties, camps and rallies, as well as sporting teams under the auspices of the churches.
As they approached adulthood, the rapid secularization of our society in the 60s and 70s presented them with competing influences, interests, activities and commitments that left no time for God or church-related activities.
However, not all their earlier contacts had been negative. In many cases there is a reservoir of positive experiences and good relation-ships waiting to be tapped. For many, in the absence of a genuine Christian commitment or parental example, it was not a matter of conscious rejection, as much as neglect in the face of attractive alternatives – and those attractions no longer apply today.
Those who are invited to ‘come back’ to church often find nothing that accords with their memory, nothing familiar, nothing they recognize and not even one hymn or song or chorus they can even follow, let alone attempt to sing!
As quoted in the September 2006 Southern Cross: “New research by the Southern Baptists indicates many Boomers are profoundly nostalgic. Among ‘de-churched’ Boomers, it was found that a significant number would return to church if it resembled the church of their 1950s childhood.”
In order to be “seeker friendly”, many churches began to change their worship service to what they called “contemporary worship” with contemporary songs, contemporary music and contemporary worship bands.
What they did not realize that “contemporary” is an ever moving target like the simplistic computer game “Duck Hunt”. The definition of contemporary is “happening, existing, living, or coming into being during the same period of time”. What is going on in most churches today is not contemporary to the “Seasoned Believers”.
If it is appropriate to hold services that are specially designed to appeal to youth or to young families, with their kind of music and message, why not for “Seasoned Boomers”?
Any evangelistic outreach to this potential harvest field must include "Seasoned Believers” in the planning and execution.
Most churches provide services that cater for the sub-culture of youth and of young families, but services suited to the sensitivities, interests and learning needs of “Seasoned Believers” are equally as essential. In any case, many older Christians with hearing aids are physically unable to attend some modern services!
Moreover, if “Seasoned Believers” are to continue to grow and mature in worship and fellowship, being restricted to an 8 am service is not the answer.
I do have some suggestions. (more later)
The Boomer Blogger
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Where are the Boomers? (Pt 3)
We have taken a look at what many churches are doing in regards to provide experiences for the children and youth. Much of what is offered to them is indeed contemporary.
We want to turn now to the middle adults and the “Seasoned Believers”. What is the church doing to provide them with opportunities for meaningful ministry?
What is going on down at the church? Often it is something like this: A group is renting a bus for a day trip to look at fall foliage in Brown County, Indiana. An outlet mall trip is scheduled for the first of December. Branson, Missouri will be the destination in January.
In an interview with the Christian Reporter, Rev. John Heide, who was recently appointed as the first AG U.S. Missions representative specifically to mature adults (“Seasoned Believers”), concluded that most churches offer "perfunctory" programs for the “Seasoned Believers” such as sing-a-longs or a monthly potluck that will have a guest speaker whose words will have little or no relevance to his/her audience.
"That's not going to attract the baby boomer generation," said Heide. "They're not into potlucks."
"And what I call that is more maintenance than ministry," he continued. "It's just carrying them along month to month without utilizing their gifts and their talents."
"They have the time, the talents from years of experience, and the treasures including financial resources to help spread the Christian message throughout the world," he said.
Heide recalled a pastor who changed the format of the church's worship to gear his ministry to the youth. A year after making the changes, he was struggling with a lack of financial support as older adults fell out of the church.
"It's often times these mature adults that are financing the youth programs, supporting the missionaries and building the buildings," Heide stressed.
Mature adults don't want to just be asked to show up in church during offering time. Mature adults just want to be included and appreciated for their contribution rather than just kind of pushed off," said Heide. (Churches Neglect Older Folks; Potlucks Won't Do, Lillian Kwon, Christian Post Reporter Fri, Jan. 12 2007 08:44 AM)
The Boomer Blogger
We want to turn now to the middle adults and the “Seasoned Believers”. What is the church doing to provide them with opportunities for meaningful ministry?
What is going on down at the church? Often it is something like this: A group is renting a bus for a day trip to look at fall foliage in Brown County, Indiana. An outlet mall trip is scheduled for the first of December. Branson, Missouri will be the destination in January.
In an interview with the Christian Reporter, Rev. John Heide, who was recently appointed as the first AG U.S. Missions representative specifically to mature adults (“Seasoned Believers”), concluded that most churches offer "perfunctory" programs for the “Seasoned Believers” such as sing-a-longs or a monthly potluck that will have a guest speaker whose words will have little or no relevance to his/her audience.
"That's not going to attract the baby boomer generation," said Heide. "They're not into potlucks."
"And what I call that is more maintenance than ministry," he continued. "It's just carrying them along month to month without utilizing their gifts and their talents."
"They have the time, the talents from years of experience, and the treasures including financial resources to help spread the Christian message throughout the world," he said.
Heide recalled a pastor who changed the format of the church's worship to gear his ministry to the youth. A year after making the changes, he was struggling with a lack of financial support as older adults fell out of the church.
"It's often times these mature adults that are financing the youth programs, supporting the missionaries and building the buildings," Heide stressed.
Mature adults don't want to just be asked to show up in church during offering time. Mature adults just want to be included and appreciated for their contribution rather than just kind of pushed off," said Heide. (Churches Neglect Older Folks; Potlucks Won't Do, Lillian Kwon, Christian Post Reporter Fri, Jan. 12 2007 08:44 AM)
The Boomer Blogger
Where Have All The Boomers Gone??? (Pt 2)
By now you have all looked up the numbers re: total population and the 45 – 64 (Baby Boomer) group and have done the math to determine the approximate number of “unchurched” people in that age group. You have done that haven’t you??
If you haven’t, please refer to the previous blog (Pt 1)……
I will wait until you finish it………
Now that you have done that, the next step is to re-evaluate your church’s approach towards “Seasoned Believers”.
In the previous post, I indicated that the church must prepare in advance for this “Boomer Wave”. The time for the church to operate in a reactive mode is history. We must become pro-active if we are going to redeem the opportunity God is putting before us.
The facts are that a person is more likely to be in a church if they are younger than if they are older. That runs counter to what my unscientific hunch was. Why is that you may ask?
The answer is obvious when we take the time to analyze it. Almost every church has some kind of outreach-oriented high-powered activity that people can participate in to draw them into visiting them.
For the children, there are “Fall Carnivals”, Harvest Festivals, Trunk “N” Treat, Vacation Bible school, Easter egg hunts, circus performances (I actually know of a local church that had a circus in their auditorium –complete with high wire acts and elephants on the platform)and other activities always going on. Children’s ministry is very outreach oriented and the typical ministry identifies most of the adult prospects for their churches since people have to fill out visitor information when they bring their kids to participate.
Junior High and High School kids are quite indulged by the church. Churches have concerts, retreats, camps, people bending things with their necks and busting ice with their foreheads, etc. Youth leaders are always reaching outward. Not to mention the cool rooms designed for youth to hang out in that have sports and video recreation options.
There seems to be a misunderstanding about the status of our youth. In spite of the perception is that most kids don’t go to church and live worldly pagan lifestyles, there seems to be a significant number who attend church at least once a week. However, we are so busy throwing events and pies in the faces of our youth leaders that we barely have time to disciple them.
Churches have been obsessing over what to do to reach the Generation X (“20 something”) crowd. They are perceived to be burned out and not interested in church unless you build them a cool venue at the church that looks like a clothing shop in a mall and refer to iPods a lot. It is interesting how many of their ministry leaders stress humility and genuineness as they stand there talking to them in their expensive brand jeans and highlighted spiky hair.
Hoopla and high energy activities await the young people. The format of worship for this crowd, in most churches, would not sound any different (if you didn’t pay attention to the words) than the contemporary music on a local FM radio station.
Hmmmmmm!!! What an interesting word!! contemporary
We will talk about it in an upcoming post.
The Boomer Blogger
If you haven’t, please refer to the previous blog (Pt 1)……
I will wait until you finish it………
Now that you have done that, the next step is to re-evaluate your church’s approach towards “Seasoned Believers”.
In the previous post, I indicated that the church must prepare in advance for this “Boomer Wave”. The time for the church to operate in a reactive mode is history. We must become pro-active if we are going to redeem the opportunity God is putting before us.
The facts are that a person is more likely to be in a church if they are younger than if they are older. That runs counter to what my unscientific hunch was. Why is that you may ask?
The answer is obvious when we take the time to analyze it. Almost every church has some kind of outreach-oriented high-powered activity that people can participate in to draw them into visiting them.
For the children, there are “Fall Carnivals”, Harvest Festivals, Trunk “N” Treat, Vacation Bible school, Easter egg hunts, circus performances (I actually know of a local church that had a circus in their auditorium –complete with high wire acts and elephants on the platform)and other activities always going on. Children’s ministry is very outreach oriented and the typical ministry identifies most of the adult prospects for their churches since people have to fill out visitor information when they bring their kids to participate.
Junior High and High School kids are quite indulged by the church. Churches have concerts, retreats, camps, people bending things with their necks and busting ice with their foreheads, etc. Youth leaders are always reaching outward. Not to mention the cool rooms designed for youth to hang out in that have sports and video recreation options.
There seems to be a misunderstanding about the status of our youth. In spite of the perception is that most kids don’t go to church and live worldly pagan lifestyles, there seems to be a significant number who attend church at least once a week. However, we are so busy throwing events and pies in the faces of our youth leaders that we barely have time to disciple them.
Churches have been obsessing over what to do to reach the Generation X (“20 something”) crowd. They are perceived to be burned out and not interested in church unless you build them a cool venue at the church that looks like a clothing shop in a mall and refer to iPods a lot. It is interesting how many of their ministry leaders stress humility and genuineness as they stand there talking to them in their expensive brand jeans and highlighted spiky hair.
Hoopla and high energy activities await the young people. The format of worship for this crowd, in most churches, would not sound any different (if you didn’t pay attention to the words) than the contemporary music on a local FM radio station.
Hmmmmmm!!! What an interesting word!! contemporary
We will talk about it in an upcoming post.
The Boomer Blogger
Friday, November 30, 2007
Where Have All The Boomers Gone?? (Pt 1)
We have given you quite a bit of information about the tsunami that is going to hit the church when the boomer wave reaches each of our areas. Anyone who has given any thought to it at all is convinced that it will be the biggest demographic shift in our history.
If we were in a part of the world where tsunamis occur, and we knew one was coming, what do you think each of us would be doing in the meantime?
I doubt that it would be business as usual. Instead, we would be doing everything possible to make sure we would be ready for it. This advance preparation would not only involve procedures for surviving the onslaught but also developing strategies to make the aftermath as smooth as possible.
As far as the church is concerned, there seems to be little, if any, advance preparation for this “boomer wave”. We have a population “Katrina” heading for us and we are waiting for them to come to us and sit at our “table” to be fed and nurtured.
As a result of my 30 years in various ministries, it is my conclusion that we are reacting like we have always done. We have said “Come to us!” and people have stayed away in droves. We generally act out the definition of insanity (doing the same thing over and over again while hoping for a different result) using the age-old axiom “We have never done it that way before”.
There are several things we must do to correct this:
First of all, we must become aware of the opportunity that is coming our way. This can be done by taking the time to look at the population figures in each of our areas.
For example in the Cincinnati Metro area (5 counties in SW Ohio, 3 counties in Northern Kentucky and 1 county in SE Indiana), according to the U S Census Bureau, there are approximately 554,910 individuals in the 45 – 64 age group. This represents 22.4% of the total population compared to 25% of similar age group nationally.
Several sources (professional pollsters, denominational surveys, etc) put the percentage of the “unchurched” in this age group at about 67%. If this is true that means that there are some 373,880 “unchurched” boomers just in our area.
What is even more “alarming” is that, in the 25 – 44 age group, there are approximately 746,224 people moving toward “post-boomerism”. If the percentages remain the same, then that means there are about 499,970 more “unchurched” heading towards us.
To find out how many people are in your area you can go to the following website: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFPopulation
Paste this URL in your browser and follow the easy directions to find the population of your City, county or surrounding counties.
Take the number of Boomers (45 – 64) and multiply that number by .67. This will give you the approximate number of “unchurched” boomers in your area.
Are they really “unchurched” or have they found “better” things to do??
(More about this later)
The Boomer Blogger
If we were in a part of the world where tsunamis occur, and we knew one was coming, what do you think each of us would be doing in the meantime?
I doubt that it would be business as usual. Instead, we would be doing everything possible to make sure we would be ready for it. This advance preparation would not only involve procedures for surviving the onslaught but also developing strategies to make the aftermath as smooth as possible.
As far as the church is concerned, there seems to be little, if any, advance preparation for this “boomer wave”. We have a population “Katrina” heading for us and we are waiting for them to come to us and sit at our “table” to be fed and nurtured.
As a result of my 30 years in various ministries, it is my conclusion that we are reacting like we have always done. We have said “Come to us!” and people have stayed away in droves. We generally act out the definition of insanity (doing the same thing over and over again while hoping for a different result) using the age-old axiom “We have never done it that way before”.
There are several things we must do to correct this:
First of all, we must become aware of the opportunity that is coming our way. This can be done by taking the time to look at the population figures in each of our areas.
For example in the Cincinnati Metro area (5 counties in SW Ohio, 3 counties in Northern Kentucky and 1 county in SE Indiana), according to the U S Census Bureau, there are approximately 554,910 individuals in the 45 – 64 age group. This represents 22.4% of the total population compared to 25% of similar age group nationally.
Several sources (professional pollsters, denominational surveys, etc) put the percentage of the “unchurched” in this age group at about 67%. If this is true that means that there are some 373,880 “unchurched” boomers just in our area.
What is even more “alarming” is that, in the 25 – 44 age group, there are approximately 746,224 people moving toward “post-boomerism”. If the percentages remain the same, then that means there are about 499,970 more “unchurched” heading towards us.
To find out how many people are in your area you can go to the following website: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFPopulation
Paste this URL in your browser and follow the easy directions to find the population of your City, county or surrounding counties.
Take the number of Boomers (45 – 64) and multiply that number by .67. This will give you the approximate number of “unchurched” boomers in your area.
Are they really “unchurched” or have they found “better” things to do??
(More about this later)
The Boomer Blogger
Thursday, November 22, 2007
A Book That Should Be Read and a Video You Should See
For those of you who want to read more, here is the book I mentioned in an earlier blog:
The Boomer Century 1946-2046: How America's Most Influential Generation Changed Everything (by Richard Croker) available on Amazon ($17.15 plus shipping)
Be sure to click on the video link. It was designed by a team with Gary Sweeten's leadership. The really hard work was done by Steve Helterbridle, a friend of Gary's who retired from P&G several years ago to minister more freely. Watch it and join the dialogue here or on Gary's blog.
The Boomer Blogger
The Boomer Century 1946-2046: How America's Most Influential Generation Changed Everything (by Richard Croker) available on Amazon ($17.15 plus shipping)
Be sure to click on the video link. It was designed by a team with Gary Sweeten's leadership. The really hard work was done by Steve Helterbridle, a friend of Gary's who retired from P&G several years ago to minister more freely. Watch it and join the dialogue here or on Gary's blog.
The Boomer Blogger
Article by Thom Rainer...The Church in 2011: Catching The Age Wave
This is the original article to which I referred in a previous post. The articled was found on the following website: Lifeway Biblical Solutions for Life. It is even more revealing. I believe Dr. Rainer's research indicates we have more work to do than we thought.
The Church In 2011: Catching The Age Wave
Written by Thom S. Rainer
NASHVILLE, Tenn., 7/10/06 -- When I see the number 2011, I think of some distant future that is too far away to generate much concern. But 2011 is less than five years away, and significant demographic trends are taking place. These trends are profound, but I fear that the American church is not ready or even aware of the changing landscape.
Nearly one-third of all Americans living today were born between 1946 and 1964. This baby boom is sandwiched between the small generations of the Depression and the Vietnam eras. The boomer generation has repeatedly shaped much of American life, including church life.
Concurrent with the aging of the baby boomers is a longevity boom. In 1900, life expectancy was 47 years. By 2011 the life expectancy of adults will approach 80 years. A huge and long-living older generation will be residing in our communities. How will the church respond?
In just five short years, the oldest boomer will be 65 years old, and the midpoint boomer will be 56. These are not your typical mature adults, and churches that respond as they always have will miss a great evangelistic opportunity.
What are some emerging thoughts and facts about this generation? Look at the following pertinent issues:
About two-thirds of the 76 million boomers are unchurched, which means they attend church no more than twice a year. Our early research indicates that many of these boomers are becoming profoundly nostalgic. Among the unchurched boomers, we found that a significant number would return to church if it resembled the church of their childhood.
Typically, gospel receptivity wanes as a person ages. But the boomers may defy this trend. Indeed, early indicators tell us that gospel receptivity may actually be on the rise among the members of this huge generation. The senior boomers will have the largest accumulated wealth of any group in America’s history.
This age wave will include tens of millions of men and women who want to make a difference in their older years. They have pursued many paths to happiness, and the unchurched boomers tell us that none have proved satisfactory.
These older adults will respond poorly to most forms of senior adult ministries in churches today. They will walk away from churches that focus on travel and entertainment as the primary "ministries" to senior adults. The age wave adults will desire more than an occasional mission trip as a means to make a difference. They want to invest themselves in something that is meaningful and longer-term.
These new senior adults will not perceive themselves to be older adults, and any organization that communicates to them that they are old will quickly lose the allegiance of this generation. The age wave generation is increasingly desirous of studying deep biblical truths, even among the unchurched boomers.
In my travels to churches and in my discussions with church leaders, I often ask what their churches are doing to prepare for this age wave, especially since the impact will be felt in as few as five years. Most leaders admit that they have not even thought about the issue, much less strategically planned to reach this older generation.
We estimate that this older generation could shape organizations around the nation and the world for the next 25 to 30 years. Most secular groups are giving serious thought and expending millions of dollars to reach this new type of senior adult. But it seems that the American church is one of the least prepared for this age wave of any of the organizations today.
Most cutting-edge ministries in the church for the past 40 years have been aimed at reaching the younger generations. Indeed, churches should continue to reach young people with the gospel. But few churches have given much thought or resources to reaching older generations. And if something does not change in our churches, this age wave will pass by with millions never connecting with the church, and with millions never responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
What is your church doing to prepare to catch the age wave? The answer to that question may very well impact the eternity of millions of aging boomer Americans.
The Boomer Blogger
The Church In 2011: Catching The Age Wave
Written by Thom S. Rainer
NASHVILLE, Tenn., 7/10/06 -- When I see the number 2011, I think of some distant future that is too far away to generate much concern. But 2011 is less than five years away, and significant demographic trends are taking place. These trends are profound, but I fear that the American church is not ready or even aware of the changing landscape.
Nearly one-third of all Americans living today were born between 1946 and 1964. This baby boom is sandwiched between the small generations of the Depression and the Vietnam eras. The boomer generation has repeatedly shaped much of American life, including church life.
Concurrent with the aging of the baby boomers is a longevity boom. In 1900, life expectancy was 47 years. By 2011 the life expectancy of adults will approach 80 years. A huge and long-living older generation will be residing in our communities. How will the church respond?
In just five short years, the oldest boomer will be 65 years old, and the midpoint boomer will be 56. These are not your typical mature adults, and churches that respond as they always have will miss a great evangelistic opportunity.
What are some emerging thoughts and facts about this generation? Look at the following pertinent issues:
About two-thirds of the 76 million boomers are unchurched, which means they attend church no more than twice a year. Our early research indicates that many of these boomers are becoming profoundly nostalgic. Among the unchurched boomers, we found that a significant number would return to church if it resembled the church of their childhood.
Typically, gospel receptivity wanes as a person ages. But the boomers may defy this trend. Indeed, early indicators tell us that gospel receptivity may actually be on the rise among the members of this huge generation. The senior boomers will have the largest accumulated wealth of any group in America’s history.
This age wave will include tens of millions of men and women who want to make a difference in their older years. They have pursued many paths to happiness, and the unchurched boomers tell us that none have proved satisfactory.
These older adults will respond poorly to most forms of senior adult ministries in churches today. They will walk away from churches that focus on travel and entertainment as the primary "ministries" to senior adults. The age wave adults will desire more than an occasional mission trip as a means to make a difference. They want to invest themselves in something that is meaningful and longer-term.
These new senior adults will not perceive themselves to be older adults, and any organization that communicates to them that they are old will quickly lose the allegiance of this generation. The age wave generation is increasingly desirous of studying deep biblical truths, even among the unchurched boomers.
In my travels to churches and in my discussions with church leaders, I often ask what their churches are doing to prepare for this age wave, especially since the impact will be felt in as few as five years. Most leaders admit that they have not even thought about the issue, much less strategically planned to reach this older generation.
We estimate that this older generation could shape organizations around the nation and the world for the next 25 to 30 years. Most secular groups are giving serious thought and expending millions of dollars to reach this new type of senior adult. But it seems that the American church is one of the least prepared for this age wave of any of the organizations today.
Most cutting-edge ministries in the church for the past 40 years have been aimed at reaching the younger generations. Indeed, churches should continue to reach young people with the gospel. But few churches have given much thought or resources to reaching older generations. And if something does not change in our churches, this age wave will pass by with millions never connecting with the church, and with millions never responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
What is your church doing to prepare to catch the age wave? The answer to that question may very well impact the eternity of millions of aging boomer Americans.
The Boomer Blogger
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Are We Ready For the Boomer Wave?
An article quoted in a book I am reading about boomers called The Boomer Century 1946-2046: How America's Most Influential Generation Changed Everything by Richard Croker caught my attention. The article (page 237)is entitled The Church In 2011: Catching The Age Wave by Thom Rainer . Dr Rainer makes some observations (listed below) based on his research of the topic that reflect how I have been feeling too.
Rainer says, “Most cutting-edge ministries in the church for the past 40 years have been aimed at reaching the younger generations. Indeed, churches should continue to reach young people with the gospel. But few churches have given much thought or resources to reaching older generations. And if something does not change in our churches, this age wave will pass by with millions never connecting with the church, and with millions never responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
He continues, “Most leaders admit that they have not even thought about the issue, much less strategically planned to reach this older generation.”
Dr Rainer makes an observation I wish he would elaborate more on in the future, because I believe too many have precipitously written off the traditional church model and sold out their heritage for a pot of cappuccino. “Our early research indicates that many of these boomers are becoming profoundly nostalgic. Among the unchurched boomers, we found that a significant number would return to church if it resembled the church of their childhood.”
A few more observations by Rainer:
"About two-thirds of the 76 million boomers are unchurched, which means they attend church no more than twice a year.
Typically, gospel receptivity wanes as a person ages. But the boomers may defy this trend. Indeed, early indicators tell us that gospel receptivity may actually be on the rise among the members of this huge generation.
The senior boomers will have the largest accumulated wealth of any group in America’s history.
This age wave will include tens of millions of men and women who want to make a difference in their older years. They have pursued many paths to happiness, and the unchurched boomers tell us that none have proved satisfactory.
These older adults will respond poorly to most forms of senior adult ministries in churches today. They will walk away from churches that focus on travel and entertainment as the primary “ministries” to senior adults.
The age wave adults will desire more than an occasional mission trip as a means to make a difference. They want to invest themselves in something that is meaningful and longer-term.
These new senior adults will not perceive themselves to be older adults, and any organization that communicates to them that they are old will quickly lose the allegiance of this generation.
The age wave generation is increasingly desirous of studying deep biblical truths, even among the unchurched boomers."
I wonder if the statement “Typically, gospel receptivity wanes as a person ages.” is more accurately, “Typically, gospel outreach targeted at older generations wanes in church programming therefore there is limited response to the gospel among older people.”
THE BOOMER BLOOGER
Rainer says, “Most cutting-edge ministries in the church for the past 40 years have been aimed at reaching the younger generations. Indeed, churches should continue to reach young people with the gospel. But few churches have given much thought or resources to reaching older generations. And if something does not change in our churches, this age wave will pass by with millions never connecting with the church, and with millions never responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
He continues, “Most leaders admit that they have not even thought about the issue, much less strategically planned to reach this older generation.”
Dr Rainer makes an observation I wish he would elaborate more on in the future, because I believe too many have precipitously written off the traditional church model and sold out their heritage for a pot of cappuccino. “Our early research indicates that many of these boomers are becoming profoundly nostalgic. Among the unchurched boomers, we found that a significant number would return to church if it resembled the church of their childhood.”
A few more observations by Rainer:
"About two-thirds of the 76 million boomers are unchurched, which means they attend church no more than twice a year.
Typically, gospel receptivity wanes as a person ages. But the boomers may defy this trend. Indeed, early indicators tell us that gospel receptivity may actually be on the rise among the members of this huge generation.
The senior boomers will have the largest accumulated wealth of any group in America’s history.
This age wave will include tens of millions of men and women who want to make a difference in their older years. They have pursued many paths to happiness, and the unchurched boomers tell us that none have proved satisfactory.
These older adults will respond poorly to most forms of senior adult ministries in churches today. They will walk away from churches that focus on travel and entertainment as the primary “ministries” to senior adults.
The age wave adults will desire more than an occasional mission trip as a means to make a difference. They want to invest themselves in something that is meaningful and longer-term.
These new senior adults will not perceive themselves to be older adults, and any organization that communicates to them that they are old will quickly lose the allegiance of this generation.
The age wave generation is increasingly desirous of studying deep biblical truths, even among the unchurched boomers."
I wonder if the statement “Typically, gospel receptivity wanes as a person ages.” is more accurately, “Typically, gospel outreach targeted at older generations wanes in church programming therefore there is limited response to the gospel among older people.”
THE BOOMER BLOOGER
Monday, November 19, 2007
Who Really are the Emerging Leaders?
The boomer market will drive up the size of the 50-69 year old segment of the population. Meanwhile the market of 35-49 year olds is growing smaller. The 20-34 year old market is far smaller than the total older market and, while growing, is transitioning demographically toward a more ethnic (toward 40% Hispanic in some places) marketplace. By 2030 this trend will be even greater!
Boomers will not go into their senior years the same way their parents did. Creative "Seasoned Believer" leaders are needed quickly as another boomer turns 61 every seven seconds
The real “missional” or “emerging leader” is will not be the church planter/pastor who is focused on leveraging the caffeine addictions of present 20-39 year olds into ministry growth. That’s the smallest and most rapidly shrinking market segment. More missional is the minister who looks at the market and works like a missionary to meet the needs of the people who actually comprise the marketplace.
Here’s an interesting observation I found in the book…….
Brad Edmondson former editor-in-chief of American Demographics says the Older Boomers are the focus of market opportunity in the next decade. The key concepts for reaching boomers around the globe are preservation and quality of life. The most important segments among boomers are empty-nest couples and older singles. The key to success in this marketplace is life-stage marketing because boomers will go through more transitions in their 50s and 60s than any other phase of life.
The Boomer Blogger
Boomers will not go into their senior years the same way their parents did. Creative "Seasoned Believer" leaders are needed quickly as another boomer turns 61 every seven seconds
The real “missional” or “emerging leader” is will not be the church planter/pastor who is focused on leveraging the caffeine addictions of present 20-39 year olds into ministry growth. That’s the smallest and most rapidly shrinking market segment. More missional is the minister who looks at the market and works like a missionary to meet the needs of the people who actually comprise the marketplace.
Here’s an interesting observation I found in the book…….
Brad Edmondson former editor-in-chief of American Demographics says the Older Boomers are the focus of market opportunity in the next decade. The key concepts for reaching boomers around the globe are preservation and quality of life. The most important segments among boomers are empty-nest couples and older singles. The key to success in this marketplace is life-stage marketing because boomers will go through more transitions in their 50s and 60s than any other phase of life.
The Boomer Blogger
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)