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