LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 104

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104

CONVENTION ESSAYS AND REACTIONS

troduce to Him. Would that I could say, “I know youth
well,” but gaps between generations are never easily surmounted. True, five of them live in my household—three
sons and two daughters, teens and pre-teens. I observe
them closely and engage them intimately, but being a parent hardly makes one an instant expert on the subject of
youth. Other parents might agree—kids are not always
easy to figure out. The effort to bridge the generation gap
can be quite exasperating. Of course, my work on a college
campus gives me opportunity to work with many more
young people beside my own children—thousands of them
from all across the country and around the globe. I also observe these young people closely and engage them intimately—eager to help them, as our university mission
statement indicates, “to grow in mind, body, and spirit for
service to Christ in the Church and in the world.” Much of
what I do and have done in ministry is dedicated to telling
the Good News about Jesus to the young people the Lord
has placed into my life. Those may be sufficient credentials
to deliver this essay, but the experiences themselves have
taught me something else. Not only is there much for me
to learn about young people today, there is also much for
me to learn from young people today. As a parent it is part
of my vocation to help my children learn. As president of
Concordia University Wisconsin I am called by the church
to help provide Christian higher education to students. But
the unexpected blessing that I have now come to expect and
to receive every day is that I gain so much from them. Yes,
let’s get to know them better—we have lots to learn!
The “Millenials”—that is what we call this generation to
distinguish it from Generations X or Y, the Baby Boomers,
or others. The so-called “Greatest Generation”—the generation that lived through the Great Depression, world war,
Cold War, and everything since—the “Greatest Generation”
is well into decline, and more of its members die each day.
Our nation will surely miss them, their civic-minded commitment, their dedication, their selflessness. The Millenials, by contrast, have known little of poverty or war.
Much different from their parents’ parents’ experiences,
long-lasting peace, remarkable prosperity, and unprecedented advances in technology have characterized their
lives. Despite the differences, I hold hope that this will be
the next “Greatest Generation.” The tendency is to speak
about those that follow with misgiving or suspicion—again
gaps between generations are not easily overcome. Occasionally I will hear some of the tired, old refrains about the
“problems with kids today.” Kids today do have problems,
and I will mention a few of them, but from what I (and others) observe, kids today are also problem-solvers with admirable service orientation and profound sense of mission.
We should be well served in the church by these particular
youth in the future because when given opportunity they
serve so well in the church today! Let’s look closer. But first
we must take a closer look at ourselves. The best way to
begin better to understand what’s up with young people
today may be to look first at the generation they are supposed to look up to—ours.
Perhaps the biggest problem facing the Millenials today
is the rest of us. I am guessing that many here belong to
the generation that captured America’s attention like none
before or since—the Baby Boomers—people born between
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1943 and 1960. There were 79 million of us born during
those years—30 million more than the previous generation.
In the ’60s and ’70s when we became teens ourselves,
church youth programs accommodated us. Stress was
placed on entertainment and fellowship, and resources
were diverted to youth ministry. As Boomers have aged, society’s focus has remained zeroed in on us. Boomers have
political and financial clout. The church also is preoccupied
with us. Much energy and effort, lots of money and other
resources are being dedicated to restructure worship and
programs to create systems and experiences to draw adults.
Meanwhile the attention given to teen trouble in recent
decades has mainly focused on how self-absorbed Boomer
parents abandon, neglect, or disregard the needs of their
kids. Society is obsessively fixed on the Boomers, and we
Boomers are notoriously fixed on ourselves.
But we cannot continue to be self-absorbed. Teen population will grow at an astonishing rate during the next
decade. In 2010 there will be 30.8 million teenagers—
900,000 more than today, and 4 million more than in 1969
when Woodstock began to draw attention to the Boomers.
What preparations will we make to minister to this
swelling youth population? And look out just a little farther. The Census Bureau projects a U.S. population of 571
million people in the year 2100 (more than double today’s
275 million). We will reach 300 million by 2011, 400 million by 2049, and 500 million by 2081. Overall, the fastest
growing population will be older, but the largest group will
be those aged 15 to 19. Simply summarized, there are lots
of young people, and there will be lots more in the future.
This demands our attention right now.
The Millenials are many, and as they have begun to come
of age there are some broad generalizations we can say about
them. I am concerned about stereotypes—what I say may not
fit the young people in your family or your congregations.
Nevertheless, it is easier to begin with broad categories and
allow for individual exceptions or distinctions. Broadly
speaking, therefore, we can say that their lives’ pace is quick.
Remote control symbolizes their reality: change is constant,
and focus is fragmented. They tend to be more self-reliant,
having had to do more for themselves because both parents
work or because they live in single-parent families where the
one parent must work. Relationships with friends, it corresponds, are vitally important. Friends are where the action is
at for our youth, and shopping with friends must be where
they spend lots of time. They certainly spend lots of money!
Teens spend $140 billion a year on retail goods, including
$1.2 billion spent online.
They are a cyber-suckled community. Electronic babysitters are well known to them. They have grown up in
front of tubes, screens, or boxes that define their perceptions of reality—a reality that is anything but innocent.
Film critic Roger Ebert said, “It used to be that teenagers
would sneak to movies and see adults having sex. Now
adults go to movies to see teenagers having sex.” 40% of
teens admit to having had sexual intercourse, 55% to oral
sex. Pornography is an epidemic on the Internet. Teens say
they fear violence in their schools—they see plenty of violence on their screens, too. What a twisted, tormented distortion of reality. “It is a half hour before Judgment Day,”