Fuzz Kitto

Now you know your ABC, but do you know your XYZ?

Understanding Generations is key to  any infective Ministry, Mission or working in the community

“Amongst the biggest challenges facing our nation over the next four decades are the ageing population and the intergenerational shifts”. We have more generations existing together at this time than any other period of our history. – The Treasury, Intergenerational Report Australia 2010

A large pleasure craft was heading for the outer Great Barrier Reef with all the 5 generations on board. Builders- born before WWll (66 + years old), Boomers – born 1946-64 (47-65 years old), GenX – born 65-80 (31-46 years old , GenY – born 81-96 (15-30 years old) , GenZ – born 96-2010 (0-14 years old).

 

Suddenly there was a crashing, then a scraping sound as the boat hit a low floating obstacle. The crew had all been standing on the front of the boat having a promotional photo taken.  On impact they were thrown overboard and were quickly swept away. The captain who had was knocked unconscious in the wheel house. This left all the passengers to fend for themselves.

 

The Builders Generation started panicking and some started praying. The Boomers ran around in a panic trying to organise people into a system and kept calling out “save the children, save the children!”. The GenX people all ran for lifejackets and made sure they had their own on, wrapped up their Blackberries and iPads in plastic for protection and jumped over the side muttering , “I’m going to sue the owners for this!” The GenY people got together with their friends and had great fun trying to get the life rafts into the water so they could survive with their friends. The GenZ children ran around in a panic trying to find something safe to put their Gameboy (handheld video games) in, so they would have something to do till they got rescued.

 

I have lived; under the Builders, with the Boomers, struggling with the X’s, for the Y’s and in hope for the X’s in my 36 years of fulltime ministry. I have observed the turning of the generation. The shock of each generation that the next is so different from them. The puzzlement when  they are no longer the “up and coming generation”. Generational theory has been a relatively new field of study but most of our most noted social commentators have written on the marked differences of each generation. The Cchurch, is one of the few potential gathering places of cross generational groupings and yet they are also generational. When we started planting youth churches with and for X’s and Y’s, people told us that we couldn’t have single generation churches.  Mainline churches have many single generation churches just made up of just the builder’s generation! We have more intergenerational households, young people staying at home longer. People are working longer and have flatter management structures at work meaning people have to work with each other across generations. We have to figure out how to be together.

 

90% of us work out our values for life between 11 and 15 years. We hang on to those values for the rest of our life although they will be challenged by transitions and crises.. During those years for GenX it was believed by 82-86% of High School Students, that they would not die of natural causes but through a nuclear holocaust or environmental disaster. Add to that the depression of the 80’s, and the future has always been a scary thing to GenX. GenY by contrast came through boom times, with an explosion of technological breakthroughs. This also bought with it a greater awareness of world issues through increased information dissemination. They see the future as something exciting, and want to change the world… which they hope won’t take too long!

 

“People resemble their times more than they resemble their parents.” says Mark McKrindle one of the key researchers in generations in Australia.

 

GenX was coined by Douglas Coupland a Canadian journalist. He discovered that people could not put this generation in a box but it was a mosaic of subcultures, groups and characteristics. With divorce ratings reaching 40% in the 1980’s, this generation shy to marry and partner, taking to the “settling down” process much later in life. They have their first child well into their 30’s. They have redefined families to being smaller, working families who look to the best early childhood education and life skills to build resilience into their young children.

 

Having been reared by the Boomer Generation to be self-expressing and have good self- esteem they have often lacked confidence in their own parenting skills. Previous generations were given history, stories, national pride, faith and values.  GenX were told to find what was real to them and who they wanted to be.

 

GenX’s have been hard to impress and often feels the world has let them down.. They had been taught to be individuals and often struggled to find deep and lasting value.. Having seen their parents achieve a great standard of living but pay for it through stress, broken relationships, health concerns, and long hours, Xers have pronounced it a bad deal. Masses of them are turning down jobs, or overtime that encroach on their social time, regardless of the pay on offer.

 

GenY followed on from GenX and they were a generation that kept asking “Why?”. GenY have been the most connected and relational generation that we have seen. They hang around together at School or Uni, then get on the bus and text each other, then get home and email, skype or chat on the computer or their mobile phones. In the workplace they have also been seen to email, chat and connect technologically rather than talk. Community and group friendships have taken precedence over parents and family. It is more likely friends will accompany them to their first job interview than any parent.

 

They have a keen sense of what is going on in the world picking up information from electronic media rather than from print. They also distrust institutions but enjoy good relationships with individuals in institutions.

 

Leadership is not a positional role with them but more an influencing relationship. The leader is seen best as coach that helps them to manage life, learn skills and empowers them to do it themselves or with their new friends. They work hard, with 55% of fulltime students having part-time work. They have an entrepreneurial bent – over 55,000 small businesses in Australia are owned and operated by people under 25.

 

Diversity sums up this generation with 1 in 3 not born in Australia. They are living with people across age groups, across genders, across differing sexual orientation and with diverse religious beliefs. GenY is not a religious generation, but they are interested and open to spirituality. Most of them are children of the Baby Boomers that tossed out or could not relate to Church as they saw it. If Christianity is presented to them in a way that connects with their world view it is a shock. GenY love the big gatherings where the “tribes gather”. We have seen this with Christian events like Black Stump Festival, Hillsong Youth Events, Planetshakers and Catholic World Youth Day.

 

GenZ crept up and suddenly appeared. They are children of the GenX’ers and were noted early for their ability to influence the spending habits of their parents. They have grown up as children in one of the most affluent and consumerist periods of our history. They were born as the birth rate started to increase in Australia when Peter Costello tried to convince their parents to have one for Dad, Mum, and then one for the country- and paid them to do it!

They spend most of their lives indoors. With both parents (or single parent) working they either come home from school to the house to themselves or have been in afterschool care. Going out and playing in the streets or parks is dangerous, the place of accidents happen, or just “Stranger Danger”. Grandparents have once more come to the fore for this generation as the second most common choice of care.

 

These are very technology savvy generation! They have been bought up not only with computers, but with knowledge of audio, visual and game technology that they learn to operate quicker than their parents. Two of our friends just bought a large screen Plasma TV. Their GenZ, children were ecstatic. They were able name everyone in their both their classes that already had one and the brand and size.

Young Australians not interested in Religion but search for a spirituality in a fluid world everything is short term and transient and are looking for some sense of certainty to work out is there something above and beyond them. Make faith relevant for them, offer wisdom into their lives, present them with the wellsprings of faith and allow them the space to exegete the faith for their generation and they will discover a relationship with Jesus that is transforming

 

The Treasury, Intergenerational Report Australia 2010 states that “Amongst the biggest challenges facing our nation over the next four decades are the ageing population and the intergenerational shifts”[i]. We have more generations existing together at this time than any other period of our history. Every 15 years a new shaping system starts to form – Generation Alpha are being born this year. If we do not build an understand of  XYZ’s into the cultures of our churches then we will never be prepared for our ABC’s