Responding Faithfully to Generation X
Description
The research, writing and analysis in the pages of this work show the story of how Generation X grew-up during one of the greatest periods of technological, social, political, economic and educational change in US history. Included in that story is how the greater percentage of them grew-up in the church, but then walked away en masse. Today, Generation X is the smallest percentage of Main Line and Catholic Church membership, while the overwhelming majority of church membership is made up of an aging population of Baby Boomers and Silent Generation folk. In ten year's time, what will be the state of the church when many of the current membership has passed on to eternal life, or are no longer able to do what it is that they're doing today? Generation X could well be the answer to much of the solution. Generation X is generally at a more comfortable place in their lives and are asking the questions about the meaning of their lives while considering issues of mortality. Yet at the same time, they're having now to care for parents, grandchildren, and for many Gen Xers, their own children still. They're busy and committed, but they're also spiritually hungry. Having had a relationship at one point in their lives, they're not completely foreign to what the church can be, but the ball is really in the church's court. How the church chooses to respond to Generation X could mean life, or church closure. It's a conversation that needs to take place, and that conversation begins here.
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After nearly fifteen years of working in overseas mission in the Middle East, Christopher Doyle felt called to pursue ordained ministry with the PCUSA. He therefore moved with his family to Dubuque, Iowa where he attended the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, graduating in 2009. Once he began to lead worship services in Iowa, he quickly saw the obvious that there were few if any folks sitting in the pews on Sunday mornings from his own generational cohort of Generation X. It was trying to grasp an understanding of this that lead him to focus his doctoral dissertation project on examining what and how this situation came about and what the church needs to do to rectify it.
