One of the pieces that caught my eye was written by a sociologist and was entitled: Generation ‘A’. It described and then analysed the enormous contribution to contemporary church life made by ladies born in the 1930’s and 1940’s. They are the mothers of the Baby Boomers and grandparents/great grandparents to the Generation ‘X’ of today. These stalwarts of the church have brought a sense of hospitality and faithfulness to congregations up and down the country – and whilst the article had nothing but praise for this 75-85 year old age group it concluded that nowhere near the same numbers from succeeding generations are lining up to replace them.
Well this phenomenon isn’t unique to Anglicanism – it’s replicated in all traditions and is very apparent at AFC. My only quibble with the article is that it didn’t make reference to men of the same generation – who in my experience have also given a huge amount of their retirement to the life of their local church.
Generation ‘A’ are leaving big shoes for my generation to fill – and I’m not sure that we’re doing it. For the time being we are still benefiting from the ministry of Generation ‘A’ but things are beginning to change in significant ways. Fewer of my generation are around in what some commentators call the ‘inherited churches’ – or what you and I might call ‘traditional’ churches - and it’s quite a challenge to predict what our life together might look like in twenty years time.
I think I owe a great debt to Generation ‘A’ – they encouraged me in the early days of my personal pilgrimage and have been the backbone of every church I’ve had the privilege of serving in.
The psalmist writes that one generation to another will sing God’s praise – well here’s hoping and praying that us Baby Boomers will step up to the mark and continue the song!
With best wishes,
Ian
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