Over the course of my life, I’ve been involved in many, and varied, organisations. One thing they all have in common is that they involved themselves in strategic planning processes, increasingly so as the world changes at a fast rate as we come out of COVID-19 and its effect. One of the early questions that gets asked in the strategic planning process is, ‘who is our target market?’ Identifying exactly who we’re targeting helps to define the next part of the strategic planning process and the subsequent implementation of conclusions.
Identifying a target market is easy in most organisations, but notoriously difficult in the organisation of the church, the organisation that I’m most involved with. Is the church orientating itself toward reaching Millennials (those currently aged 15-35), Gen X-er’s (aged 35-50), Baby Boomers (50-70) or Traditionalists (70+). What about the undefined generation who are under 15 right now – I’ve heard someone call them the ‘always on’ generation, but more commonly are now defined as Generation Alpha.
Is the church seeking to guide new Christians or mature Christians, or is the church targeting not-yet Christians? What about the differences that arise in cultural diversity, or socio-economic disparity or political persuasion? How do we address theological views that exist between all these different people?
In his book Generational IQ, Haydn Shaw makes a profound statement when he says that for the first time in history, we have five generations living together in our families, churches and communities. Five. That’s massive, and it causes quite a shake-up because every generation is pushing to be heard and understood, to find their own way to discover meaning, to recover what they feel the previous generation fumbled away, and to work out their parent’s unfinished business.
I lead a faith community with all these five generations present. Our youngest member is still adjusting to light in his eyes, while our oldest member is trying to keep her eyes in focus. There’s a 97-year difference between these two and in a large congregation like ours we have at least one person aged every year in-between. Our target market includes all of these people, from many cultural contexts, with a broad range of worldviews and different theological persuasions.
Managing the tensions that arise with five generations seeking to get along is a very difficult proposition. As a Gen-X leader, my lens is shaped by a Gen-X worldview that was shaped by being raised in a context very different to my millennial children who can’t quite comprehend how humanity could survive without the internet (I mean how did you find the answers in order to submit an assignment at 11.59pm?).
Leadership demands adaptability and resilience, and leading a faith community that seeks to both reach, incorporate and celebrate the five generations that coexist with each other is a growing challenge for all church leaders whose faith communities exist in most mixed-suburban settings.
The reality is that there are no easy answers to this challenge. There are many books written and many lectures spoken, but practically, mixed-generation churches are struggling to find workable solutions, and not through lack of trying.
Perhaps the solution doesn’t lie with leadership, it lies with discipleship, and more significantly, the responsibility that every follower of Jesus has for their own discipleship journey. Church leaders can provide a framework for discipleship and are often those who have time to discern appropriate discipleship tools, but ultimately this is a journey each follower of Jesus decides to take for themselves, with others in mind.
The journey of discipleship is nothing new. In the Bible, the Apostle Paul wrote to Christians in Ephesus, giving them advice about how to deal with the challenges that were arising in a new local church where difference was dividing. He wrote (in Ephesians Chapter 4, Verses 1-3), I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
To live like this is counter-cultural and I sometimes it just seems too hard. Humbleness, gentleness, patience, they’re great attributes when life is going well, but what about when someone annoys us, or when we aren’t getting what we want and what we think we deserve?
To figure out God’s purposes in our generation we need to figure out how to live with each other when people are living the longest they’ve ever lived. We need to be people of courage who truly live what Jesus and the other New Testament authors implore us to live. It’ll be hard, and we’ll want to go down the road to the new flavour that seems more palatable, but more is to be gained through courage and perseverance, and when our target market is growing the Kingdom of God, our strategy should be love and grace.
As G. K. Chesterton once said, ‘Things must be loved first and improved afterwards.’ Let’s have the courage to love those around us and show that Jesus really is the answer for the world today.
Grant Harris is the Senior Pastor of Windsor Park Baptist Church in Auckland, New Zealand, a church that was planted 65-years ago and comprises people of all generations seeking to reach a community that consists of people of all generations. The tagline of Windsor Park is ‘doing life and faith, together.’ Grant can be contacted at grant.harris@windsorpark.org.nz.