THE CULTURALLY AMBIVALENT

Whatever happened to the cultural left?

One of the casualties from the exploding lifestyle diversity in North America is the habit of generalizing behavior based on age. We used to speak with such confidence about "Builders," "Silents," "Boomers," "Busters," and "Millennials." But age-based generalizations are becoming less and less meaningful. "Generations" has been replaced by "lifestyles," and the "lifestyle portrait" has become the primary unit of demographic generalization. These are circles of cooperation or peer groups with shared or compatible behavior patterns that are revealed by the digital footprint people leave behind them on a daily basis.

This complexity is most obvious among the generation we once called "baby boomers." As this book appears, "baby boomers" are between fifty-one and sixty-five (some say seventy) years old. We once tried to divide this group into "first wave," "middle wave," and "late wave" boomers, usually based on the theory that progressive "waves" of boomers were generally less successful and affluent. All that makes no sense today ... and certainly does not help the church understand their diverse needs and different motivators for their quest for God. "Spirituality" is very much alive for this generation, albeit in a wide variety of forms, among which the church is now a minority interest.

In 1990, baby boomers were clearly associated with what Tex Sample called the "cultural left." They revealed an overall cultural shift from the security and self-denial of their parents and grandparents, to the desire for self-awareness and self-fulfillment that is most often associated with their culture. Some were more socially conscientious; some were more relativistic and mystical; and some were more egotistical and flighty. In truth, all boomers revealed these three aspects in their lives, but as they grew older they generally shifted from the first, through the second, to the third aspect.

Many boomers have lived all their lives with an approach/avoidance attitude toward the church. At first, the church was part of the institutional culture against which they rebelled; and later there was some renewed interest in contemporizing church practice and widening theological engagement with other religious traditions. After the turn of the millennium, however, baby boomer participation in the church began to drop alarmingly.

There are two major reasons why.

First, the attitude of self-denial central to their parents and grandparents remained the norm of church life. This tension for boomers was most visible when it came to stewardship and volunteerism. The church continued to expect members to give their money and time out of a sense of duty, assuming that self-sacrifice was its own reward. Boomers, however, need to receive something more in return (e.g., new and deeper friendships, personal growth, mystical illumination, personal involvement in ministry and mission, satisfaction in seeing the community or world change for the better). Boomers wanted to designate money to mission, and churches wanted them to underwrite unified operational budgets. Boomers wanted to get personally involved in doing mission, and churches wanted them to trust denominational agencies and professional missionaries.

Second, the loyalty and respect their parents and grandparents automatically gave to clergy remained the expectation of denominations. The church continued to assume that seminary training, ordination, advanced academic degrees, and experience climbing the career ladder of the institutional church were still adequate for the credibility and competency of the church. Boomers, however, became increasingly skeptical of church leadership. For one thing, the quality of clergy leadership seemed to go down, even as seminary enrollments dropped and ordination candidates became increasingly older and starting ministry as a second or part-time career choice. For another thing, the credibility of clergy among other professional sectors (e.g., health, counseling, social service, nonprofit administration) was declining, even as clergy spent more time attending denominational meetings.

Today there is a renewed exodus of baby boomers from the church and institutional religious organizations in general, as they migrate to alternative spiritualties, to nonprofit agencies, or simply into general self-absorption. One result is that the church is losing an important pool of lay leadership for boards and ministry teams. Another result is that the church is losing traction as the social conscience of the community. For many boomers, the church is on its own little island of self-absorption, and the world is looking to other institutions and leaders to address injustice, poverty, famine, climate change, and a host of other social ills.

Yet the boomer search for justice and quest for God has become ever more frustrating. Many of the institutions and leaders to whom they turned have all proven to have "feet of clay." Boomers became ever more depressed that the progress they anticipated, and the vision of a better world that they imagined, hasn't materialized. Indeed, they worry that things are actually getting worse. In a sense, they must fend for themselves.

Even in 1990, there was still a general sense of self-confidence and group identity among baby boomers. They were left of center in almost every way. They were economic and social liberals, skeptical Christians, upwardly mobile households, and generally optimistic about progress. Even if they were frustrated with leaders in every public sector, they did not doubt that they could lead themselves. Whatever the measure of success (career, affluence, influence, education, local savvy, or global awareness), they were okay.

Thirty years later this has been replaced by cultural ambivalence. They are conflicted about ideology, vague about spirituality, stalled in financial growth, and dubious about progress. The local community is beyond their control and the global village is beyond their understanding. They are not only unsure if they are successful, they are no longer clear how to measure success. In 1990, to the extent that mass group psychology applies, baby boomers could say yes or no with confidence, and the marketplace would shape itself around their preferences. Now as they age out of consumption or become displaced and redundant by economic and technological disruptions, all most boomers can say with confidence is "maybe," and the marketplace no longer shapes itself around their preferences.

THE GROWING DIVERSITY OF BABY BOOMERS

The baby boomer generation has fractured into approximately twenty-seven distinct...