Generating Hope: A Strategy for Reaching the Postmodern Generation by Jimmy Long

In the book, Generation Me: Why today's young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled and more miserable than ever before, author-researcher Jean Twenge explores the nature of the Generation Y, people who were born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The phenomenon that Twenge sought to explore in detail was how the Generation Y became the "Entitlement Generation" or, as she eventually coined the term, the "Generation Me." From the title itself, she described the Generation Me as a group of individuals who are "confident, assertive, entitled" but "miserable." Indeed, the book's thesis highlights how the youth of Generation Me are highly individualist and primarily centers on the "self." As in the words of Twenge, ""¦GenMe doesn't just question authority we disrespect it entirely" (28). This statement ultimately sums up the GenMe's attitude and viewpoint about respecting institutions, traditions, beliefs and values that held previous generations and societies together.

Within the book You Lost Me by David Kinnaman, the author discusses why young Christians are leaving the church and rethinking faith. He gives us an overview of the trends within the mosaic generation. Through this overview, we as student ministers can better understand the generation in which we are ministering to. With this understanding, we can reach these students and bring them back to their home, that is the Church. In this report, I will discuss the book by chapter and finish with my reflection.

This struggle for change displays the countless changes in values that surround this topic. Before, the religious groups fought to have their religious freedom. Now, with the changing values and views of another group, this stability is being threatened. As such, the struggles of change is brought forth. (Perreaux, 2013).

There are only the different truths of different communities” (Blackburn, 2001). It helps a society in dealing with moral uncertainty, avoiding ethnocentrism, and promoting tolerance and diversity.

Another challenge concerning the Millennials is that a lot of these young adults are growing up without attending church. The Barna group calls them the unchurched segment and report that this segment has increased in the last 10 years, from 44% to 52% (5 Reasons). This is a problem because it decreases the chances for new members to join the church. The majority of people that follows a specific religion learned about that religion in early childhood. Students of human behavior believe that “The most significant borrowing occurs in early childhood. Family is thus an important factor…” (Wuthnow 106). If the number of the unchurched segment continues to grow at this pace, in the next few decades, this will continue to be a major concern for church leaders across the Americas. It is a lot harder to try to reach those people that have never attended church or don’t come from a religious background than try to reach those that belong to a church or have been brought up in the faith.

“A Worldviews give faith-based answers to a set of ultimate and ground- ing questions. Everyone operates on the basis of some worldview or faith-based understanding of the universe and persons— examined, or unexamined, implicit or explicit, simplistic or sophisticated. One way or

Living in Christian community is a necessity for the everyday life of a Christian. Without community, the Christian has no one else to “sharpen” them, no one else to understand the everyday struggle of living in the world, sharing the Gospel, but not partaking in the sinful ways of the world. In “Life Together”, Dietrich Bonhoeffer explores Christian community, and presents not only the benefits of Christian community, but also the toxins that can destroy the community. Living in Christian community brings incomparable joy and community in and through Jesus Christ, but can be easily lost due to humanistic ideals, or “dreams”.

The Dalai Lama once said, “Major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness… the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives” (Huffington Post). This quote by the Dalai Lama speaks to the issues of pluralism and interfaith understanding. Pluralism is used to describe the diversity of different cultures and how they actively interact with one another. It engages the differences between cultures to obtain a deeper, more profound understanding of each other’s beliefs. To engage in pluralism means to equally support, accept and participate in the decisions of various religious groups as well as placing a positive value on faith and practice. In pluralism, all religious practices are considered beneficial as long as they follow the laws of the state and do not harm individuals within the community.

When we study the lives of those who lived in the “foreign country” of the past, we learn to be more loving and compassionate towards those who are a component of a contrasting culture from our own. We may learn to avoid judgement on other people due to cultural differences. Fea says, “When we are open to using the past as a mirror that forces us to come to grips with our own flaws, we relieve ourselves of the ‘humanly inescapable desire to judge, and ultimately to be the judge, to be the author of our own story, to be God’” (Fea 134). When we learn to judge ourselves and pull the log out of our own eye before worrying about the speck of sawdust in another’s eye, we will grow to be more understanding people. This chapter strengthens Fea’s points in the previous chapter about unity through sympathy for those of a varying culture. In conclusion to chapter seven, Fea writes, “We need to study history not because it can win us political points or help us push our social and cultural agendas forward, but because it has the amazing potential to transform our lives” (Fea 140). Becoming more forgiving and benevolent towards diverse individuals, whether in the present or the past, transforms us into a more relatable and rounded community, just as Christ would hope for us to

Dean has written a disturbing yet thought-provoking book on the current religious state of America’s teenagers. The background research for this book was the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). This was one of the largest studies ever of the religious views of teenagers. Dean says more American teenagers are embracing what she calls “moralistic therapeutic deism.” In other words, it’s a watered-down faith that depicts God as a “divine therapist” whose primary objective is to boost people’s self-esteem.

Dr. Glenn Marin’s, Prevailing Worldviews of Western Society since 1500, contains principle views that have existed within the Western world since the sixteenth century and are explored throughout the text. This work was written as a way to perform sufficient research of the various worldviews by taking into account the various individual worldview’s particular answer to some of the most basic philosophical questions. In order to understand the text and the opinions offered, a worldview should be defined. According to the Oxford dictionary, a worldview is defined as a “particular philosophy of life or conception of the world.” Christians and non-Christians alike lack the ability to explain their beliefs in reference to the most basic philosophical

Whether clearly defined or not, everyone holds a worldview. Through life, travel, study, and contemplation, I have sought to clarify and substantiate my worldview. When comparing my beliefs to various other worldviews, mine stands up as logical and rational. Most importantly, my Christian worldview can be applied to contemporary problems and even explain many of the world’s issues. Though the Christian worldview is one of the most criticized, it provides substantive answers instead of more philosophical questions. After all, a worldview is only worthwhile if one can explain and defend their beliefs.

Having lived in their shadow, much of the religions of gen-xers and millennials has been affected by the decisions made by baby-boomers. One major aspect that we maintain to this day is the understanding of religion as a tool for self-expression. Religion to many people today is a personal choice closely tied to self-identity. Due to the ever-increasing globalized nature of the world and the interconnectivity of our daily life, many millennials deal with the same ambiguity and cultural pluralism that was beginning to peak in the later years of the baby-boomer generation. Tom Beaudoin, in his book Virtual Faith, points to many shared similarities between the baby-boomers and generation-x: a distrust of institutions and authority, a dedication to self-expression, and a sense of instability that both pushes people towards and away from religion. Beaudoin, however, in investigating the claim that genX was a “theological wasteland” found quite the opposite while studying popular culture, such as music videos and fashion. “GenX pop culture offers ‘virtual’ religiousness when it imitates or simulates ‘real’ religiousness,” he writes.

When most people hear the label Generation –X they think of a hopeless generation of youth that have given into the pressures of the world. I would like you to think of the X as the Greek symbol for “Chi” which is used as a symbol for Christ. In this decade the youth involved in the Christianity has grown significantly. Youth are responding to the church in ways that the past generation did not. Where mom and dad embraced the tumultuous sixties their children have taken hold of Christianity. The youth organizations that promote the Protestant doctrine have seen the youth membership grow by 50% since 1990. Catholic Churches have witnessed their youth involvement double in the last decade. The youth are coming from all

It is the youth who are encountering the most serious challenge to his/her faith under the impact of godless culture of modernity.