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The Gospel for Generation X
Busters don’t want to talk; they want to respond. This is their great strength.
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Perhaps no other generation has needed the church so much, yet sought it so little. In Life after God, Douglas Coupland describes this generation: "Life was charmed but without politics or religion. It was the life of the children of the pioneers—life after God. A life of earthly salvation on the edge of heaven." Coupland is writing about baby busters, those now in their twenties and thirties. The surge in births following World War II gave us the baby boom and the huge, well-known generation dubbed baby boomers. From about 1965 through 1980, the number of births went bust, giving a name to a new generation with a substantially different mind-set. Sometimes called Generation X, this group has been much maligned and badly stereotyped in the media. I love with passion this generation, and one of my missions in life is to reach busters for Christ and to inspire others to do the same. Here is what I've discovered in trying to connect with busters. Buster CharacteristicsTechnically, everyone born between 1965 and 1980 is a baby buster. Being a buster, however, is more attitude than age. One important demarcation is whether you want to, or believe you can, achieve the traditional American dream. This dream includes a house in the 'burbs, corporate success, and financial rewards. As a whole, baby boomers pursued this dream, and many achieved it. Most busters, though, believe that the traditional American dream is beyond their grasp. Plus, they have watched boomers destroy their families and relationships while climbing the corporate ladder. To busters, owning expensive cars and homes doesn't matter as much as the feeling of being loved and accepted. Busters are fashioning a new American dream: to be whole, and to live in harmony with others and their surroundings. They would rather work to live than live to work. A career is a means to an end, a way to pursue the deeper things in life; it's not the end in itself. It is all too easy to generalize about busters, but here are several additional parts of their story: Pain. On the surface, busters can seem positive, even bubbly. But below the surface often lies pain. Close to fifty percent come from divorced and blended families. Many were latchkey kids who came home from school each day to an empty house and fended for themselves. This pain in family life created an aloneness, which is different from just being lonely. Aloneness is an experience of the soul: you are surrounded by people but unable to connect with them. The search for intimacy is a driving force in their lives. As a result, many busters are searching for the family they never had. For busters, family is more frequently defined as those who will love them, not those who produced them. Often, friends are more family than are parents or siblings. Thus, community—open, safe, inclusive relationships in which people help each other rather than compete—is the highest value of this generation. |             |
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