Reaching “Generation Flux” Part 2

 A question that needs answering when it comes to the elusive “Generation Flux” is:

How did we get here?

 A question must be asked in all this. If this new generation is called Generation Flux, than what is the older generation called? Leonard Sweet, in his book Viral, calls them the “Guttenberg Generation” because of Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press around the year 1440.  Before the printing press, books were hand-written by scribes and very rare in the world, resulting in the slow progress of knowledge. With the printing press also came the multiplication of knowledge throughout the world. With that knowledge came the culture of getting our perspective from “paper” or words on a page. The “Gutenberg Generation” tends to enjoy holding a book in their hands versus reading on a device. They focus on knowledge and ideas while “Gen-Fluxers” on relationships and connection. 

Interestingly, for some Gen-Fluxers, when it comes to spirituality, they gravitate away from the ever-changing evangelical culture that has been marked by heavy emphasis on evangelistic preaching, testimonies, extemporaneous prayer, and strong emotion,  They do this in search of what they perceive as a deeper and richer worship experience. Their image-based customs attract them to the visual representation and the mystery in liturgical worship, the sacraments, the communal element of worship, the focus on Scripture and prayer. These produce beautiful, immutable visuals which appeal to a small segment of this generation.

When things began to change.

When the first personal computer came out in the late 1970’s, the way knowledge was distributed started making a quantum leap from paper to digital. Today, people read books on their tablets and reading devices as well as research information on the Web. Even some of us older ones have adapted using our Apple and Android devices for speaking.

How do we reach Generation Flux?

Although much can be said about reaching them, we can only give some places to start.

Celebrate their passion for finding spirituality through connecting with people. Remember this young generation is addicted to relationships through media and not necessarily attending a local church.

I know this may sound strange to us Guttenhergers, but this is the way the Church in Acts began. After the proclamation of the gospel came establishing the believer through connecting with other believers. This happened when they went “house to house”. Making disciples does not simply classroom instruction, but living out life stories together.

The older generation can also come along-side “Gen-Fluxers” by helping them see the difference between hating nostalgia (the past) and learning from it.  Although the past is not a hitching post, it should be a guide post.  Truth is relevant to every generation regardless of culture, philosophy, or innovation. The Ten Commandments come from our past and regardless of what age we live in, it is still wrong to kill, covet, and worship other gods.

“Gen-Fluxers” can be helped by the preceding generations if we stop trying to correct them before we connect with them. We older Christians love perfectly laid-out scriptural arguments and well-reasoned doctrine, but this young generation is more interested in questions like: Am I loved? Is there hope? Do you really care? These are not just lovely ideas but questions that invite encounter. God is not some abstract idea we put in a test tube, but a living Being who longs to touch humanity. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Reaching “Generation Flux” Part 1

 

 Have you ever noticed that every time you use Google or Facebook something has changed? And more than often, irritatingly so because change implies abandoning the way you did it before.

If there is one reason why modern phenomena like Facebook, Google, and Twitter have thrived is because they are committed to constant change. They are always cranking out new ways of doing it. At the helm of these modern movements are young twenty-somethings who have redefined their generation. leaving older generations to scratch their heads in reservation.

Constant Change. They have been called the “Google Generation”, “The Social Networking Generation”, and even “Generation Flux”. They are today’s generation of twenty-somethings who are defined by constant change that is fueled by technological innovation. The “Gen-Flux Generation” (as we will refer to them for this article) are like chameleons, always morphing into new things so that they become like constantly moving targets. Not only are they constantly changing, but they are doing so while they are on the move. While they are walking, watching TV or (we hope not) driving, they fire off emails, thumb out texts, and update their Facebook.

Non-Nostalgic. “Gen-Fluxers” prefer to adapt to new situations than to perfect the status quo. To them, there is no status quo; there is only a process of change. The new generation of young innovators has been described by technologist Peter Diamandus as in “Permenant Beta” (works in progress). In other words, when it comes to new ideas, instead of remaining on shore, they continually launch out into the unknown.  

Always plugged in. “Gen-Fluxers” get their life perspective from multiple sources of media without even being there. Just when you think they miss a church event they will say, “I caught the pod cast on my phone”.  To “Gen-Fluxers”, the conversation never ends because they are always connected through technology. There are, however, limits to getting all your interactions, and revelations from media. Media can be remixed and manipulated to service unique points of view.  It also goes without saying that media can never compensate for the absence of face-to-face connection. Too much is missed when you are not together within the same time and space.

Uncertainty. Because of this type of culture, “Gen-Fluxers” must endure ambiguity with their lives going in many directions at once. They no longer rely on established business models that promise long careers up corporate ladders. So they become jacks of all trades with many spinning plates in the air. These can include more than one job, carrier, or business venture.

The uncertainty that comes in the wake of all the spinning plates is accompanied by instability, a vague sense of identity, and in many cases moral relativism.  

Next time we will explore how this new culture got here and how to reach them.

The Past: Guide Post or Hitching Post?

 

 L. Thomas Holdcroft said these words to describe the simple idea that all of us can embalm our history to the point where we ignore the present. What came before is important in that those were the moments we were formed, stretched, and received the seminal seeds of future growth. These things our past furnished for us are vital as a guide post, but never a hitching post.

Guide posts were used as signs for road directions. They symbolize the guidelines we all need to map our future.  

On the other hand, a hitching post was a post or rail to which an animal, especially a horse, was hitched. It was used to tie the reins of horses to keep them from straying.

In a grave sense, the truth should be a hitching post. The hitching posts are the eternal non-negotiable truths like the cross, holiness, or repentance. These are things that every generation must embrace regardless of their penchant.

We get into trouble when instead of the truth being our hitching post, we make past methods and traditions our hitching post.

Consider that the way the church did things in the 1950’s can never serve today’s media-driven generation. In the 1950’s, the only option to spread the gospel was to hear a sermon live or by radio. Media, however, is the way today’s young generation assimilates truth. They will get it through a pod cast, or You Tube on their phone. To impose a 1950’s method on them would only hobble them and in the end, drive them away.

Although we need our “horses” reined in, our unscriptural practices, unbalanced theologies, and questionable methods, a horse that lives tied to the rail will eventually die. When we live our lives hitched to the past, we stop growing, and become calcified in what was. This is why God told Moses,

“ The Lord our God said to us in Horeb,
‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain”.
Deuteronomy 1:6

It was time for a change and Israel could not move forward if they remained camped out on the mountain where they encountered God.

And this is our temptation, to set up camp around our experiences, traditions, and revelations,  remaining there until we become gaunt in our spirits. We even defend our camp, judging others who have moved on into their new history. This is how the Pharisees perceived this new revolutionary called Jesus. He was someone who was un-hitching all the horses from the post and setting them free.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1

We were created to be hitched to eternal truths, but never to the past. May God teach us to  the run free like the horse with the past being the guide post and eternal truths, the hitching post.

Forced Perspective - When the enemy tries to force his outlook on you.

 I once watched a documentary on how special effects were generated for a certain movie. In this instance, they made an average-sized person look like a giant compared to other people. It was very convincing in the scene and made the movie more believable.  The way it works is that the person literally stands closer to the camera than everyone else making them look bigger. It forces your eye to think the object is bigger than it really is.

Forced perspective is not a new phenomenon, but is used in quite a few sci-fi movies in the 1950s and is still being used today.

If you want to go further back, think of Israel during the 40 days they were taunted by the behemoth Goliath. Though he was a ten-and-a-half foot giant, his intimidation created a forced perspective among the children of Israel that made him much more threatening than he really was. His regalia included a massive helmet, a spear the size of a poll, and a giant sword as tall as a man.

I believe that satan uses forced perspective when dealing with us. He seeks to inflate and exaggerate the situation leaving us intimidated because we believe the false image we see.

One of the reasons why God never wanted Israel to create false images (whether physical or mental) was that an image can never truly represent the reality. It can be distorted and warped into something that is altogether not God. With God, there is something to be said about believing what you cannot see instead of living by what you do see.

Satan is a master at manipulating the image, exaggerating the figure of life’s Goliaths until, like Israel, we run into our tents at the sight of him.

For our forced perspective to change, our focus must change from Goliath to God.

When you know the unseen God is in charge, you begin seeing the trickery behind the forced perspective, noticing things as they really are . . . And like Dorothy and her cohorts, draw back the curtain, and expose the mean foreboding Wizard of Oz as a harmless old man.

“Jesus said to him,
Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen
 and yet have believed.”
 John 20:29

Paralyzed by Priorities

 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14

Have you ever set out on a journey to get something done, achieve a goal, or shoot for a specific target only to find yourself derailed? It seems like the minute you “press on toward the goal to win the prize”, there is something to disable your efforts. It often comes under the guise of “Priorities” - things that are “important” and demand our attention - things that eventually dissuade us from our true purpose. This is why Jesus said, “If your eye be single, your whole body will be full of light”. There is something about singular focus that pleases God.

John Maxwell said “Too many priorities paralyze us”. Think for one moment about the old lighthouse keepers. They had rigorous chores such as climbing the spiral staircase daily to clean and inspect the mirrors, and sweep dead birds off the deck who had flown into the lens.  However, their singular focus was to keep the light burning. Everything else held up next to that priority was not important. What good would it be to polish the mirrors if he didn’t keep the light burning?

A story is told of a lighthouse keeper who worked as most other keepers on a rough coastline. Every month, they would re-supply his oil in order to do the one priority that was all important: “Keep the light burning”. He had many come visit him with requests for oil. One night a woman from the village convinced him to give her some oil to keep her family warm in the cold winter. Someone else asked for some oil to use in their lamp. Yet another needed some for a squeaky wheel. Since all the requests seemed like important priorities, the lighthouse keeper could not say “No”. It then dawned on him that his oil supply was dangerously low. Abruptly, it was gone, and the light went out. That night, several ships crashed on the rocks and lives were lost. When the incident was investigated, the man made the excuse that all these other people needed the oil. Those investigating answered him with these words: “You were given oil for one purpose - to keep that light burning!”

 Every one of us has looked at our proverbial “plates” and felt that futile feeling that comes over you when you are overwhelmed. We become paralyzed by priorities that rob us from our true focus. We become lost in the details that do nothing but make us frustratingly stuck.

Do you know what your true focus is? What God has called you to do - that thing that is as important as the ancient lighthouse keeper keeping the light burning?

The Psalmist knew his focus, and everything else was secondary to that consideration. Nothing dissuaded him from his purpose when he said,  

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
    and to inquire in his temple.

Psalm 27:4