20 years ago — April 15, 1996
A new emerging culture shaped by Generation X is challenging the church. This generation born between 1964 and 1983 is sometimes referred to as the Baby Busters. “Church services are a ‘big yawn’ where the people speak in (archaic) tongues, and refer to Bible data to which they have never been (consciously) exposed. It’s all like an ecclesiastical ‘Jurassic Park.’ … So the Busters take their spiritual quest elsewhere … . Still, there are churches reaching the Busters, and rather significantly, by creating new forms which are sensitive to the culture of, and speak the language of and use music which communicates to, these seekers. … Still the resistance is great to such imaginative and creative ministries. … The mission to the Busters is there.” Will the church rise to meet the need? “We ignore this mission to our own demise. We accept it, with all the risks, as an act of missional obedience to a bewilderingly new and different culture.”
From the article “The Baby Busters: Are You Ready for This?” by Robert T. Henderson
