A plea to other old guys like me

(Posted on the GeneralConference2004 site in May 2004 as older leaders began lining up to bash the younger folk who had founded the www.generalconference2004.com unofficial site to discuss general conference issues.

THE DIFFICULT THING ABOUT GETTING OLD is adjusting to the changes in the world. When we boomers brought overhead screens into church and projected choruses on them the old folk had a hard time adjusting. When John Maxwell introduced the boomer “CEO type leadership” into the church the oldies grumbled that we weren’t being spiritual enough. It is hard to see the world change around you and most old folk can’t adapt easily to these changes. Change is seldom fluid and almost always is accompanied by upheaval.  The early adopters in a changing environment are often attacked and marginalized—as are the leaders of this web site.

WE ARE NOW IN THE MIDST OF ANOTHER MASSIVE CHANGE—we boomers are the “old guys” this time—rats! The boomers now have all the power and positions in the church.  Now, here comes this new generation with different ideas about leadership, communication, and anonymity and we find ourselves acting much like our parents did—frantically trying to fight off the next wave of changes. While it is understandable, it won’t work. The Internet age is here to stay, and the coming crowd of genXe’rs and Millennials is about to get noticed.

FACE IT, THE INTERNET HASN’T MADE MUCH DIFFERENCE TO THE CHURCH. We still print up lists of pastors and send them by “snailmail” for each of us to reference like a phone book. The next generation can’t understand why they can’t just click somewhere online to get a pastor’s address or resume—so sooner or later one will put such a list online—probably before we boomers think of it. The same is true for General Conference memorials—we print them up and send them only to delegates assuming it is none of the business of anyone else.  (For boomers who constantly have mocked the importance of district and general conferences—this is true, but younger folk actually are interested in the decisions of the church.)  The next generations don’t buy the notion of a printed book of memorials sent to a select few. They think information should be democratized and shared with everyone. They expect to have total and instant access to everything immediately and can’t understand why we boomers are still so fond of horses and carriages when they can have cars and planes. So a site like www.generalconference2004.com  was inevitable, as are a host of other sites that will surely come in the future—just watch.

BUT THERE’S MORE TO THIS SHIFT THAN IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO ALL INFORMATION. This younger generation wants to process everything publicly. It drives me crazy—but it is the way they are—they want to ‘talk everything through in community.” For instance, if a prominent pastor or professor gets overtaken in some sexual indiscretion they reject the notion of a simple “press release” that we boomers have used. They expect a public meeting where all the details are shared with everyone present and it is “processed in community.” They want to express their anger, regret, sin, and forgiveness in community and don’t like behind-the-scenes keep-it-quiet things “managed by our leaders.”  This characteristic drives me nuts for I know of the past abuses of such public services. But they think I am wrong and so far I cannot convince them otherwise. If I fail to engage them and persuade them their plan will prevail in the church sooner or later. (By the way, many of them also plan to quit removing ministers who fall—but to forgive and restore them “in community” without removal from their leadership job—I’m also trying to convince them this is a really bad plan too—but the only way to convince the next generation is to engage them, not to bash them down as disloyal.)  Thus, when there is an opportunity to “process in community” the memorials going to general conference they think this is a wonderful thing and wonder why the leaders didn’t think it up first. The notion of broadly discussing memorials in the entire church in a public setting like this seems right to them.   So we have this site.

BUT