Will the
Boomers (ever) let go?
Face it, we boomers have all the power right
now. We’ve got the large churches, the
seats on district committees, the denominational offices and though we tolerate
some of the “greatest generation” around we don’t really take them
seriously—even if they are our DS. We
boomers run the church, the denomination and the country. It took us a few decades to overthrow the
values, tastes and music, of our parents but we are now firmly in charge. Here
is my question: will we ever let go?
Will Boomers turn loose the reins and let younger folk step up and
lead? Or will the next generations have
to plan a coup and shove us out to get their chance to pastor the large churches, head departments
at our schools, serve as DSs and denominational leaders? Nobody knows yet. The boomers are soon approaching 60[1]
so we’re about to see. Which of the following options do you expect the boomers
to take? Which one do you expect yourself
to take?
1. Cling to power until overthrown by force. Will boomers
hang on until they are forced to leave?
Will they hold denominational offices into their 70’s like some of the
previous generations have done, and are doing?
Boomers took over by revolt and their sheer size as a voting block, will
they be able to hang on to power the same way?
Will boomer pastors of larger churches defend the gates against the
younger and “emerging” rebels and even if they plant competing churches we’ll
hold on to our offices and salaries—riding our super churches over the hill and
down into our delayed retirement? Will
our district denominational boomers be able to hold the fort until they are 70
or 75 because they’ve re-worked the system to protect those in power? Will the boomers cling to power even at the
cost of the kingdom holding on to the very end when they have to uncurl our
fingers form the appurtenances of power?
Is this how the boomers will go out?
2. Hand over power gradually in phases. Maybe
Boomers will figure out how to hand over power gradually though (by power here
I mean our large churches, district and denominational offices and committees
along with teaching positions in our schools).
Our parents tried that. All of
us remember the stories of aging WWII generation pastors who were getting worn
out in the 1980’s and offered us jobs to “come on staff at the church several
years and learn the ropes then I’ll turn it over to you.” Will we try this—picking our own successors
and “training them how to do it?” (Our way, of course.) Yeah we know this song—we saw what really
happened in many of those cases: we boomers joined staff and killed ourselves
for a few years relieving pressure on the old guy who then felt so much better
he stayed on another ten years! I
wonder how many of us will try that same routine on younger folk? We, of
course, would retain the position (and office, and salary and perks, and
prestige) of the Senior pastor’s role but we’d “train” some younger minister
how to take over ”eventually.” Will the
boomers try this sort of phasing in transition?
3. Turn over leadership sooner than expected. There’s a
third possibility. Boomers have made a lifetime’s career surprising
onlookers. We started out chanting with
Abbie Hoffman “don’t trust anyone under 30.”
Of course when Abbie Hoffman in the late 1970s revised his chant to,
“Don’t trust anyone under 30” we joined. We were simple
Mother-Earth-News hippies that valued love and relationships and rejected
materialism in the 1960’s only to switch sides on almost every issue but love
by the 1980s. Will we do a switcheroo
on retirement too? They all think
we’re power-hungry and won’t give over the reins to the next generation. Perhaps they’re right—now. But maybe we’ll surprise them again and
we’ll become like Barnabas—stepping down from leading to serve under younger
leaders? Is that possible?
It has already happened in
at least one situation—a church in Ohio.
In 1999 Jerry Mitchell[2],
a 55 year old Boomer pastor hired a 21 year old youth pastor, Bob Beaty. Bob showed considerable promise and over the
following six years developed the confidence of the senior pastor and the
growing church that had purchased a 54,000 sq. ft. elementary school on 10+
acres. Jerry was a boomer at his prime
with a young youth pastor pitching in to help do the work at this growing
church. Jerry’s wife had been
experiencing a pattern of severe migraines that triggered thinking about the
future.
It would have been easy for
Jerry to cling to power and “start clipping his coupons” since he’d served the
kingdom plenty of years and “put in his time.” Yet, at the zenith of Jerry’s
success what did he do? He pulled of a Barnabas
switcharoo. He turned over the
reins of his church to his 26-year-old youth pastor and became his assistant
pastor. I am not making this up. Jerry still preaches 10-15 times a year on
his ¾ time salary but he also has freedom to visit his new property on a
barrier island in Florida where he and his wife walk on the beach. OK let’s be frank: you are thinking—whoa…big
problem here: a 27 year old pastor who has the 55-year old former senior pastor
as his assistant… BIG trouble, right?
Not so. That’s a credit to both
pastors isn’t it? And, of course to
God’s grace that can make a d4eal like this work. How many Boomer senior
pastors will soon be turning over the leadership to younger pastors and moving
the office down the hall? How many
Boomer DSs will say, “You know I’d like to take one more church before I
retire, so this will be my last year?”
How many boomer college deans, division chairs or Presidents will say,
“I’ve had my turn—now its time for someone younger to take over-=-I’m going
back to teaching?” I wonder how many
Boomer denominational headquarters leaders will offer, “You know I’d really like
to end up my life’s ministry as a pastor of a small country
church-with-weekly-carry-in-dinners?
Will we Boomers surprise them all again?
So, what do you think?
Keith Drury 1/18/04
[1] I am not a Boomer though I pretend to be one in my writing. Technically I’m just a bit ahead of them—I was born July 28, 1945 about two years before most generationalists start the baby boom. So all these years I’ve been criticizing “my own generation of boomers” I’ve actually been criticizing the generation from outside the generation’s circle rather than from inside it. However is almost all matters I identify with the boomers and have adopted them as my own generation—so I consider myself an “honorary boomer.” I am turning 60 this summer (2005) about two years before the first true boomers get here. So I’ll be their Joshua and Caleb to spy out the land of the 60’s for them before they get her. Thus this article—premature but relevant eventually.
[2] Jerry Mitchell is the father of Jody and Jessica and the son of J. R. Mitchell.