Why I love being Gen X
It's our time to shine, friends.
In 2019 CBS News compiled a list of living generations. It included:
The Silent Generation, born 1928-1945
Baby Boomers, born 1946-1964
Millennials, born 1981-1996
Post-Millennials, born 1997-present
Do you notice anything about this list? The internet did. There were so many social media posts and memes about a certain gap called Generation X (born 1965-1980).
For those of us who are Gen X, the oversight was only minimally surprising. The generational clash that so many thinkers and writers seemed to be talking about was between Boomers and Millennials. Meanwhile Gen Xers used their latchkeys to enter their empty houses, then opened a bag of chips and plopped in front of the tv to watch the battle unfold. In other words, we‘re long accustomed to being both overlooked and self-sufficient.
I don’t really mind this slight. In fact, I think it offers those of us in Gen X a superpower: the element of surprise. Everyone forgets we’re here until they need an insightful comment dripping with irony. But sarcasm isn’t our only gift. In fact, I believe Gen Xers in ministry are uniquely poised to lead at this time in American history because our lives have straddled fundamentally different realities.
We know how to navigate both the analog and digital worlds. I got my first cell phone (which I called the brick phone because it was ginormous) in college, and even then that was extreme privilege at work. I also didn’t access the World Wide Web until I was a freshman. I remember sitting in the computer lab at the University of Tennessee library, my mind positively blown by the concept of email. And yet, now I am pretty tech-savvy and web-dependent. Almost all of my working life depends on Zoom, email, and social media.
We are sandwiched in our caregiving responsibilities. I have a young child and had a parent who succumbed to illness two years ago. Both of these realities put me in touch with the needs of kids, parents, and those who are aging as well as the people who take care of them.
We are nostalgic and ready for change in the Church and world. After a certain age, I couldn’t go to church enough. I loved Sunday School and youth group (with all its laser tag games, pizza feasts, choir tours, and occasional service projects). There are times I wish I could go back to that feel-good age and place. But it is also true that I believe the Church must become more outward-facing. It must work for the thriving of all God’s world, which means getting out into that world to listen to others’ stories and to stand with them as they seek equity in structures, processes, and resources.
Gen Xers, the Church needs us. We can help Boomers and Millennials/Post-Millennials talk with each other and work together toward a shared future because we speak both of their languages. I regularly use this ability to translate experiences in my congregational coaching, but we all have access to this decoder ring.
Xers, it really is our time to shine.