I am often asked by people about the types (or categories) of people who are starting to explore a more organic faith outside the Institutional Church. In my personal (and limited) experience I have found two obvious age ranges that appear to be dominating in New Zealand. The most dominant group I have noticed so far is people aged 55 to 75, both males and Females and couples with youngish children mainly in there mid thirties.
A new book by A.J Kiesling shows a slightly different experience of who is beginning to move into the organic church.
BACKDOOR BELIEVERS
Keisling breaks down the generations into five sub groups which he labels
Seniors (1926 and before)
Builders (1927 – 1945)
Boomers (1946 – 1964)
Busters (1965 – 1984)
Mosaics (1985 – 2005)
He states that the older two groups are more likely to cling to the traditional church and the sacred hour on Sunday morning. Predictably, the farther you move down the age scale the less resistance you find to change, including the decision to leave the institutional church (IC) for other expressions of Christianity. Young boomers on the cusp of the buster group may straddle the fence for awhile if they reach a place of spiritual inertia. Busters and especially mosaics won’t stick with anything for long if it doesn’t ring true or relevant.
George Barna backs this premise up by stating “The great interest in spirituality among Baby Busters is assumed to have led them to embrace churches as their second home. Actually busters have the lowest level of church attendance, church giving, Sunday School involvement, small group participation, church volunteerism, Bible reading etc. Busters are the single most disengaged population group (in the U.S.A) in relation to organised religion.
Little wonder then that alternative forms of ‘churching’ appeal so much to the younger generation among us. This trend away from traditionalism towards creative expression expressions of faith will likely only gain momentum in the next few years.
Taken from Jaded by AJ Kiesling (Baker Books, U.S.A, 2004) pg 42
