Ministry to Baby Boomers: NOT the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever!

What this “Baby Boomer” Senior Pastor learned at a CASA Network Leadership Conference.

Joe Boerman

Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center

I am a “Baby Boomer.” This means that I was born between 1946 and 1964. I care about my generation, many of whom are still hoping to have lived a life of significance before they die. As my generation transitions into our senior adult years, I have a lot of questions (and fewer answers) about what it will take to reach them for Christ. So it was in an effort to get some answers that I recently attended the annual gathering of CASA, an organization that researches and strategizes ministry for senior adults. What I have learned is impacting the way our church thinks about senior adult ministry in the near future.

Our church, like many others, has an active senior adult ministry that features a weekly Bible study, regularly scheduled outings and a system of caring for the needs of the group. Those who are currently 65 years old or better have enjoyed being part of the group. In recent years, however, our senior adult pastor has bemoaned the fact that he can’t get any of the “younger seniors,” ages 55-65, to participate. I went to CASA hoping to learn some new methods for getting younger boomers to join this senior adult group.

What I learned is that we need to quit trying. Boomers have never been joiners, and they aren’t about to start now. The next generation of senior adult ministry will look different than it has in the past few decades. The Baby Boomer generation does not want to be singled out or given a special based-on-age category. It’s likely they never will.

Because of what we believe to be true about Boomers, this is how our church plans to reach them:

• We will plan special felt-need training opportunities (groups/forums) for this age group, but let them self-select in participating. We will not market these opportunities as geared for a specific age group.
• Our current senior adult pastor will continue to focus attention on his group of 65+ year-olds, and no longer be concerned with getting younger Boomers to join them.
• A new staff person will be recruited to focus on reaching the Boomer generation, but his/her primary role will be one-on-one relationships rather than group oriented.
• Baby Boomers have much to offer the kingdom, including knowledge, leadership, experience, and inherited wealth. They want to be particularized and given specific roles that fit their gifting and position in life. They still believe they can change the world and will keep trying to do it. They need BIG challenges. Don’t even think about giving them small, insignificant roles. They can smell condescension a mile away.
• We will work with Boomers one-on-one, recruiting them to significant ministry opportunities.
• We will raise the bar high in what we expect of them, making sure to paint the picture of how their ministry will change lives.
• We will train our staff and lay leaders in how to particularize for Boomers.
• We will encourage our paid ministry staff to read a current book on how best to empower Boomers.
• We will recruit a core of “volunteer staff” positions from this age group, with office space and opportunities for enrichment given to them.
• In 2010 we will create a “Boomer Think Tank” made up of eight to ten Boomers to cast vision and strategize how best to do ministry with their own age group.
• We will use this age group to help us bridge the gap between the Gen X and older Sages in our church, hopefully minimizing the harmful effect the “generation gap” had on ministry a few decades ago.

We have much to learn, and we know we need to learn it quickly. The opportunity has already arrived. Few churches are addressing it. It is my belief that for many churches to be able to thrive in the next 20 years, they will need to become excellent in reaching Boomers for Christ. To do so will take some collaborative and creative thinking. The reward for those who do it well will be enormous.

Joe Boerman has been the senior pastor at Immanuel Church, Gurnee, Ill., since 1989.