Should the Church Target Generations?

Church growth experts brought marketing techniques into church life almost two decades ago. First they aimed at boomers. Now it’s Generation X. Some highly successful churches have shown that targeting age groups can work. But should it be the norm?

Yes, So That All May Know James Emery White The Chevy Nova was a good seller. Encouraged by their success in the U. S., Chevrolet began to market the car throughout the world. In Mexico and other Latin American countries, the Nova bombed. Additional ads were ordered, marketing efforts were stepped up, but sales remained stagnant. Sales directors were baffled.

Why wasn’t it selling? The answer was embarrassing: in Spanish, Nova means no go.

The business world is full of such stories. Perdue Farms converted its popular slogan, “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken,” into Spanish in hopes of expanding its chicken business. The results were less than desirable. Why? The translation came out, “It takes a virile man to make a chicken affectionate.”

Not exactly what Frank Perdue had in mind.

Unless we spend time thinking about who we are trying to reach, and then target our efforts accordingly, we will not be successful in accomplishing the Great Commission.

Conversation starters

Targeting is at the heart of New Testament evangelism. When Jesus encountered the woman at the well, he started talking about water; with fisherman Peter, his subject was fishing; with the tax collector, money. Clearly, Jesus adapted his message of God’s saving grace to the context of his listeners.

Paul shared this approach, writing that he became “all things to all men so that by all possible means” he “might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22). The New Testament shows that the message of the gospel is unchanging; but the method of communicating changes to fit the audience.

Hitting your mark

Targeting is effective. No single church can possibly reach out with equal success to every conceivable person. The church becomes more effective as it clearly defines who it’s trying to reach. No wonder that, from the first century, it has seemed to please the Holy Spirit to birth a wide variety of churches in order to reach a wide variety of people.

Targeting is a missiological issue. Every church finds itself in a unique context, a unique mission field. A spirit of exclusivity, or separation on the basis of prejudice, should be deplored. But this is different from acknowledging the people God has uniquely gifted, impassioned, and positioned you to reach.

Targeting is not the refusal to take the gospel to the whole world. Nor is it ignoring the diverse range of generations within the church. Instead, it is acknowledging the characteristics of the place where your church resides and developing your outreach accordingly. As a Texas pastor said to me, “We target baby boomers because that is Plano. To neglect targeting this group would be to deny the reality of our mission field.”

A wonderful model for incorporating such insights can be found in the ministry of Billy Graham. He seeks to interpret the Christian faith to the modern world, and within each crusade, to different generations. Biographer William Martin notes that Graham’s approach has been to employ “whatever techniques to hook ’em in, then punch ’em with the gospel. Whatever it takes to get their attention.”

The crusade team began targeting Generation X with a youth night at the 1996 Charlotte event. The rock/rap group DC Talk performed. “Same message with different illustration,” director Rick Marshall said. “This is not your father’s or your grandfather’s Billy Graham crusade.”

Let’s boogie!

The church can, and should, reach out to multiple generations. But this does not diminish the importance of targeting the dominant demographic of unchurched people in your mission field. We should discover how different generations best hear the gospel and respond to it.

Leading a conference in Florida, I stated that contemporary music can better help the younger generations explore the Christian faith.

An elderly woman, walking with a cane, approached me afterward. “Young man, I want to have a word with you.”

Oh no, here it comes, I thought.

She said, “Are you trying to tell me churches should use contemporary music to reach people today?”

I had spent 45 minutes saying that, but within “swing” range of that cane, I chickened out.

“Well, ma’am,” I said, “I really don’t know. Maybe it could help, but I sure could be wrong. What do you think?” I was hoping I had averted a confrontation.

She continued, “I want you to know that Mantovani is about as contemporary as I get—unless it’s a weekend, and then maybe Lawrence Welk!” Then she pointed her cane at my face and said, “So if rock ‘n’ roll is what it takes to get people back to church, all I’ve got to say is—let’s boogie!”

Then she added, “The church doesn’t exist for my needs. It exists to win the world.”

No, So the Church May be One Garth Bolinder It was the late 1960s. College campuses were boiling, and the Jesus Movement was stirring. I was sitting on the floor with a group of friends in the living room of a house church in a midwestern town. A gifted man in his mid-twenties was singing and teaching, charming the small gathering with his personality and “prophetic” visions.

His dramatic testimony of rescue from drugs and debauchery made the rest of us feel insignificant. He was spiritually earnest. He was charismatic, engaging, and he was radical in his teaching. And, as I’ve later reflected, he was partly “out to lunch.”

Woven into his teaching was what C. S. Lewis once called “chronological snobbery”—the tendency of a generation to think it has arrived, that preceding generations didn’t “get it.” This man said that God had withdrawn his blessing from anybody over 30. I looked over at our 50-something hosts, who had given significant financial support to this man.

Generational snobbery is still with us, but it comes not from the bottom up as much as the top down, as church leaders race to target this generation or that as the most critical to be reached today.

Generation-targeted advertising may be conventional wisdom on Madison Avenue, but I wonder if it’s biblical wisdom. Psalm 145 tells us that no one can fully fathom the greatness of the Lord, but that one generation can commend the Lord’s works to another, speaking of his mighty acts. The biblical world-view is trans-generational.

Old trees, busy bees

Generational issues will be intensifying, not diminishing, so we’re making an intentional decision to be a trans-generational church. That’s different from a multi-generational strategy, where the age groups may seek to understand each other, but from a distance. Just as an orchard grows best when its trees are cross-pollinating, vital churches of the next century will bring the expanding adult generations together to encourage the church’s growth.

This means, for instance, that we’re redefining what a “senior citizen” is. Traditional ministry won’t satisfy the Sustacal crowd, who still water ski at 60. Are these servants, many in the prime of their lives, to be marginalized because of age?

We just finished a major building expansion, including a children’s center. The general contractor is a gifted man from our own congregation. George is creative, cost-effective, and committed. He’s also in his mid-seventies. He didn’t need another job to pad his bank account (among other things, he owns a bank). His motivation was love.

George, from the “builder” generation, was out on the project every day working with boomers and busters, paid and volunteers, to help his church reach its community for Christ.

When a fire devastated the initial construction, the whole church was encouraged knowing a veteran player was on the team to help us get started again.

The need for experience and maturity leads to another commitment: trans-generational leadership. I’ve been on church boards that were primarily made up of builders. They have often been resistant to new ideas and growth. I’ve also been on church boards dominated by boomers. They get excited and are willing to dream “outside the box.” Builders may be tradition-bound, but boomers can be fickle and busters inexperienced. When the generations lead together, however, there is a wonderful synergy of ideas, mentoring, and spiritual refreshment.

Out of the mouths of youths

At a recent all-church concert of prayer, we had a remarkable demonstration of the transforming power of trans-generational ministry.

Our high school students usually meet in small groups on Sunday evening. That night they joined the adults. These students are younger than busters—call them the “millennium generation” if you want. Did they sit in the back of the sanctuary in their grunge clothes and talk about the latest episode of “Friends?” No way! They were up front, praying aloud with fervency and feeling, seeking their Heavenly Father in heartfelt prayer. Many adults were moved to tears and silence as they listened.

Jesus promised that he would be present when two or three gathered in his name. I wonder if he was talking about individuals or generations?

Central perk

Early one morning I was getting coffee at a local restaurant. As I was nestled in the solitude of my corner booth, I heard some young voices shout, “Hey Pastor Garth!” I looked up. There was a group of middle-school students, drinking cappuccino and hot chocolate, having a Bible study before school began.

As I went over to talk with them, I heard my name called out again. A group of retirees had come into the restaurant to celebrate a birthday. We all visited together for a few minutes. There we were, early in the morning, three or four generations of friends just hanging out. I’m glad I didn’t have to target one over the other.

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