1. The changing mission force is more global now, but in the United States it is also shrinking. This may partially be caused by spiritual factors in the American church, but it is probably much more related to the retirements of the largest American generation, the Baby-Boomers. Nearly every mission is dealing with a greater number of retirees than ever before, as the Baby-Boomers live longer (a good thing). For most missions, including my own, senior leadership has been invested in men who are nearing retirement age. Of course, these are men with experience and training, and with a modern mind-set that is more results-oriented than that of the post-modern Gen-Xers and Millenials.
We Gen-Xers, in addition to our small numbers, as well as the Millenials, bring a different focus to our call, but we also tend to bring more baggage, in the form of abusive, divorced or non-existent parents; increased addictions to images (a post-modern cliché most seen in the rise of pornography); different expectations from our workplace; and, for the millenials, the likelihood of changing jobs (career? call?) many times over the course of our life. I don’t believe many mission agencies have strategized well to address the issues that affect Millenials. However, I would love to hear differently. What is working well to attract – and keep – Millenials in mission?
Missions in Europe 