Presentation

I gave a presentation this weekend on Generation Mosaic, how to relate to them, and how to get them connected to Sunday School and to the church in general.

My research led me to a few conclusions about this generation (younger Y and Z): they are charitable and volunteer oriented (ideal missionaries), tech savvy, very sensory, well educated, and a little bit of everything. Problem arises between the generations because Ys and Zs aren't linear thinkers, as a whole. For example, when watching the CNN screen, Boomers will look at mainly the anchor talking and ignore the rest of the screen. Xers will selectively look at both, and Yers will see it all at once, taking it all in and not necessarily prioritizing one piece of news over another (do they need to, really? depends). Fast edit video and video games have contributed to this style of thinking, which is not a fault but a difference. The problem is that past generations, though different in thought and values, could still communicate those values effectively amongst each other, whereas the older generations are frustrated with Yers because they don't think in the same left brained, linear way.

How do we relate to them? through the 4 R's: being real, relational, relevant, and rigorous. Mosaics want adults to be authentic. Being real communicates integrity and helps foster trust, something they want to have with adults but don't readily have with them. They know adults don't have it all together, and they want to hear that. Gone is the 1950s Cleaver perfection.

Relational is what post moderns are searching for in churches anyway--a community. Mosaics are no different, except that they probably desire it more. My Space is booming with kids looking for community/relationships, and don't tell them that their "friends" list (known for a few weeks) isn't as important as someone mom and dad have known for years. Their friends are just as valued, even if they haven't met face to face, which is the beauty of Cyberspace really. So building on being real, establish relationships with these kids outside of SS.

Relevance--educational theory supports a need for kids to connect what is learned to real life. I know I'm preaching to the choir on this one, readers, but relevance helps those lessons stick.

Rigorous--this one is the hard one bc rigor has a negative connotation of stiffness and rigidity. By rigor, I mean persistance. Don't give up on these kids, and be rigorous about helping them iron out priorities. Helicopter parents have hovered so much that Mosaics can't make decisions on their own--they've lost their voice. Any coach or teacher is going to tell them that their sport/activity is #1 priority. Problem is, these kids are so overprogrammed and have let others prioritize for them for so long that they try to do EVERYTHING as #1, burning themselves out in the process.

Church, however, has become one of those things that parents put on the back burner bc God will forgive an absence but Coach won't. The rigor comes into play when we remind kids of the first 2 commandments when setting priorities and have them learn to make Biblically based decisions on their own through prayer and Biblical insight.

Also we need to be rigorous about making sure that they have internalized the Bible story/lesson. Workshop rotation is cool and exciting, but if they can't connect the science project to the Bible lesson, there was a breakdown somewhere (probably in linear vs nonlinear communication). Use KWL: find out what the kids already know, then what they want to know, and what they've learned at the end. Ask for clarification. Involve them in analysis throughout (What do you think is going to happen? Why did Jesus do that?). And, again, WR has its downfalls because of having a different teacher from week to week, but make sure you ask, "What did you do last week? And how does that relate to the 1o leper story?"

Anyway, a 4 hour workshop is hard to summarize in a blog posting, but the presentation went well, and I've been asked to give a modified version to a parent SS class soon. I'm on the cusp of X and Y, so I can see both sides and am sometimes linear and thinking and sometimes more right brained. I see neither as negative, but if we don't bridge the gap in communication, we're going to lose these kids.