William Strauss and Neill Howe, generational experts define Generation X as those being born between 1961 and 1981.  If you wish to think of yourself as an Xer or not, that is fine.  Xer’s hate labels.  “I don’t want to be grouped with them’ people have said to me.  This generation used to be viewed as slackers, but it simply isn’t true.  We are doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors, law enforcement, and so on.  

Generation X was given as a label.  X was supposed to be a bad thing, but its ambiguous, much like my generation.  X is a variable, whose value is yet to be determined.  We are irreverent and ambiguous.  X marks this generation.   Baby Boomers may have started the suspicion of institutions, and Xers picked up on that theme.    

With regard to the Church, Xers grew up with religious leaders who needed forgiveness.  We had Jim and Tammy Faye and the downfall of the PTL ministry.  Oral Roberts gave us an ultimatum that if we didn’t raise enough money, God would take him.  Jimmy Swaggart had his share of sexually related problems.  Then there was Robert Tilton being exposed of wrongdoing on TV.  Finally, on the more local level, we learned of countless ministers and priests who crossed serious legal and ethical boundaries.  We found ourselves lucky if the pastors in our hometown churches weren’t a part of some controversy.  Churches for the most part haven’t impressed Xers. 

We have never had faith in the government.  Our political leaders have lied to us time and time again.  For early Xers, Watergate was the earliest political memory, then we cut our teeth on Iran-Contra scandal, and then we watched White-water gate unfold.  We got to watch our leaders spin doctor through the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings.  Then we got Bill and Monica.  Then gridlock.  Now violence and a partisan wall. 

College Education and Employment–these days an undergraduate degree is expected even if it has nothing to do with getting a job.  Post-grad degrees have become the entry point into the workforce.  Many Xers in the 90s came out of college and had to take McJobs, until a desirable job opened up, which in the recession was a rarity.  Many grads had to move back home—not because they wanted to, but because they couldn’t get a job that would help them pay their bills.  This led to two X labels: “Late Bloomers” and “the Boomerangs.” (notice how both references are a pun for Baby Boomers.) 

College tuition increases have doubled the rate of inflation forcing millions of students to take out student loans.  Their crushing college debt, coupled with a tighter job market, comparably lower starting salaries, and more unpaid internships- forced Xers to boomerang back home.  This is the first generation since the Civil War whose standard of living would not equal or exceed that of their parents. 

Family life for Xers was not represented by the Waltons.  Many Xers are from divorced or blended families.  Many young people because of divorce were forced to come home to an empty house.  That is how this generation became known as the ‘latchkey generation.  Many parents of this generation worked.  There were two working parents, which left the house empty, and the kids to fend for themselves.  The parents of GenX sold out on the idealistic dream of the 60s and began to enter the realm of the materialistic.  The precedent has now been set for Xers to own a home, and to do so we just about need to have two full time incomes.  We realized that we could spend an entire income on daycare.

It is hard for many Xers to have family role models.  In the old days, the father worked and the mother stayed home, and this could be done quite comfortably.  Anybody who works, knows that this leaves little time for the kids.   Xers didn’t want to be like their fathers, over committed workers who came home and then did work around the house giving their children little time.  We wanted to be better parents.  We wanted to be present.   Remember when expecting dads stayed in the waiting room and handed out cigars.   Our generation was expected to be a coach, in the delivery room, ready to cut the cord.  Being a ‘hands on’ dad wasn’t exactly modeled for us, but was expected of us.  

Xers were trying to work less hours and take more time for family and recreation—which made us look like less committed slackers.  The truth is- we wanted the time for our new families and committed relationships.  Many Xers put off marriage and family, because their careers were important, and difficult to handle with family obligations.  Boomers had it all, but it came at a cost.  With our parents leaving us to an empty house, we made incredible bonds with our friends.  Our friends became our family. 

We value popular culture like no other generation.   Boomers grew up with TV, but Xers were weaned on it.  Television was our babysitter.  Technology only nurtured our love of popular culture.  We got remote controls, and eventually VCRs and Cable Television bringing countless choices to our living rooms.  If we weren’t playing Atari, we were watching music videos on MTV (kids, MTV used to play music videos).  We brought popular culture to religious status. 

There was a seismic shift between the Baby Boom generation and Generation X.   This isn’t about laying blame from one generation to another.  Every generation can look on their formative years with some sense of nostalgia and some sense of regret.  Every generation may compare themselves with another…“Oh, you think you had it tough. Well, back in our day.” 

I am a GenXer so I can speak with modest authority about what shaped my generation. 

I am a pastor and so I can speak with modest authority about the worship patterns of those from GenX.   I look around the churches that I have served and I find that there are not many from my generation who attend church.   So…what are we going to do about it.  We could skip them over and read everything we can to try to reach the Millennials or GenZ.  But I think understanding where we came from, will help us to decide where we are going to go.