Wuthnow, Robert. After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings are Shaping the Future of American Religion. Princeton University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780691146140.
Meet the Author
Robert Wuthnow is the Gerhard Andlinger Professor of Social Sciences and Director of the Center for the Study of American Religion at Princeton University. Wuthnow is widely published in the areas of sociology of religion, culture and civil society. His recent books include Boundless Faith: The Global Influence of American Churches (read my review here); After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future of American Religion; America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity; and Saving America? Faith-Based Services and the Future of Civil Society. For more information visit his faculty page or view his curriculum vitae.
Book Basics
After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings are Shaping the Future of American Religion is a comprehensive sociological appraisal of the religious life of the 100+ million Americans aged twenty-one to forty-five (during the years 1998 to 2002). Relying on multiple studies, the book gives greater understanding to the present religious practices while also showing how they compare to those of the prior generation (those of the same age between 1972 and 1976). Wuthnow characterizes the current generation of young adults as tinkerers who put “together a life from whatever skills, ideas, and resources that are readily at hand” (p.13).
Compared with the prior generation, the current young adults are less likely to participate in religious services. Despite these changes, young adults account for approximately two-fifths of the members of the major faith traditions. The current generation is more likely to be in their thirties and forties than their twenties than was the previous generation. Given the increasing percentage of young adults who spend many years after high school before settling down and starting a family and in consideration of the limited ways other social institutions provide substantive help to those in that stage of young adulthood, Wuthnow believes congregations need to “focus more intentionally” on ministries to this demographic (p.216).
So What?
The second chapter of the book (p.20-50) provides an overview of the seven key trends in the changing life worlds of young adults that congregational leaders should consider before formulating ministry to young adults aged twenty-one through forty-five:
- Delayed Marriage
- Children – Fewer and Later
- Uncertainties of Work and Money
- Higher Education (for some)
- Loosening Relationships
- Globalization
- Culture – An Information Explosion
Consider your own congregation.
- What ministries does your congregation provide for young adults (twenty-one to forty-five) who have children?
- What ministries are offered for young adults who are single or married without children?
- How is your congregation proactively addressing the changing demographics of young adults, especially the growing numbers who are either single or married without children? What new ministries have you added recently? What new ministries are you planning? Does your church budget and staffing reflect this change?