Methodist survey: baby boomers active participants in church
United Methodist New Service, July 25, 2000
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Baby boomers are often characterized as skeptical and rejecting authority, but they are active participants in the church today, according to a survey of United Methodists born between 1946 and 1964.
The Pulse of United Methodist Baby Boomers, written by two United Methodist Board of Discipleship staff members, found that church members born during that period were shaped by the times of their youth, are creating their own theology and are following the tradition of their upbringing. The number of baby boomers in the United Methodist Church is unknown, but in society at large the entire generation is nearly 78 million.
The study’s authors, the Rev. Richard H. Gentzler Jr. and Carolyn S. Poole, set out to explore the realities and myths of baby boomers in the church and to assist church leaders in creating ministries for middle-age adults.
Baby boomers in general make up the largest segment of the country’s population and are most likely part of a married-couple family, Gentzler he said. They also are in their “peak labor participation years, but many are not quite in their top earning years.” Another characteristic of boomers is their involvement in computer technology while “beginning to experience the physical and emotional changes that come with aging,” he said.
The study revealed that 91 percent of those born between 1946 and 1954 define themselves as believers and 6 percent are seekers. Of those born between 1955 and 1964, 94 percent say they are believers, and seekers account for 4 percent. In each group, 1 percent of the respondents identify themselves as either agnostic or atheist.
The study also found that 94 percent of women and 91 percent of men are believers. According to authors, the respondents were given options for gauging their belief systems, and the survey found that 97 percent of both early and late boomers believe in God as the creator, while 93 percent of early boomers and 92 percent of late boomers believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Both age groups believe that the church is the best place for faith development.
The authors note with interest that while 10 percent of United Methodist boomers believe “all people will go to heaven,” only 50 percent believe “only the saved will go to heaven.”
The study also found that 90 percent of United Methodist baby boomers participate in weekly worship services and 8 percent worship twice a month.
Many United Methodist boomers indicated that once they surrendered their lives to God, they gained “peace and serenity” while allowing their relationship with Christ to influence their decisions and choices, the authors reported.