January 25, 1996

UNDERSTANDING GENERATION X
96-01-001-SP

  CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Under blue California skies, Lutheran
students from across the country met Dec. 28-Jan. 1 in Costa Mesa
for the Lutheran Student Movement-USA's annual national gathering
for Lutheran university and college students.
  "'Generation Xers' must be harbingers and creators of new
approaches to evangelism," said William Mahedy, a counselor from
San Diego and co-author of "A Generation Alone."  "They are the
generational pioneers of the post-modern era."
  Mahedy said he disagrees with the negative views toward this
generation, which he illustrated with statistics on high rates of
divorce, suicide and violence among young people.
  A total of 339 students and Lutheran campus ministry staff met
under the theme "Prophets of Hope: Understanding 'Generation X'."
"Generation X" is a term coined by Douglas Coupland to define
people born between the years 1961 and 1981.  In his book,
"Generation X," Coupland writes about a generation of alienated,
hopeless and futureless people.
  The gathering program featured worship services, workshops and
a series of speakers addressing  different aspects of "Generation
X" each day, including a panel discussion on "Who we say we are
as 'Generation X'."  Brian "Butch" Peterson, senior at the
University of California-Berkeley, spoke of a "plug-in society"
from greater population growth.
  "Government and community services aim at fulfilling the daily
needs of a large population.  This necessity of providing a
growing populous with existing resources has created a 'get in
and get out' approach," he said.
  Laurie Larson Caesar, an LSM alumna, spoke on who the
Scriptures say "Generation X" is.  Caesar told a story of an
imaginary encounter of a witch with King Saul, reading from the
witch's diary.  "Each generation has its own calling," King Saul
kept saying to the witch.  Caesar told participants there are
parallels between their generation and those from very long ago.
"The Bible is a way of getting to know our grandparents of the
faith," she said.
  Participants left the gathering with a sense of hope from the
final day's topic - "Who does 'Generation X' hope and plan to
become?"
  Sean McMillan, former Lutheran Youth Organization member,
preached that "Generation X" is "the baby in labor" whose
familiar "womb" is changing into a world where there is no more
security.   McMillan said, "The origin of a generation is not in
the mother or father but in the mind of God."
  "I felt energized because everyone there wanted to make a
difference and make a change," Heather Embree, a junior at
California Lutheran University, said after the gathering.   "It
was refreshing to see that our generation isn't a bunch of duds."
  Following each speaker, students met in small groups where
they discussed what the speakers said and their own views on the
different aspects of the gathering's theme.
  "Many of the people in my discussion group felt they didn't
fit the stereotypical descriptions of our generation," said Anne
Schonauer, a sophomore at the University of California-Berkeley.
  The discussions were recorded and LSM hopes to compile them
into a publication on "Generation X."
  "There's so much negative stuff written about us out there
that we wanted to produce something positive about ourselves,"
said Kirsten Boyd, a member of the gathering's planning
committee.
  Boyd, a senior at the University of Colorado-Boulder, was
elected President of LSM-USA for 1996.  She said LSM needs to be
more intentional about telling the church who it is as a whole.
"I think we need to look at issues surrounding poverty, because
that's something we have not looked at before as LSM and as
students," Boyd said.  She also said she hopes to lead LSM in
drafting a statement on abortion.
  LSM-USA is an independent and pan-Lutheran organization of
Lutheran students at public, private and Lutheran colleges and
universities across the United States.  Next year's gathering
will be held in San Antonio.

  This story was written by Stephen Hovick Padre, the staff
  intern in Chicago for the Lutheran Student Movement.