Title: UNDERSTANDING GENERATION X
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

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.