Faith of the Emerging Generation
- By Sam George
- Published 06/19/2006
Sam George
Sam George is the Executive Director of PARIVAR International - a non-profit initiative to address the needs of youth and families of Asian Indian origin in North America and to the Asian Indian community worldwide. Parivar means family in many Indian languages. Sam George also serves as one of the founding directors of Urban India Ministries
www.UrbanIndia.org Sam George and his wife, Mary have spoken at premarital and family events in many countries. They are parents of two boys and make their home in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Sam is the author of the book “Understanding the Coconut Generation: Ministry to the Americanized Asian Indians." Check out this website www.CoconutGeneration.com Coconut (brown on the outside, white on the inside) is a metaphor for the Americanized Asian Indians. Sam George can be reached at sam@coconutgeneration.com
As a student of emerging generation, I was excited to read a new book "In search of Authentic Faith" by Steve Rabey. Subtitle describes the content very well - "how the emerging generation is changing the church."
What is the bottomline message - There is no single right way to "do" church for the emerging generations. What worked in the past or what worked in another country or what works among your contempraries across town does not necessarily work for you. One size or form does not fit all. The current and traditional church aren't cutting it for the emerging generation who are serching for more authentic expression of faith.
How does this and other resources like this apply to ministry to the emerging generation of Asian Indians in western society? I really do beleive that popular culture and mainstream generational trends cannot be overlooked any minority groups. They will affect one way or other. You are in a better place if you understand what is happening around your cultural landscape. So anyone working with Coconut Generation cannot ignore insights from these resources.
What the author does not make clear is his usage of generational terms like X, Y, Millenial etc. He assumes readers are aware of some of these distinctions. I suggest that you read "Boomers, Xers & Millenials" (Rick Hicks) or "Generation Next" (George Barna), before getting into this.
Books like this both excite me and scare me at the same time. It forces you to think outside of the box, reconsider your own theological understanding, draw deeply from scriptures, challenges your idea of youth ministry in our times and the frustration of why most people are clueless about these undercurrents.
