age segregation?

I was talking about the age of Thomas Jefferson (32) when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Well, Washington was 42 in 1776, so he might be considered the old man, though out of that group the honor probably goes to Ben Franklin, a whopping 70! That’s not old now, but it sure was then.

So, if this wide range intergenerational leadership team kind of got a country going, how are our intergenerational teams today? In the “dot com” boon there were mainly young. In the corporate world even today, skewed toward the older. In the mainline churches the denominational leaders are mainly in their 50’s and 60’s, with so many trying to get back to the “60’s,” “1960’s” that is and the denominations suffer. Without the younger leaders, irrelevance is just a step around the corner.

In the Evangelical churches there are far more young leaders, though many times they are challenged by an older leader who becomes larger than life. Vision and direction occur, but implementation becomes difficult. With guys like Robert Schuller II or Joel Osteen following their dad’s, you might be able to smoothly pass on the mantle, just depending on what your actual mission is, but the challenge is staying fresh with young leaders combined with the wisdom of the elders.

Age “segregation” may be way more the issue with leaders today. If you want to make race or sex a factor, it is probably because you want race or sex to be a factor. Having a good mix of life experience is important but also difficult to pull off.

Take it from this old 50 year old signing off...