The Elephant in the Room- Gen Y

Millenials: there are various different dates given, but most people agree that those born in the late 70s/early 80s through the mid-90s fit into this category. It's a group characterized by many things, both negative and positive: tech/web savvy, family oriented, ambitious, team players, communicators,transparent in relationships, like to be loved. On the negative side, they've been characterized as narcissistic, coddled, lazy, prone to jump from one thing to another, and as having unrealistic expectations of life. As someone born in the last six months of 1979, I fall into the very tail end of Gen X, or somewhere at the beginning of Gen Y, depending on which dates you use.

 Last Tues. I found myself the youngest by sixteen years in a session on Debriefing. And the topic of Millenials came up: how challenging it was debriefing this generation, when they(we) think so differently from those doing the debriefings, most of whom are in their late 50's- early 70's. I sat there quietly listening to this discussion that went on for about thirty minutes, and came away fascinated by how disconcerted the entire room was with what to do with my generation: those in their 20's and early 30's who are serving as missionaries. They had some positive things to say, but many, many negative things. More than that was the realization that they just didn't know how to relate- that they wanted to treat younger missionaries as they had been treated, but realized that they couldn't- that there needs to be a different approach. It was really interesting to listen to their thoughts as they grappled with their unease with my generation. After all, my generation is the next generation of missionaries, so they, as caregivers, have to figure out how best to care for this generation. After about thirty minutes of heated discussion, I saw one of the Barnabas workers turn and look at me. I gave him a big grin. Later he came to ask me what I thought about all of it, and said that he wished they had taken the opportunity to ask me all of their questions. I guess they got so caught up in their discussion that they forgot that I was there. The one thing that I thought was so interesting in all of their discussion about how to reach us and the challenges associated with that is that not a single one of them brought up training up younger Member Care workers. After all, if they're having such a difficult time connecting with the next generation of missionaries, shouldn't they start training the next generation of Member Care workers?
    It was a rare opportunity to be a fly on the wall, and one which I think was good for me to hear. I think it's an issue that mission agencies need to be looking at: the disconnect between generations, and I also think that each generation should have the opportunity to hear how other generations characterize their strengths and weaknesses. I agreed with much of what they said, both positive and negative, but was a little amazed at their struggles to think outside of the Member Care box that they're familiar with. All in all, it was an intriguing experience that still has me thinking about what I heard.