Generational IQ: Christianity Isn't Dying, Millennials Aren't the Problem, and the Future Is Bright

Why is my daughter drifting from God? Why can’t I explain my life choices to my parents? When will my son get a real job?
Within the last several decades, the world has shifted dramatically. The cracks of this fundamental shift appear everywhere: in our economy, in our cultural debates, in our political landscape, and, most important, in our churches. The problem is we tend to overreact to these changes, fearing that Christianity is dying. We need better Generational IQ, so we can respond to the changes but not be terrified by them. We need a wise generational coach. Haydn Shaw is that generational expert, showing us the roots of this generational shift and how it affects every one of us. Each generation, whether it’s the aging Boomers or the young Millennials, approaches God with a different set of questions and needs based on the times in which they grew up. Haydn walks you through these generational differences and paints a vision of hope for the future.

From the back cover:
Why is my daughter drifting from God?
What do I say to friends who claim “I’m spiritual but not religious?”
What do I do with my kid, who is putting off marriage but not sex?

Within the last several decades, the world has shifted dramatically. The cracks of this fundamental shift appear everywhere: in our economy, in our cultural debates, in our political landscape, and most important, in our families and churches. The problem is that we tend to overreact to these changes, fearing that Christianity is dying. We need better generational IQ so we can respond to the changes without being terrified by them. We need a wise generational coach.

Haydn Shaw is that coach, showing us the roots of this generational shift and how it affects every one of us. Each generation, whether it’s the aging Baby Boomers or the young Millennials, approaches God with a different set of questions and needs based on the time in which they grew up. Haydn walks you through these generational differences and paints a vision of hope for the future.

From the flap:
Is Christianity really going to be dead in three generations?
Why is my twentysomething still in the basement?
Is it even possible for young people to save sex for marriage when they don’t marry until age twenty-eight?
How do I pass on my faith to my children when they don’t respond to the things I find most meaningful?
What can I do now that my child is walking away from the faith?
Why won’t the younger generations come to our church?
How can our church keep all the generations engaged?

All of these problems share one thing in common: they are rooted in generational differences. Yet we often don’t know enough about the problems to know how big of a deal these differences are or what to do about them. We need intelligence to help us sort fact from terrifying fiction.

That’s where Generational IQ comes in. If we don’t have generational intelligence, we overreact to the small things, ignore the big things, and do the wrong things, making our relationships worse. People of faith tend to overreact to generational differences even more than others do. The reason is that it’s personal. The people we worry about are our children, our friends, and our churches. Or our faith itself. The questions above keep Christians up at night because they hit us in the heart. The more we read about them in the news or online, the more frightened we get. It’s like we’re watching one of those scary movies where the girl heads into the dark basement, and we know the bad guy is there, because the ominous music tells us he is there. We end up yelling at the screen, “No! Don’t go down there! Run away! What’s wrong with you?” Many of us are doing the same to those closest to us, and frankly, it isn’t helping.

Generational IQ brings the best of generational research close to home, to help you find a way to dispel generational tensions in your family and church community. Generational problems aren’t going away anytime soon. We may be tempted to wonder, Why can’t we go back to the way things were? Like the young woman going into the dark basement, we can’t go back.

But we can turn on the lights.

Haydn Shaw is a leading expert on helping the four generations work better together. He has worked with more than fifteen hundred businesses, nonprofits, and governmental organizations. He is a business consultant for FranklinCovey, specializing in leadership, trust, and personal productivity methodologies, as well as a speaker and consultant with religious organizations. Haydn was hailed as a “leadership guru” by the Washington Post and an “expert on cultural differences at the office” by Time. The father of four Millennials, Haydn lives with his wife, Laurie, in a multigenerational household in Illinois.