What are they?
Well actually, they are all the same thing according to a New York Magazine article highlighted this morning by CataBlog (the blog of Catalyst). Essentially, these grups are people who appear to be grown-ups but still act like they are 22 years old. Their lifestyle is unprecedented, and in order to be reached, they need churches who can understand their unique differences. Perhaps you’ve met a Grup. Perhaps you haven’t. If you live in New York, odds are you have. Consider these excerpts from the article:
- They are a generation or two of affluent, urban adults who are now happily sailing through their thirties and forties, and even fifties, clad in beat-up sneakers and cashmere hoodies, content that they can enjoy all the good parts of being a grown-up (a real paycheck, a family, the warm touch of cashmere) with none of the bad parts (Dockers, management seminars, indentured servitude at the local Gymboree).
- This cascade of pioneering immaturity is no longer a case of a generation’s being stuck in its own youth. This generation is now, if you happen to be under 25, more interested in being stuck in your youth.
- There is no fundamental generation gap anymore. (referencing parent-teen relationships)
- For a Grup, professional success is measured not by how many employees you have but by how much freedom you have to walk, or boogie board, away.
- You see, it’s not that Grups don’t want to work; they just don’t want to work for you. In a recent Money magazine poll about bosses, 54% of the respondents said they would not want their boss’s job no matter how much money you paid them.
Could it be that the same methods winning over youth groups and college ministries to Christ are the same methods that will reach the Grups? Maybe. It depends on the Grup. One thing is certain; Grups prioritize doing what they are passionate about. They saw their parents work jobs and live disciplined lives that lacked passion. Now Grups are living the opposite extreme wanting themselves and their children to enjoy every second of life.
Regardless of your personal opinion of Grups, what is your church doing to reach them and develop them into effective disciples of Christ?
[...] Last month, we discussed the unique qualities of Grups. These are people who appear to be grown-ups but still act like they are 22 years old. We hypothesized on what it takes for churches to reach grups. Now let’s look at what others are doing to reach them. [...]
[...] As blogger Dino Demopoulos points out, “alternaparents” are pretty much the same thing as Grups. Yes, alternaparents do exist, and they are just another subculture that needs reached by the church. [...]