Boomers and Stickers in Church

When the West was being settled in our country there were basically two types of people. One type we can call the Boomers (no not the ones who put linoleum over hardwood), and the others we can call Stickers. 

The Boomers were the starters, the pioneers, the apostles if you will. They went wherever there was opportunity and they built whatever was necessary in order to get the job done and get the reward. The Boomers went to wherever was booming until the booming was done. Then they went on to the next boom town to start over. These frontiersmen were the folks who planted America. 

The Stickers were the ones who stuck around after the Boomers left. They were the ones that decided this is far enough. Ma and Paw are gunna set up shop right here. These were the folks who decided they would labor long and plant their roots deep. In and out of season, through boom and bust, the stickers stuck it out. 

Church planting is the same way. Like every town in Iowa, every church was started by a group of Boomers. These Boomers, following in the footsteps of our father Abraham, deliberately left their Sticker communities behind, tied their belongings to the wagon, and hit the dusty trail, seeking the reward of a spiritual harvest. And like any Iowa town, the Stickers decided to stick around and stake out their claim to the promised land. 

My wife is from a small town here in Iowa called Britt. And I’ve always liked their town motto: “Founded by the rail; sustained by the plow.” It sounds so tough. Like a sturdy lyric in a Johnny Cash song. But I also like it because it should be the motto of every church.

Here’s what I mean. Britt started, like a lot of midwestern towns do, as a train depot. And I think this is just a great metaphor for a church. A healthy church ought to be like a train depot. It should be a community that receives and sends people on mission to go and make disciples of all nations, from Britt, to Hancock County, and to the world. A church that is a train depot is a sending church. It is a church that has a vision and a pathway to send the gospel across the land. 

But a train depot is an empty place when there are no trains coming and going. It’s not a place you’d like to call home. Unless you're that kid from the movie Hugo. In that case, you kinda have to. This is why every church should also be a Sticker church. A church needs to also be a community of family farms. There needs to be a multigenerational stability and a long history of forbearance; that is, there needs to be a long history of bearing with one another in long suffering. There needs to be a living memory of seasons of drought and plenty, war and peace, winter and springtime; as James says, an intimate knowledge that God sends the “early and the late rains”, and that we are called to wait for them. Stickers are responsible for husbanding the land and the community, that by their good care and good work over a long period of time, the full potential of the place would come to bloom. 

But there are problems when a church only has one of these types of people present. If a church has only Stickers the culture tends to become too Eeyore-ish. Yes, the mopey donkey from Winnie the Pooh. The church tends to become too risk averse, set in their ways, and provincial. Challenges to the status quo are often answered with ‘this is the way we’ve always done it’ kind of responses. The spark of fresh ideas, the outward focus and the innovation the Boomers tend to bring is lost. The Stickers care well for one another, but without the growth the Boomers bring they care for one another into the grave. 

But a church full of nothing but Boomers is no better. Again, I'm not talking about people who wear white Air Monarchs while grilling. But I know you're thinking about those guys every time you read the word ‘Boomer.’ You’re not? Anyway, where was I? Yes, a Boomer church. A Boomer church is a Tigger church. There’s a lot of bounce, but not a lot of stick. Boomer churches age like a fine bottle of grape juice. You got about a week on that bad boy before the whole thing needs to be thrown out. Boomers are always looking for the next hill to climb and they always have their ear to the ground wanting to know where the getting is good. Boomers have a hard time waiting. They have a hard time farming the ground once the barns are built and the fences are up. And this is why a church full of Boomers has a tendency to burn people out and bounce all over them. The Tigger churches disrupt the Stickers culture but without genuine Stickers in their midst they just end up destroying Rabbit's garden. Without the plodding patience of the Stickers, the Boomers tend to use people to get ministry done instead of using ministry to get people done.

This is why we need a church that is both a train depot for mission and a generational farm for community. When these two things are in place, I believe people flourish. We need this balance to survive.