Generation gap within generations

There once was a time when the nature of generations could easily be defined by when people were born and what significant events impacted their lives. My family, all baby boomers, share the experience of our first colour TV and then cable TV even though there are seven years between my oldest brother and I.

With the dawn of the personal computer and eventually the Internet, I was the first to adopt the new technology, then the brother four years older and finally my oldest brother. I think I am the only one with an iTouch. Technology created a wedge in our family – all of the same generation.

The church used to find it easy to differentiate generations and life stages when it came to generations and life stages: youth, young adults, college and careers, senior citizens and any number of stages in family life. The introduction of technology into this mix is further complicating things. We can no longer assume the homogeneity of any generation.

Check out this story from the National Post http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=1718858.

As I read it, my inclination was to think that the church has the opportunity to provide stability and continuity amidst all the changes. The essential message of the gospel is changeless and therefore can provide a firm foundation.

Is that a viable role? How should the church relate to all the change in society? It has to go further than video projection in services and establishing a website. But what are those 'further' steps?