An open letter to
Generation X

By Ray Meyer

Dear Gen-Xers,

I am a Boomer born in 1947. Life was sure different back then. This letter is to you of the succeeding generation—Generation X or Busters—born between 1961 and 1981—who are a part of the Worldwide Church of God. Time marches on, and soon your generation will fully occupy the driver’s seat. This is good. It is what God intends.

I came into the Worldwide Church of God in 1965. I can’t explain this except by the supernatural drawing of the Holy Spirit. I found people who took Christianity seriously—who had faith and wanted to live Christianity as a way of life—24/7. Previous to this, my mother, brother, sister and I attended church on a fairly regular basis, but for the most part, I grew up in nominal Christianity—one-day-a-week. My mother was not a nominal Christian, but most churchgoers I knew were. When I sensed God calling me to radical obedience, the Worldwide Church of God was a breath of fresh air, in spite of its flaws.

As I look back over the last 37 years (and especially over the last 12), I see a journey that has been both wonderful and painful. I deeply appreciate the wonderful values instilled in us—a high view of Scripture, obedience at any cost, faithfulness, tenacity, zeal, a desire to please God and a willingness to change when shown to be wrong. I also thank the Chief Shepherd for ironing out our flaws and the Spirit for leading us into deeper truth. This journey is all a part of God’s plan for us.

Part of the pain and grief of this journey is the departure of so many dear people from our fellowship—people we have known and loved, and deeply miss. I have experienced this pain, and I deeply empathize with the pain and grief of you Gen-Xers because you have also lost many of your friends. But the Lord is Sovereign, and he will work in every life as he sees fit.

In the midst of this, I have a particular kind of joy, a spiritual kind of joy. The apostle John talks about it in 3 John 4: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." I don’t think one can grasp the meaning of this verse until he or she sees the succeeding generation enter adulthood. This verse includes both biological offspring and spiritual offspring.

To all of you Gen-Xers or Busters who have remained on the journey, I say thank you. Thank you for the joy you have given me. In the midst of a lot of grief and heartache, thank you. You give this old heart joy. Thank you for blooming where you were planted. Thank you for making yourself available to God to help advance his kingdom.

Whenever I see one of you leading worship and lifting up the name of Christ, my heart fills with joy! Whenever I hear one of you lead in prayer, my heart fills with joy! Whenever I observe one of you serving, leading or proclaiming the word of God, my heart fills with joy!

Some of you are now leaders in your congregations. Some of you are now elders in your congregations. Some of you are now even pastoring congregations. God is in the process of raising up a whole new generation of leaders!

A couple of summers ago, when I was in the hospital in serious condition with pulmonary embolism, I received and read with joy a "Praying for You" get-well card from a congregation I pastored many years ago. It had been signed by many people I fondly remembered, and by some I had never met.

In the center of the card was a note from a young woman who was a little girl when I was her pastor. She said: "Hey Mr. Meyer, I loved you as my minister when I was a little girl—you prayed for me in an anointing and I was healed. You have been such a big part in bringing me to Jesus and I love you for that." Those few words brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. They meant more to me than she could ever know. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." Thank you Cindy!

Over the years I have known and loved hundreds of young people. Teen Bible studies, outings, basketball games, talent contests—many wonderful experiences together. I am saddened that today I do not know what is going on in the lives of most of them. But I am overjoyed when I hear about God’s children walking in the truth! Thank you!

These same sentiments apply to those who are teenagers now. I read with joy the WN articles about Discovery Weekends and see the names of teens and young adults taking leadership roles, many of whom I knew when they were children or young teenagers. I read with joy any article in which a young person is involved in serving Christ in our church.

Thank you, teenagers!

Generation X and teens, you bring joy to my heart. This is to let you know there are people out there like me who deeply care for and appreciate you and your faithfulness, and who are praying for you and God’s blessings in your lives.

My prayer is like that of Aaron in Numbers 6:24-26: "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."

With love, an old Baby Boomer

Ray A. Meyer ray_meyer@wcg.org

Ray A. Meyer, along with his wife, Carol, pastors the Kansas City, Missouri, Northland, and Kansas City, Kansas, Southland, churches.