Faithful Generations provides a hopeful and helpful guide to the different adult generations alive today, discussing the events that formed them and the issues important to them. Most importantly, it describes their spiritual distinctions the particular needs, gifts and concerns that drive these different generations. With a basic understanding of how other generations think and what drives them spiritually, ministers and congregations can not only avoid conflict, but also put those distinctions to work in order to minister more effectively and create harmony in our religious communities.
John Mabry has spent over nineteen years in pastoral ministry, and fourteen years in private practice as a spiritual director, serving people of different generations. For five years he edited Presence: An International Journey of Spiritual Direction, the professional journal for spiritual directors, and currently directs the interfaith spiritual direction certificate program at the Chaplaincy Institute for Arts and Interfaith Ministry, in Berkeley, CA. He has published several books, including Noticing the Divine: An Introduction to Interfaith Guidance, a textbook for interfaith spiritual direction. A United Church of Christ minister, John is pastor of Grace North Church (Congregational) in Berkeley, California.
"Faithful Generations provides an indispensable perspective into the generational differences that shape contemporary American spirituality. Mabry skillfully guides us through the maze of divergent life-experiences, cultural influences, and religious understandings that frequently cause misunderstanding between generations. An essential book for all ministers and spiritual directors!"—Dwight H. Judy, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Formation at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and author of Discerning Life Transitions: Listening Together in Spiritual Direction.
"I love this book! Written with compassion and humor, it is simply loaded with information and insight about the changing worldviews that shape and inform spirituality in each generation. I whole-heartedly recommend this book not only to pastors and spiritual guides whose flocks and clients span several generations, but also to thoughtful individuals who are seeking to understand how their own spirituality evolved, trying to appreciate where the new pastor is coming from, or shopping for a spiritual mentor who is on a compatible wave length. The book seems especially timely for Boomers like me, who are discovering to our chagrin that we are increasingly dependent on the younger generations for medical care, technical services, and spiritual counseling. With wit and wisdom, Mabry teaches us how to hear, trust, and respect each other as we walk by different paths toward a common goal of spiritual shalom."—Kate Elias, co-author of Out of Darkness, Into Light: Spiritual Guidance in the Quran with Reflections from Jewish and Christian Sources
