Recently, I was talking to a couple of lawyers who were lamenting the intergenerational aspect of their work. Things have shifted so much in law offices that the older lawyers are frustrated with the younger lawyers because they did not think they were actually doing any work. The young lawyers were getting the assignments done, but the actual process looked different, and it irritated the older lawyers.

I listened, amazed. So much of what they were going through is also happening within our congregations. Work looks different. And sometimes it pesters the intergenerational tensions like a chigger just below the skin. There is something annoying and wrong, although we can't figure out just what it is. Older generations of people cannot point to anything that their younger pastor is not doing. In fact, the church might even be growing, but there is a difference in the manner in which she is getting it done that vexes them.

What are the shifts that are occurring? What is causing the tensions? ...