OMG! How Generation Y Is Redefining Faith in the iPod Era. - Circle

Conclusion
The goal of this survey was to gain a more nuanced understanding of a generation and its relationship to
faith, identity, and community. Any such report is inevitably going to raise more questions that answer.
Indeed, those answers may not be known for several decades. However, through our own organizing,
and in building a coalition of active partners while working on this report, we have had our eyes opened
to some remarkable projects that may just offer a glimmer of the changes that need to occur to offer this
generation -- especially members of the “Undecided middle”-- meaning and community on its own terms.
We present them here as Five action steps we have derived from OMG! How Generation Y is Redefi ning
Faith in the iPod Era:
1. There are no silver bullets: The world around us is changing exponentially, and our audiences
have complex needs. There are no quick fi xes that can solve all of our challenges in one try.
Building an approach that offers a range of offerings incorporating a mix of content and formats
will be most effective. The post-evangelical Emerging Church movement is a model example. They
use a slew of materials to trigger grassroots conversations that cast the net of renewal as widely
as possible. For more information, visit www.emergentvillage.org.
2. Support experimentation: New social and cultural conditions demand new approaches and new
paradigms that are often the very opposite of the tried and true. Create opportunities for funders to
learn about and actively support new models and the innovators behind them. Grand Street is one
such example – a growing network of young family foundation board members examining issues
of Jewish identity and communal change. For more information, visit www.2164.net.
3. The Power of Culture: Do not underestimate the power of culture – music, DVD’s, the written word
– as a mechanism to distribute and convey meaning through personal networks as opposed to
institutional membership. Just ask Mel Gibson about the power of fi lm, the followers of the Hassidic
Jewish Reggae crossover act Mattisyahu, the founders of Skate Street in Ventura California about
the ability of a skate board park to act as a ministry, or examine the extended reach books, journals
and publications that have provided for cultural and political enterprises like McSweeney’s and
Moveon.org.
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How Generation Y Is Redefining Faith In The iPod Era