Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion

Written with a 'hands on' approach, Spiritual Marketplace takes the reader on a exploration of what drives America's faith. The classic Catholic & Protestant models no longer seem to be working the way the used to. And yet Americans continue to identify with some sort of faith. The latest trend of describing oneself as 'spiritual not religious' is reflected in a market which prusues and explores alternatives to traditions that no longer seem to fit today's lifestyle. Roof offers great insights. The book keeps the reader engrossed and curious. Definitely worth the investment.

Baby Boomers have hit the empty nest stage of their lives with a bang! For decades marketers and ministers have tried to understand how to reach out to Baby Boomers. With the advent of the empty nest stage of the lives of Boomers where often they function as a sandwich generation between aging parents and their children who are struggling to be adults, another great opportunity has presented itself. Therefore, as one who feels that congregations and parachurch ministries need to include intentional ministry to persons in the empty nest stage of their adult lives, I find this book to be valuable.This book charts the emergence of five subcultures of Boomers: dogmatists, Born-again Christians, mainstream believers, metaphysical believers and seekers, and secularists. The value of this book is in its ability to provide you with an understanding of these five subcultures that is not based on shallow, pop research, but on in-depth suveys and interviews over a ten-year period.One of the changes going on in Baby Boomers connections with congregations is that long-term loyal adults are dropping out when they become empty nesters, and those who left during their twenties and have not yet come back to a congregational community are now coming back as empty nesters. However, those who are coming back often find that congregations are not looking for them. They are looking for young adults, single adults, and senior adults.

This book both informed and affirmed something inside me. By calling the book the spiritual marketplace instead of the religious marketplace, the author immediately reveals the issues for a generation raised on modernity, but which nonetheless knows when it is spiritually hungry. It is almosts too simplistic to equate spirituality with inner experience and religion to outward beliefs, but it's good for a starter. The search culture seems to opt for community based on common inner experience rather than on "truth once revealed". A case in point is a cohort of "born again" boomers whose inner experience draws them into fellowship, but whose modern views shock the old guard who still equate spiritual fullfillment with a proper set of beliefs. Roof's findings make me cheer for the human spirit, the compass of which will always point north when distractions are out of the way. By listening to the stories and the data in Roof's book, I feel more hope that we really CAN find our way home.