For a while now it has been a stretch for me to think of baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964,  as a cohesive group. That’s a long period of time and there was a lot of unique history that passed in that period of time. I recently read some work on demographics and psychographics from Dave Wolfe stating that a generation is more likely identified in groupings of six to seven years. I think he’s right.

Another interesting feature about the purported boomer culture is that in many ways it was developed by people older than baby boomers like each of the Beatles and numerous others.

Age is a predictor of age-specific behaviors, but not how people think or can be reached. Eighteen year olds are always looking to differentiate themselves from their parents. Sixty year olds begin coming to grips with limited time left to achieve their place. But values remain constant for a lifetime usually. And our culture is organized by values and belief structures not by age groups. This is why you will get an audience range of 14 to 75 at a Bob Dylan concert.

There are boomers who really don’t like the contemporary worship scene. Some prefer conservative traditional music and others prefer the new U2 sounding worship formats. Their choices are based upon values, style preferences and beliefs.

If you are going to reach people at large you need to identify the segment you are seeking to reach. Identify values and beliefs that you want to connect with. This can be challenging, listening and responding, or stylizing in its approach but think in terms of "ways of thinking" not age chronology.