As someone who has been observing and analyzing the church for most of my adult life, I find that whenever you find an excess, the next generation tends to over correct, much like a pendulum corrects to the opposite direction.
Let me share a few examples:
When the church became so focused on its liturgy, the next generation throughout all liturgy and became the Free Church. Both sides lost. The high church lost out on the vitality of the Spirit’s presence and the free church lost the depth of worship reflect in the liturgy.
When many in the American builder and boomer generations went to excess focusing on individualism to the exclusion of community, the next generation has swung the pendulum so much to community that they have excluded individual roles and responsibilities. I see this really come out in how each generation exegetes Biblical texts. Many in the Boomer/Builder generations read all scripture as if it only applied to the individual. Many in the Xer/ Millennial generations read all texts as if it were only understood in community. Each generation lost something in the over reaction to the previous generation.
While many in the Builder generation emphasized Bible knowledge/theology and the first commandment (Love God). Many in the Xer/Millennial generations emphasize living the life of compassion and the second commandment (Loving others). The older generation missed the importance of compassion and relationships and the younger is missing the strength of orthodox beliefs. I am afraid there are very many in our churches that no longer have a belief system based on Scripture, therefore they fall into relativism.
Many in the older generations tied God to County, sometimes losing sight that our primary citizenship is in heaven and that countries can and do become evil. Some in the younger generation almost make it God against country. Both miss out of scriptural insights. We are to prayer for and honor our leaders, yet at the same time we have loyalties that supersede where we now live. Daniel in the Bible I think reflects this balance.
Finding the appropriate tension between ways of thinking has always been more difficult than just letting ourselves continue to over correct. I pray the church has the strength to not settle for over-reaction and over correction. The over corrections leave the church continually out of balance.