Wednesday, March 23, 2005
God Bless Jollyblogger
This is an absolutely great post from Jollyblogger.
One church has in the last several years gone from over one thousand in worship each Sunday to a couple of hundred and a pile of debt you would not believe. They drove headlong towards "youth-oriented worship and cultural" in the church not giving a care for all the "gray hairs" they were alienating. The first sign of trouble was when the giving went from 75-80% pledged to about 30%. But the real trouble came when they had a crisis after several years of the "new paradigm."
The entire Session was under 40, and there was no one there with the slightest clue how to handle a crisis of the proportions they faced.
Amen David -- Your post officialy qualifies as not just good, but as utter wisdom.
That's why David is one of the bloggers I am praying for today:
So if the Bible honors the aged, why do youth and youth concerns drive the church? I'm as guilty as anyone in this matter. I love to be on the so-called "cutting edge." Years spent in youth ministry have left me with a fond affection for kids that I don't think I'll ever get over and I am an advocate for youth in many ways.I have had this discussion in not one, but two churches now. As the churches have made the change from "staid traditionalism" to "contemporary" and the wisdom of the church left in droves, I tried to warn them.
Yet, we've got everything backward. The biblical pattern is that youth are to adapt to the wisdom of the aged, but in the church today the aged are told they need to adapt to the whims of the youth.
One church has in the last several years gone from over one thousand in worship each Sunday to a couple of hundred and a pile of debt you would not believe. They drove headlong towards "youth-oriented worship and cultural" in the church not giving a care for all the "gray hairs" they were alienating. The first sign of trouble was when the giving went from 75-80% pledged to about 30%. But the real trouble came when they had a crisis after several years of the "new paradigm."
The entire Session was under 40, and there was no one there with the slightest clue how to handle a crisis of the proportions they faced.
Amen David -- Your post officialy qualifies as not just good, but as utter wisdom.
That's why David is one of the bloggers I am praying for today:
- David Wayne at Jollyblogger
- Chad Hamilton at Plaidberry
- David Moblet at A Physicist's Perspective
