Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Aging Churches
Cerulean Sanctum has been examining the business/church interface for a while now. His latest got Transforming Sermons attention -- and mine. I want to use the same money quote TS does, and another. First the one in common with TS
The "old is bad" meme has caught on even within God's Body. Churches preach that your appearance does not matter and that age means nothing--while at the same time they kick out the gray-haired worship pastor in favor of the trendy postmodern guy who loves Coldplay.I have to be honest, I think CS aims well here, but still misses the essential point. Appearance isn't the issue in these cases, it's the perception that "the young are the future of the church." The media driven stuff that does this sort of falls into the background when you consider the real cost of ejecting the older:
- Stability. Older people are pledgers and committers. When you step on the "young" train you put yourself in a position where you have to continuly to churn.
- Wisdom Prov 15:5 - A fool rejects his father's discipline, but he who regards reproof is prudent.
- Scriptural Compliance Prov 23:22 - Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
- Leadership 1 Tim 3:1,6 - It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do...and not a new convert, lest he become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.
I really like the second quote from the post
What we in the church tell the downsized and unemployed is a contradictory message, too. We say we'll stand by them, but then offer no help in finding them work.Churches should be running ministries specifically to job-seekers. My father ran one for years, he helped people prepare resumes and CV's, he counselled them on interviewing technique, he networked them. Any church of any size ought to have such a ministry. My church is small enough that when I hear someone is out of work, I just go talk to them, but bigger churches need to organize something like that. I strongly recommend it.
