Thursday, October 6, 2011

Can a Gray-Headed Congregation Reach the Next Generation?

I have had the privilege this year of visiting a lot of churches, and I’ve found many of them are dominated by people my age and older. Sometimes people from the church want to share with me about their church. Often I’ve heard them say, “Our church needs young people. I just don’t know why we don’t have very many any more.” Many of them have noticed that the attendance of their churches is not growing. Some are even willing to admit, at least to themselves, that the congregation is dwindling. Long-term members remember past glory days and wish for a return to those exciting times. I think there is good news and bad news for congregations in this situation.

The bad news is that the old days will not return. You can’t turn the clock back in the church any more than you can turn it back in your family. We may long for the days when our grown children were small, but wishing will not make it so. In the same way, we may want the church we had in the 1960s or 70s, but that church is gone. It’s the same place your son’s little league team is: in the past.

The good news is that God’s church is not in the past; His message and His love are the same, and your church can once again be vital and alive. Just like new children are playing on the old ball diamond your kids played on, there is a new generation of adults that the church can reach for the Lord. When you drive by the kids’ ball field on a summer evening, you’ll see and hear the excitement of the children and their parents and realize that they’re experiencing the same fun and joy you did. I believe it can be the same way at church. When young families find the Lord, they fill the church with the enthusiasm that many churches filled with senior citizens are missing.

It can happen! The church can again be an exciting place, but seniors have to want it to happen. Seniors hold the control. Whether they are “in office” or not, they hold lots of power. They’re usually major contributors financially, and they’re in position to make or break new proposals by vote, by their complaining, or by withholding their giving. You see, if the next generation is to be reached, the older generation must understand that the priority of the church must be to reach people for Christ—as Jesus put it, make disciples. To do that, seniors have to realize that changes will be required to attract and hold a new generation. And there is the problem: older people hate to change. It comes down to deciding this question: Do we want this church to grow and see people the age of our children and grandchildren find God’s hope, love and salvation, or is it more important for the church to be like we have always known it?

Looking at surveys and reports, we find that many of our churches have become a kind of club that caters to the needs and whims of its members, instead of the church Jesus commissioned. The church that takes the Great Commission seriously puts the needs of people in the community to find salvation ahead of the need of church people to be comfortable with doing things the way they are used to.

I issue a challenge to gray-haired church members like me to ask God to give them an extreme love for the unchurched next generation, and let Him have His way in you to welcome and encourage them to find what you found in Christ long ago. Then, your church will once again ring with excitement and be the lively place you remember and long for. The music probably won’t be the same. The schedule might be different. The decorations will change. But, you will once again feel the same Spirit moving that moved the church long ago and you’ll know that young lives are being changed.

(I suggest a specific way churches can reach the next generation in my post of 2/21/11 titled "A Winning Strategy")