Skip to main content

The Elephant in the Sanctuary

What to do with Baby Boomers?


One of my greatest passions is to see churches succeed and grow. I love church to feel vibrant and full of get up and go. I love churches that have plans and strategies that help it grow and be relevant in their own particular communities. However I do get a little frustrated with some of those fast growing contemporary churches because I think they miss the point when building church. Let me explain.
I have come across quite a few churches that call themselves modern and contemporary and are growing yet there is a small number of their congregation that feel left out of the grand scheme of things.  The baby boomers the 45-60 year old. They feel as though they are no longer relevant and feel that their own particular usefulness has come to an end. Why is this? because all the programmes, music and focus is on reaching the young.
Churches that just concentrate on young families and the under 18 age group, because they want to reach the next generation, end up with an imbalance in their leadership.  They do this at the peril of losing those that have built the church in the past, those leaders that are fast approaching that middle age 45-60 who were 30+ when they joined the church. These people now have other priorities, their children may have left home, they are looking toward retirement. These people begin to question not their faith in the church but their role. Many begin to step back from their service because they are tired of programmes and events they want  deeper more spiritual relationships with fewer people, they prefer deeper spiritual exercises. Many senior church leaders don't know how to handle the problems even though they themselves may be at the same age group level, their concentration is on the vision and plan for their church.
This for me is the elephant in the room or the sanctuary if you will. What to do with the baby boomers? How to make them feel comfortable, relevant and how to keep them interested in service and ministry?
The answer is I believe is that churches should be intergenerational. The most healthy churches that are seeing consistent growth are those that practise and include in their plans intergenerational ministries. Where all age groups are catered for and all feel included in all levels of leadership.
I will think on these things again and blog about them in a few weeks.
Watch this space.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The myth of Ministry Leadership.

The myth that all leaders are leaders. Not everyone who leads in church is a leader. I think it is wrong, for Church leaders to believe that those they train up to take various ministry leadership positions, are in fact leaders in their own right. They are not. At best I would categorise these people- that many churches call 'ministry leaders' as ministry managers.                 "At one level there is nothing wrong with title inflation; it is a cheap way of recognising people who work hard and make serious contributions" Jo Owen. I am of the opinion that this title inflation undervalues both the leader and the ' ministry manager' and can often bring about confusion and mismatched expectations. Many churches have ministry training evenings for their volunteers. Many use the reason for this training is "to make a person a better leader," when in fact the only thing actually happening is that th...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 1970's Christian Coffee Shop

I remember as a new Christian being invited into a Christian Coffee shop in the town where I grew up. It was clean and tidy, the table tops were all brightly painted in different colours,  but mainly yellow and scattered on top were a random selection of Christian tracts. Fish symbols and Christian posters proclaiming that there was but 'One Way' to heaven were everywhere. The music playing out of the stereo was The Bill Gather Trio or Dolly Parton singing Gospel. The crockery, was a mixed assortment of coffee mugs, donated by keen supporters of this outreach to the unsaved sinners and ungodly people living in the city. The coffee was a local brand heavily mixed with chicory. In all the years the Coffee Shop operated, I never saw a non-Christian go in and I never heard of a person coming to faith through having coffee there. I never really understood its purpose. Fast forward to today, when I was asked recently, to advise on helping a local community church open a c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Playing well with others.

Today's rambling. Looking over some of my old school reports the other day and was amused at how some of the comments, that teachers made about me have shaped my life and in many respects made me who I am today. One teacher wrote that I didn’t play well with others, I was 5 at the time maybe I had an excuse. Another teacher in my high school years, the wood working teacher or wood shop teacher for my American friends wrote; “If you value your life you will keep him away from power tools and other dangerous equipment. I can’t remember why he wrote this, obviously I did something that made him fear for his life. Today as an adult I have to say that I don’t do well in committees, for most of my life I have been self- employed. I have steadfastly stayed away from power tools and other wood working equipment, basically anything that can cut something off and is a danger to life and limb. Over the last 10 years I have been looking at and teaching about Emotional Intelligence ...
Post a Comment
Read more