Is your church an aging congregation? If so, consider your senior adults an asset, not a liability.
Seniors have been through hard times and are gifted in persevering. They are capable of dreaming again. Spend the capital to love them, invest in them, trust them and most will respond. Challenge them to see what God is calling them to be in this place. Be aware seniors can love, connect and include.
We must remember, it is not the change that is difficult, but the transition to the new. It must be said up front that there will be losses, but there also will be gains. William Bridges, in his book Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes, clarifies how these transitions can be made.
Jerry Chiles
Emphasize to seniors moving forward is not destroying the past but using the past to build on in order to reach greater heights. Sometimes seniors need to be reminded how on many occasions they have lived by faith and not by sight in their lives.
Examples: Families dealing with infertility or dealing with a difficult pregnancy, looking at death square in the face or saying goodbye to a child or mate. They have built churches, participated in mission projects to all parts of the world, dealt with a church scandal or a denominational fight. It is through faith in God and dependence on God they continued on the journey.
Another way to describe it is taking risks or venturing into new territory. Seniors have experienced more changes in their lifetimes than any generation before them.
A few examples: Horses to tractors, party lines to cell phones, shorthand and typewriters to computers, handwritten thank you notes to email, childhood diseases to vaccines, overhead projectors to PowerPoint presentations, in person meetings to Zooming, offering in the plate to giving online, filling out a visitor card to clicking on the QR code, worship in the building to online worship, and protected church time to traveling sports teams for children on Sunday.
Some seniors have chosen not to make these moves, but those who have chosen to move forward have done so to realize a better future. All this is to say seniors know about living by faith and risk taking. Tap into these situations and their resilience as you challenge seniors to be the church of the future.
Dreaming takes time. What has been your personal experience in receiving new ideas? Do you embrace them immediately, take time to mull them over, try to dismiss them from your mind, or wait until you have no choice but to adopt them or be left behind? Seniors are no different. Invite them to dream again. Most will not blindly follow but will follow when they can clearly see God’s challenge for them.
As the graph shows, some will be innovators, early adopters and early majority. Yet some will be late majority and some probably will not come on board. It will not be easy for either the seniors or the minister, learning together, but the outcome will be worth it. Remember most seniors “do not sit, soak and sour.”
The minister must be clear in his or her own life what God is calling the church to focus on. He or she must take time with God to understand the possibilities God has in mind for this congregation and lead the church to seek its vision from God as well.
God speaks to ministers and congregations. Just because something worked in another church does not mean it is the right thing for the current church. The minister must commit to the long haul and not run away to another easier situation.
Jerry Chiles lives in Raleigh, N.C., and is a member of Greystone Baptist Church. He has served congregations in Kentucky, Georgia and North Carolina, including 16 years as associate pastor for adults at Forest Hills Baptist Church in Raleigh. He has served a term on the CBFNC Leadership Council, the CBFNC Evangelism Task Force and BWIMNC Board.