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Going Out With a Bang or a Whimper - Top Priorities for Older Churches
A Reflection by Gil Cann
Every church I know is concerned about its future. Consequently the members see outreach to children and young people as very important. "Unless more young people join us," they say, "our church has no future." They seem to believe that, above all else, ensuring their church's future is their greatest responsibility. Their priority is "survival, even if it kills us!"
This is a heavy burden. It is totally unnecessary and self-imposed. Certainly God lays no such obligation on any church. Churches are not meant to last forever. They are meant to be effective for the Kingdom while they last.
The days of church "as we have known it" are numbered. Much of our traditional practice of church is unsuited to reaching young people and equipping them to follow Christ in this post-Christendom era.
Priority Number One
Therefore, the first priority of a church with mostly adult members should be to reach out to their peers. Many of these will be ‘seniors’. Believe it or not ‘seniors’ are the fastest growing segment of our population. Soon they will be the largest! The ‘baby boomers’ are now beginning to claim their Seniors Cards! Amazing but true!
Churches are not meant to last forever. They are meant to be effective for the Kingdom while they last.
The majority of ‘fifty plus’ people are in great spiritual need. Relatively few have a life-changing relationship with God. Their exposure to the Christian faith is minimal. They are the first ‘been there done that’ generation. They are the first people in history to believe that total happiness is achievable in this life. They have enjoyed stable employment. Many have paid for their homes, received their ‘golden handshake’, and travelled widely.
Many are divorced, or have fragile relationships with their families. Many feel wistful, disillusioned, and superfluous. They sense they’ve ‘missed something’ in the midst of all their prosperity. Many are fearful of aging and death. So they busily occupy themselves with a wide variety of ‘trivial pursuits’.
These people feel lonely, let-down and left behind. They have experience, abilities and great potential. But they are only a shadow of the people they could be. Many are dogged by regret, shame and a sense of failure in the things which they now see matter most. And they are ill-prepared for eternity.
What a need there is for established churches to help these people find the forgiveness, peace, and purpose which can only be found through trusting in Christ and following Him.
This is ‘the cutting edge’, for traditional churches. It may not ensure your church’s long-term survival. But it will bring many people into God’s kingdom. Which matters most?
Priority Number Two
Priority number two is to invest in the churches of the future rather than the future of your church. There is a big difference! There are many young Christian people today deeply committed to Christ, well versed in post-modern, post-Christendom culture and well able to communicate with today’s young people and motivated to share God’s love with their peers. But they lack the resources which, potentially, older churches have to offer!
Priority number two is to invest in the churches of the future rather than the future of your church. There is a big difference!
Many lack encouragers and mentors – older ‘brothers and sisters’ who will pray for them, who will listen patiently, and respond constructively, as these young Christians dream and think aloud. They often lack money, and equipment. They need churches who will endorse their efforts, and ‘not be ashamed to call them brethren’. They lack congregations who will be unshockable at some of their ideas, yet think and speak well of them as they pioneer the new forms of evangelism and church so urgently needed. These young Christians are not asking for freedom from accountability but they do need the freedom to ‘fail’.
One of the greatest needs today is for established churches willing to take the ‘risks’ of investing in the churches of the future. This is ironic because, in actual fact, there is a far greater risk in trying to preserve the church of the past!
Investing in the churches of the future is really an investment in seeing ‘God’s Kingdom come, and His will being done, on earth as it is in heaven’. God loves this world. Christ gave his life for it. The destiny of this world and its people matters much more to God than the preservation of our present churches!
There is an enormous need for churches that are more concerned about the future of the world than about their own futures. In fact only such churches have any future at all!
Did not Jesus say (Mark 8:35) ‘He who saves his life shall lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake, and the Gospel’s will save it’? These days, this is not only true for Christians, but for churches too!
Gil Cann is a resource contact for ACC congregations. He is available to train elders and run missions. He is financed independently of the ACC by his work in Uniting Churches and other denominations here and interstate, but he is able to represent and promote the work of ACC Victoria. For further information see: http://www.confessingcongregations.com/resources/item/helping-equip-gods-people-in-the-uniting-church/
