As we find ourselves regarding those people who are Church more often than not we encounter the 'seasons' approach. Spring is full of potential and promise and how we move into Summer with all the blooming and the energy and activity. Summer starts to fade and we see a decline in energy and the wonderful displays turn to something just a little less than the whole that is Autumn. The hint of decline picks up and soon we come to Winter where all is barren and the once flower-filled fields and displays are now nothing but leafless, unproductive and seemingly lifeless creations.
The church is full of older people and this week, talking with someone from another denomination, I heard tales of multiple congregations of older folk with the average age of the congregations in the late sixties, early seventies group. Tales of (terminal) decline and more funerals than baptisms were, to be honest, pretty depressing and the saddest thing was that everything I heard supported the missioner's cry:
"Churches die old but grow young!"
The saddest thing was that this conversation, when joined to a couple of other conversations, painted a picture of people who came to 'their' church and were now just 'waiting for God'. In each and every conversation there were churches which were full of people who had once done and were now 'too old'. Not only that but they were 'too old' to let others come in and make the church vibrant and effective in their communities for as much as they longed for growth and new blood, they wanted church to continue to exist as they had known it and as they wanted church to be.
We have a group for the older people running in the church I belong to. The organisers recruit, support and manage the sessions without any input from the mainstream church. They put out the tables, book the speakers, do the catering and wash-up afterwards. The interesting thing is that those who run the group are, to quote one of the members, 'No Spring chickens'.
I travel to a good many places where I see the older people organising and doing in the church and community and this is something that I think we are missing because we fail to mobilise and engage the older members. After all, many of them have been sitting in their pews or seats for a good many years and know what Church looks like (although they don't always seem to have heard or read the majority of the Bible and many struggle to get into prayer and daily study of the word for themselves (perhaps because they haven't been taught to?).
A couple of points to take on board:
1. Children are not tomorrow's Church, they are the Church of today!
2. Older folk are not yesterday's Church, they too are the Church of today too!
A simple clue as to when you are too old to be doing stuff in Church are the words 'earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust'. When these have been said over you then it's O.K. to consider stopping doing things in Church (and start considering worshipping before the throne).
But until then - if you're breathing then you're still available to do a job.
Open your arms to new members, make the church inviting (and this means having an inviting congregation) and be willing to try different stuff - after all, the wrinklies that were around when you started at church probably thought you were outrageous too!
Postscript
The term '*oldies' is one that I keep coming across in some quarters. One of the reasons for this is perhaps the magazine that bears its name and perhaps it is this that now sees many older people referring to themselves as such.
"Wrinklies' is a term used by someone in their early seventies who mentioned how when they joined the church many, many, many years ago the older folk, whom they referred to as 'wrinklies' were in fact probably much younger than they are now. It emphasises (for me at least) the fact that we are all tomorrow's older church members.
HTH and apologies for any offence that might be caused by the terms.
5 comments:
As one of the people you describe, I agree with almost all you say but not the use of the words "oldies" and "wrinklies".
These may be an accurate description, but they are not kind, and they are used very often in a derisory way.
I work (hang around) our parish church three mornings a week, sing in the choir and am involved in any of the projects which interest me.
All the other (and there are dozens), volunteers are of hugely mixed abilities and ages, but none would ever describe we more mature ones in your terminology.
Oddly, many I meet who are now older folk remember when those who they thought of as 'wrinklies' (their term) were actually younger than they are now
I understand what you are saying but the point is that we need to remember how we regarded the older members and try not live up to it.
Sorry if terms troubled you - not intention - but this is what we need to be aware of and work within
Ray,
Taking you points on board I have added a postscript.
Thanks for the comments,
V
In our Benefice, the majority of active volunteers (to coin a phrase) are in their late sixties or early seventies. One church warden is in his eighties (doesn't look older than mid-fifties). They fill all of the appointments such as Church Warden, treasurer, sit on the PCC and even in the Choir. Their service is valued and respected, and they eagerly await someone stepping up to the plate t succeed them - so far, nobody younger appears willing.
I at 62 am regarded as a youngster amongst them. Although I've picked up a Benefice Treasurer role, I have been fortunate to allow to do different things from the traditional roles. Which gives me cause for joy, is a privilege and something I value highly.
We have younger people doing stuff, mainly running our very active youth group and an excellent job they do to - we've not got a younger (40'ish) ALM and another one about to start training.
There are many others doing stuff in the background. Young mums running their own 'pram' group started by the Curate, but now standing on it's own two feet.
There are several house groups, a bring and share group (women only) and we just lack a Man's group, but that might be something we can develop in the future.
We had a really successful All Age family service last weekend, where it was a privilege to share with young and old, to have activities that we could all appreciate and join in - no embarrassing moments and fun as well.
We see distinct congregations in our worship An 8am BCP Congregation. A Family Service congregation and a Sung Eucharist congregation. We join together once a month for a Benefice Eucharist, which occasionally changes to a special service to celebrate something. These are well attended, but given the dispersal of our 5 parishes, and a rural setting, not all can travel across the benefice every time.
I believe that we need to involve more people, but the mission imperative is to reach others, outside the 'churched' rather than those already inside. But we neglect existing members at our peril.
Clergy and PCC's tread a fine line between maintaining and increasing. Growth and discipleship are great buzz words at Diocese and even Deanery, but the day to day grind can make them seem distant and unachievable in a busy parish.
Somewhere we need to empower more to fill vital roles to free up Clergy to more leadership and visionary roles - sure they remain central to our parish life, but when they bogged down with admin, that becomes the daily grind rather than their primary role of bring the Gospel anew to us all.
We
Thanks for observations - good points indeed,
V
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