Dear Editor,
Your September edition was outstanding. The editorial on Christ’s return certainly spoke to my heart. Matt Paterson wrote a thoughtful piece on how we gauge success. America has been in the forefront of this movement. While not all bad it has toxic tendencies. I shared this article with my leadership. Bless you, en, for the kingdom work you do.
Yours sincerely,
Pastor Doug Dwyer Senior Pastor, Addisville Reformed Church, Pennsylvania, USA
Dear Editor,
Thank you for publishing Matt Paterson’s article on ‘visionary dreaming’ within the Christian church ministry. I didn’t know that training of church leaders included the doctrine that church growth was an essential task of their ministry, but it explains the puzzling attitudes towards older people that I’ve encountered for many years.
I research and write about issues of old age and give talks at Christian events and to faith groups and churches. One of the most popular is about engaging and enabling older people, and it’s been encouraging to see ministers who want to actively encourage their older members by teaching them that although they have retired from secular employment, their role in the body of Christ continues. Ephesians 2:10 has no ‘use by’ date.
Many churches encourage older people to mentor the younger and encourage the generations to get to know one another and bless one another: some churches have special-interest groups that draw people of all ages. A pastor of a new church in Wiltshire that had many young people told me how they prayed that God would send some older ones to make it more a balanced family. Carl Vater, a pastor in Orange County, California (where I lived for a while with my family) wrote how he inspires his older members, and blogged that ‘a church filled with seniors because it’s intentionally ministering to their needs and utilising their gifts can be very healthy, strong and a blessing to their community’. In some churches older members are very active, because they’ve been encouraged.
On the other hand, I’ve encountered a number of pastors who intentionally focus almost exclusively on the young, both in teaching and in outreach. Some say they do this because they see the young as the future of the church, and unless they bring in enough young people the church will die away. They feel that they are responsible for the future of the church, yet Paul’s letter to the Corinthians makes it clear that one plants, and one waters, but it is God who gives the growth. Also, as John the Baptist said to the Pharisees, God is able to raise sons of Abraham from the very stones.
In this context their older members are irrelevant, and many have told me that is exactly how they feel. But, let me add that not all churches are like this!
I think it’s sad that pastors are burdened by the belief that the growth of the church depends on them. It’s sad, too, that in the effort to achieve this many older church members are put to one side.
Yours sincerely,
Louise Morse Author, speaker the Pilgrims’ Friend Society
