Can a Church Survive without Senior Saints?
I recently read in the local paper about a Church that was closing it's doors because all it had was mostly Senior Saints. It was going to ask them all to relocate somewhere else so they could do a reboot reaching out to young families! WOW! At first I was really troubled, but then I realized that many churches are doing the same thing today in a more subtle manner, they simply change the format of the Worship from traditional or blended to a complete modern approach, band and praise leaders on stage for 30 minutes of stand and shout praise and then a young, hipster pastor in t-shirt and jeans, knowing that for the most part, the Senior Saints will not be drawn by this approach to worship and they think that the younger crowd will. The problem is, that unless the church is large enough to hire enough professionals to handle almost every aspect of Worship and Church, the volunteers to serve are almost non-existent or at least not your long-term volunteer meaning they will serve for a while, but soon cannot stay committed because of job, family or other commitments. Offerings per capita of young families will usually be much, much less due to lower incomes and higher debt ratios for families just starting out.
There are churches that will suddenly and without warning, change to the new modern format, letting long-term organist and pianist go in favor of a praise band. Traditional song leaders are replaced by worship leaders and then the fights, firings and deacon meetings begin....So to answer my original question, Can a Church survive without senior saints...My answer is only for the short term.
The Apostle Paul told Timothy This about Church administration:
1 Timothy 5 King James Version (KJV)
5 Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;
2 The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.
3 Honour widows that are widows indeed.
The Apostle Paul knew that Timothy would need Senior Saints in his Church and that if he treated them with the proper respect, they would be a great asset to himself and to the Church.
So why will a church not prosper in the long-term with only young families? Because people grow and their desires can change, their energy and likes changes and what happens when the young grow into senior saints? Do you kick them to the curb in favor of newer, younger members? Do you see the trap that they are falling into? Know this, that each and every Church has what the Bible calls Liberty, to worship as they see fit and we need to stop disenfranchising the very people who in many cases built the building you are worshiping in and in like manner, include the youth in worship and allow each and every person to be uplifted and uplifting!
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Embrace this Liberty Church of God, but make sure it is liberty for all in your Church, both young and old!
M. E. (Mark) Rosson
