Pastoring the Aging Church
Aging is no simple matter. At one end of life, a year’s passage ignites celebration and signals newfound freedom; on the other, it signals the difficult, inevitable nearing of the end.
If we focus on this latter end, we observe that aging reaches a point where forgetfulness, unpleasant physicals, and a decline in efficiency become regular experiences. The elderly have their own jargon (geriatrics), institutions (assisted/retirement living communities), and voting bloc (“65 and older”). And though people age differently physically and emotionally, they wake up and realize at some point, “I have more days behind me than ahead of me.”
While aging itself is normal, the elderly are often relegated to the margins, perceived as irrelevant to societal progress. The American intrigue with the new and innovative sets society’s elder members at odds with the spirit of the age. Unfortunately, the church isn’t immune from this perspective.
Evangelical literature seldom features the spiritual significance of aging,[1] aside from the occasional stewardship ads or notifications of significant deaths. The majority of ministry programs focus on the concerns and interests of children and younger families. By extension, these depend upon the energies and gifts of such groups to fuel these programs’ operations.
However, in recent years many have observed that North American churches are predominantly comprised of elderly persons. This isn’t difficult to imagine when we consider larger societal trends. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, America’s elderly population (those over 65 years of age) will more than double in size to 80 million by the year 2050. Life expectancies have soared in the last decade or two to nearly 80 years of age. When we focus more specifically on the religious lives of the elderly, recent data reveals that 62% of those 70 and older are Protestant.[2] Other data and the increasing anecdotal experiences of many evangelicals (including Free Will Baptists) suggest that the Christian Church in the West is graying quickly.
Without a doubt, faithful ministry to the elderly inside and outside of the church will assume different forms in different circumstances. However, let’s consider three starting points for understanding ministry in the aging church.
(1) Aging is an experience that we will all face.
This is perhaps the most undisputable feature of life. It’s easy to see children grow like weeds, but adults also find age catching up to them as well in many unpleasant ways. If Christ does not return in our lifetime, we will cross death’s chilly waters. Because of this, Christians must formulate a biblical worldview that can address the experience of aging in the context of local church, and in society in general.
Though the phenomenon of aging is indisputable, it is also the most resisted aspect of human life. Trillions of dollars are spent each year in the cosmetic, clothing, and pharmaceutical industries (to name a few) to counteract and conceal the effects of age. Such spending habits reflect that our ministries have a long way to go in aiding congregants to envision aging through a distinctly biblical lens.
Even more urgently, local churches themselves are constantly aging as a social fact. We are all adding days, weeks, and years onto our lives, no matter the generation to which we belong. The only exception to this rule would be if a church regularly admitted a significant number of people below the median age of the church (and bear in mind, children skew these numbers as they could only count if we retain them, win them to Christ, and see them baptized into membership).
Even in these cases, older church members must still be equipped and engaged in meaningful ministry. If we are all members of one body, then (1) each is accorded equal dignity in God’s sight; and (2) more specifically, each is given some spiritual function to fulfill.
(2) Aging churches create challenging leadership decisions.
One reason why this subject is perplexing to so many is because aging is seldom viewed as an opportunity to embrace, and more often as a challenge to be endured. We should consider some strategic missteps that church leaders (especially younger leaders) make in ministering to the elderly.
First, they adopt the “outlast-the-enemy” approach. Assuming life expectancies play out the way that we expect them to, a 35-year-old pastor will outlive a 75- or 80-year-old member he considers an ornery obstacle. This pastor simply bides his time, and waits until he has a more agreeable majority with which to work down the road.
While I sympathize with the need for patience with disagreeable people, this approach is fundamentally flawed. Despite the emphasis on patience, it (1) presumes upon a future we may never see (that is, outliving our dissenters); (2) ignores the urgency of fruitful ministry by unfairly wedding the well-being of the church to one or a few members; and (3) illustrates that we haven’t spent enough time developing and articulating a ministry philosophy that mature Christians of all ages can accept, at least provisionally.
Second, some leaders adopt the more aggressive “discipline-without-sin” approach. I use this language because congregants are essentially excommunicated, though it isn’t through biblical discipline. In this scenario, a leader(s) barrels ahead in the name of faithfulness with a ministry agenda that forgoes congregational consent (when appropriate).[3] Even in instances where congregational consent is given, the majority of dissenters can often belong to a particular generational group. Thus, they feel they have been disenfranchised or ignored specifically because of their age. They are told explicitly or implicitly, “You aren’t welcome here.”
Over the years, I have sadly seen persons with this experience come to churches where I have served looking for a refuge. It’s sad because either (a) they attended their former churches for decades more in love with a particular form of ministry than the church family itself, and thus they left when things changed; or (b) they were honestly ignored or treating harshly by a pastor or leadership team who lacked spiritual clarity on how they could continue to be a part of the church’s new ministry frontier, even in the absence of complete agreement.
What then is the alternative approach, which sees ministry to the elderly as an opportunity?
(3) Aging churches (and ministry to the elderly in general) offer unique opportunities for the Gospel to be preached.
Though understanding must precede genuine conversion, most Christians agree that the salvation message contains a simplicity that even a child can grasp. The Romans Road to Salvation sketches out the bare realities of who we are, what Christ did, and what we must do to be saved. Yet the rest of Scripture expands on this basic storyline in rich and textured ways.
Because of this truth, we must realize that the experiences of most elderly persons (saved and unsaved) help us to explore the thorny parts of human life that the Gospel addresses.
Understanding the Gospel
If we live long enough, we will see bad things happen. We will develop fears. We will deal with death. We will see people we love make very bad decisions. We ourselves will make some bad decisions, and likely live with some measure of regret. This is only the beginning of the complex, emotional lives of many elderly persons in our churches and in the world around us.
Ministering to such persons, then, presents us with a unique opportunity to preach a Gospel that can address our fears, disappointments, regrets, and much more. Jesus’ very life shows the experience of temptation (Mt. 4), the death of a friend (Jn. 11), betrayal (Mt. 26), and other unpleasant things that many, if not all elderly persons have experienced. So whether we are trying to better ground the Christian elderly in the Gospel, or presenting the message to the unbelieving elderly population, we have reasons for confidence in the relevance of our message.
Learning with the Saints
A final opportunity that ministry in the aging church presents (related to #2) concerns the wisdom and maturity that the elderly can provide. There will usually be some godly persons in every church who have followed Christ for many years. In my own congregation, we have many who have been Christians longer than I’ve been alive! Despite the potential for disagreement, I believe that the Holy Spirit would have us all view each other as partners in the ministry (cf., Phil. 1:3-5). This view has the ability to help those members to not “despise my youth,” while helping me learn from the wisdom and maturity of older saints, even when we embark on endeavors unique in our church’s history.
Conclusion
The problems surrounding aging will not go away this side of eternity. It is an unavoidable part of human life that we must face with spiritual clarity. It will require wise, patient, courageous leadership. But above all, the urgency of Gospel, the future of the church, and the wideness of God’s love for all His children presses us to think deeply about how we may minister faithfully to the elderly among us.
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[1] With notable exceptions! See “Ministering Well in the Middle” by Frank Owens.
[2] Available at http://religions.pewforum.org/reports, accessed on 5 December 2014.
[3] Here I am simply asserting that most Christians would agree that some aspects of church life and leadership warrant pastoral decisiveness and discretion, while others biblically (or at least prudentially) require congregational consent. Naturally there will be many disagreements over which decisions fit in which category. However, in a Baptistic, congregational model, most will concede that some things fit into each category.
January 9, 2015
Jackson,
Timely and needed article. Several excellent further resources I have found are: “A Church Ministering to Adults” (Broadman) compiled/edited by Jerry M. Stubblefield, “The Bible Speaks on Aging” (Broadman) by Frank Stagg, and “Working the Gray Zone: A Call for Proactive Ministry by and with Older Adults” (Providence House) by Charles Oakes.
January 9, 2015
Thanks for the resources, Bro. Frank. We need these types of materials as this challenge will not go away. The main book that has informed my thinking on this topic is Growing Old in Christ. It is a collection of essays by different authors on different aspects of the topic. I’ll take a look at what you’ve mentioned here, too.