Intergenerational Ministry and Worship

Planning worship, preaching and programs for the modern church is a huge and growing challenge. Very few people seem to be writing or talking about it. That is unfortunate because the health and vitality of every church and business in the world rests on successfully navigating the waters of inter generational groups.

The Alban Institute is a resource organization for leaders and churches. It is a group that usually covers cutting edge or rapidly changing topics of interest. They have recently published three books on the topic of healthy planning for inter generational ministries.

http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=5544

The books seems to tackle the major issues facing us all as we try to lead in the 21st Century. Planning is the key to success.

Very Interesting

Who is Our Congregation?

Way back in the Golden Years of Television Rowan and Martin had some very funny skits. One reoccurring character was a small guy dressed in a WWII German Army outfit. He had a cigarette down in his fingers and a quizzical lost look. He uttered the same phrase in every show. "Verrrrry interesting!"

It is very interesting to see our leaders fail to encourage Seasoned Believers to participate in their church

I must admit that I knew our world in general and the USA specifically were riding an Age Wave Tsunami. I vaguely understood that it would affect ever person on the planet. I had heard that it would make our current economic and political practices untenable. The Tsunami has two aspects that make its impact huge and unavoidable. The height of each aspect of the tsunami makes the wave such a giant that it will probably have disastrous effects unless we do better political and economic planning.

One aspect is the huge number of Baby Boomers in the system and aging fast. The second is the dramatic increase in longevity of Builders and Boomers fueling our population like a tsunami.

(See a fellow Seasoned Believer's blog for the numbers in the Age Wave Tsunami at http://theboomerwave.blogspot.com/)

To my knowledge, no one running for the Presidency this year is mentioning the Age Wave Tsunami. In fact, many are acting like it does not exist. They indicate that the government will be able to pay for current Medicare and Medicaid costs AND also add huge chunks not now covered. It is the height of irrational exuberance indicating an almost psychotic avoidance of reality.

But I have no political clout nor do I want any. However, as a leader in the Evangelical wing of the church for thirty years or so I think I have something to say about the need for Christians to be aware of the opportunities and the dangers of The Age Wave Tsunami.

Let me say it this way: "Most current Christian thinkers on evangelism, church growth, church planting, church music, ministry to the poor and needy and fund raising are out of touch with reality. They act like the candidates for political office. With a few exceptions, chat rooms, Christian blogs and magazine articles almost completely ignore the strengths and weaknesses of The Age Wave Tsunami." (Click on video link, http://wms11.streamhoster.com/s70x7/whatif_final.wmv

Almost everyone is focusing on young people. They fail to see this most promising reservoir of Seasoned Believers' mental, emotional and spiritual resources. They fail to recognize that Christianity will be severely crippled unless denominations and congregations take bold action to recruit, equip and release Seasoned Believers into meaningful ministries.

Join the conversation. Write me after you look at our video and read Ron Tate's informative blog http://theboomerwave.blogspot.com/

Unless you want the current leaders to retire you as a geezer, get involved.

The Church is a Great Institution

Yeah, but who wants to be in an institution?

Willow Creek Church and Association have done all of us ministers a great service. They have had the courage to actually investigate how well they were doing as "institutions". Then, in a feat of great excitement, they published the results that seemed to show by their analysis, a lack of success in disciplining their most committed and deeply Christian members.

The chart I posted last time shows the assumptions of the Willow Creek Pastoral Team prior to the research they did. The assumed, like many church and para-church leaders, that by attendance and giving people would naturally grow in faith, satisfaction and spiritual joy.

But it did not happen. In fact, the people who attended most and donated most and volunteered most were, in many cases, the least satisfied. The Seasoned Believers wanted to leave the church in frustration more than any other segment of the congregation!

This led the staff to ask, "What will we do now that we discovered what is NOT working?"

What would you do? What do you think Willow Creek and other churches could do and might do to correct the situation?

PS I recently met a man and wife who attended a large church for over 20 years. They tithed, attended almost every Sunday, went to the special events and supported the various ministries of the church. Their kids went through all the Sunday school classes on a regular basis.

About 10 months ago the couple decided to find a church closer to their home and have not attended Old First Church since. No person from the church of 20 plus years has called, written or acted as though the space in the pew they occupied for so long was empty.

Are all Seasoned Believers taken for granted as they? Would Willow Creek miss a couple such as they? Is the church become an institution rather than a family?