Anyone Want to Save Some Old People?
Also, let me say, I love children and teens. I believe they should know the truth about Jesus and I believe we should make every effort to help them be welcome and involved in all aspects of church life.
I came to know Jesus as a child and I was a teen-age Christian (someday, there will be a feature film of that title).
But repeatedly I’ve heard this annoying and damaging untruth spoken from the front of the church: “The youth are the future of the church!”
Usually, this is proclaimed to justify some change in music style or ministry emphasis and to silence anyone who might object, because, who wants to be the one who doesn’t want to ensure the future of the church? Right?
Have you heard this, too? “We must adapt our church to the culture of the youth because they are our future.” Maybe you’ve even said it.
Sounds true. Hard to argue against. Except it’s a lie.
Children are not the future of the church. Jesus is. Always has been, always will be.
Teens are not the future church. If they love Jesus, they’re the church NOW.
The church isn’t an institution or an organization, it’s a living organism. We don’t care for certain organs because our bodies will need them someday. We care for all our organs because our bodies need them now!
To see children as the future of the church is to see the church as a world-system, which it isn’t. In a world-system, it makes sense that there must be a continual influx of “young blood” but the church runs on the blood of Christ so even if all we had were geriatric converts, we could grow, thrive, and remain vital in building the kingdom of Christ.
Paul tells us in Colossians 1:16-17 that "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."
He holds the life of the church in His hands. It doesn’t rest on the future generation. When the Pharisees told Jesus to silence His followers, "And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." Luke 19:40.
Jesus can raise followers from the dust. He doesn’t rely on the next generation anymore than He relied on the one that birthed it.
So, why do I care about this? What is so damaging about this false notion?
Because there are old people in danger of dying without Jesus and this wrong-headed worldly -thinking keeps us from reaching them.
There are lost souls wandering through mid-life wondering why none of it seems worthwhile. They could find their answer in Christ if someone was there to tell them about Him.
We put major effort into child evangelism, outreach to teens and campus ministries, and rightly so. This work should never cease. To reach a young person with the truth of Christ is a marvelous thing.
I don’t want the work of the church to change focus, I want it to expand. Surely someone has a heart, a vision, a calling to reach people over the age of 40!
There are youth-heavy statistics out there that every youth minister uses when it’s budget time. Statistics like this: “Less than one out of every four born again Christians (23%) embraced Christ after their twenty-first birthday. Barna noted that these figures are consistent with similar studies it has conducted during the past twenty years.” (2004)
We read those statistics and think like CEO’s of corporations instead of disciples of Christ and put all of our efforts into fishing in the well-populated waters of childhood and adolescence. But maybe, just maybe, Jesus comes along and tells us to drop our nets off the other side of the boat.
Does anyone still have the courage for that kind of fishing?
Imagine a church that was growing all the time – not by adding only young families but also by adding newborn boomers and seniors. And then these “older” newborns reach out to their peers.
Maybe the statistic would never change. Maybe until the end of time only 1 out of 4 people will enter into relationship with Jesus after the age of 21 but thank God for every one of those “ones.”
I don’t put my faith in statistics; I put my faith in Jesus. As we hurtle, picking up speed every day, toward those last days, should we not make every effort to speak out to everyone at risk of missing the truth of Christ?
Can you see beyond the gray hair, the wrinkles, and the glasses and see a future child of God hungering and thirsting for the truth of Christ?
Stop believing that the world has the right system. Children are not the future of the church. Jesus is.
He didn’t call us to be fishers of children only but also fishers of men, women, boomers, seniors, and every generation in-between.
Anyone want to save some old people? God does.
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