For The Record

Submit birth, marriage and obituary records online.

Personal Ads

Meet new friends today!

Advertising

Put your message in front of 19,000 readers.

PDF documents on this site require the free Adobe Reader:

Get Adobe Reader

2007-03-20 issue:

Seniors and the future of the church

Leadership column

by Robert Suderman

Print Article

In one Mennonite Church Canada congregation, a teenage girl prefers to attend her grandparents’ small, rural and aging congregation rather the congregation of her parents. She has few peers there, and it means driving about an hour rather than going to the big, modern, easily accessible and impressively programmed congregation her parents attend. Why? “The seniors in this congregation love me and encourage me,” she says.

Seniors (born before 1946) and the baby-boom generation (born 1946-1964) have an opportunity to shape the possibilities of our church. The spirit displayed by these members will increasingly determine the health and potential of our church.

The demographic trend of Canadian society is similar to the church population. In the next 20 years almost one-third of Canadians will become seniors. In Mennonite Church Canada, 40 to 50 percent of our congregations have a senior demographic bulge (over age 60).

The baby-boom bulge first put pressure on hospital maternity units when the boomers were born. Then they overflowed the public school system, leading to overcrowded classrooms, record construction and double shifts of classes. It gave a huge boost to college enrollment. When the boomers reached child-bearing age, another boom of births fueled the success of the minivan.

The oldest boomers turned 60 in 2006. This is the leading edge of more than 10 million Canadians who will retire in the next 15 years. The need for condominiums, retirement centers and multilevel nursing-care homes is increasing. Labor shortages are becoming evident, and immigration increases to fill the gaps. Pressure on the medical system will increase dramatically. The greatest transfer of financial wealth from one generation to the other in the history of our continent is pending. The largest-ever collection of assets is already accumulating in the hands of women over age 65. This accumulation will escalate in the next 20 years.

Our church has its own bulge. Here are a few implications of the increasing numbers of seniors in our church.

We need to embrace our aging as a gift if our church is to remain active and vibrant. If the presence of seniors is our strength for the future, then we need to affirm and build on that strength.

The spiritual health and encouraging spirit of seniors will increasingly determine the health of our church. Seniors and upcoming seniors need to be aware of the impact their spiritual health (or the lack of it) has on the future of our church.

The financial health of our church will depend on the generosity of seniors. If ministries are to continue, this group will need to be intentional about its commitment to keep the church and its ministries strong. Seniors will not be able to hand off this responsibility to the following generations and expect the same financial power from fewer numbers. Seniors need to model the importance of supporting denominational causes in the midst of personal and congregational decision-making.

Seniors need to nourish a positive spirit in church life. Younger families, young adults, youth and children will come, stay or go depending on the encouraging spirit generated or not generated in the church by this group.

Seniors have the power to resist, block or promote needed change in the church. They need to err on the side of encouragement rather than on critical discouragement. One person told me: “If it’s true that the CEO has to sign on to needed change for it to be successful, in our congregation the CEO is the seniors’ group. Nothing much can happen here unless they sign on.”

Initiatives and energy to assure intergenerational harmony in the church will need to come from the seniors. Whenever there is an imbalance of influence, initiatives for harmony must come from the majority group—in this case the seniors. If they are not proactive they will be perceived as resistant, thus damaging the life of our church.

Seniors should not plan on putting up their feet too soon. The church will continue to need the gifts and active involvement of seniors.

What I have described is already happening in some congregations. In one congregation, the young folks were sensitive to the musical tastes of the older folks and concerned that the drums and guitars not be too loud for them. The older women encouraged the young people and wanted them to be able to praise God in ways that were meaningful to them.

When groups struggle for the well-being and guard the rights of groups other than their own, the spirit of the congregation changes.

Robert J. Suderman is general secretary of Mennonite Church Canada.

Reader Comments

Add Comments