When I preach to the increasingly elderly congregations in our circuit I always remind them of something that the Bible doesn't say. Nowhere from Genesis to Revelation has anyone found a verse that says "That shalt take early retirement from prayer".
In fact some of the grreatest prayer warroirs I have met have been those in their twilight years.
Last week I had a lovely note from Caroline Pennatz of a public relations firm in Philadelphia. She told me all about a scheme within a retirement complex to develope the spirtual lives of those there. They have set up a spiritual life committee with an average age of 85!
The full story can be found here and provides a great encouragement.
I know that over here we often despair of our aging congregations but I do wonder if we could work with them to build a real prayer powerhouse in every church?
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Hi David
An inspiring story indeed! I've also noticed that not only is it our "oldies" who are doing the praying, they are also the ones doing the giving as well (financially as well as by their presence and support).
But notwithstanding all the bleating we do in our churches about not having younger members, I sometimes wonder if us younger lot have perhaps had it too easy?
For instance, how many of us have been involved in establishing a new Society, or building a new church building? In my case, I have always had the privilege of reaping the fruits of someone else's labours. The church was always "there" - and I confess to having taken this for granted at times.
An exercise that I never did as a Circuit Treasurer (and perhaps its time has come) is to work out te giving per capita by age group. I'll more than likely find that our seniors are by far the most generous givers, despite them not having the largest incomes.
An observation that I made during my days in business was that of the "three generation rule" of family businesses. The first generation is the one that establishes the business out of their garage, working 20-hour days, and living on beans on toast. The second generation consolidates the business, enjoying the fruits of the business yet conscious of the struggles of their parents. This is usually the "boom phase" of the business. The third generation experienced none of the struggles, having only known the "good times", and end up milking the business for all its worth. The result is that they are no longer "hungry", and the business dies.
I often wonder if we in the Methodist Church are of the "third generation", having completely forgotten what our mission is, putting out our grubby paws for what we regard as our "entitlement" to God's blessing, and then beat a hasty exit when the well runs dry.
Perhaps some of our "grey-haired wise" can offer some insight on how to become "hungry" for God again?
Blessings from SA
Steven
Thanks Steven. I take your point about third generation businesses. In fact I wrote an article on the self same subject about 20 years ago.
I was doing some freelance work for a large multi-national that was buying up many of the successful businesses in the Potteries.
I met several soon to be former owners - all with a public school education - who told me how their grandfathers or great grandfathers had started the business.
One I remember very well was a man who went round the pot banks buying the worked out rags that the porcelain painters had used. He would take the rags home, burn off the cloth and then sell on small pots of reclaimed gold, silver and other lustres.
Apparently he was mocked as he went round with his wheelbarrow collecting.
Nearly a century later his grandchildren were millionaires and simply sold the company out (and its employees) enabling them to live the high life on the profits.
I think that sort of story has a lot to teach Methodism.
At the moment our little church is recovering from a near death experience. We are having to learn again the hunger to share the Good News. It is doing us a lot of good!
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