OLD PEOPLE HAVE COOTIES
There were four kids in my family. Two boys and two girls all fighting for the same ice cream cone, the same space in the back of the station wagon and the best seat at the kitchen table – the one with the view of the television. When we weren’t fighting, we got along and in those brief, peaceful times we would play a game called “Cooties.” If you were chased down and touched, you had cooties (whatever they were!). Cooties became a part of our vocabulary and I remember somewhere between eight and twelve years old our extended scientific research drove the Smith kids to conclude that old people had cooties – permanent cooties. Old people made noises when they moved, sat down or got up. Old people smelled funny. Old people always wanted to kiss you (ugh!) and old people always dressed funny. Generally speaking, they had cooties!
Funny thing is, the perception in many of our churches today isn’t much different. We target, market or outreach (depending on your preference) to a generation that has about $1,200.00 in their retirement fund and thirty years to go before they can use it. Our music is loud, our lights are bright and our service orders literally vibrate with the energy and creativity of the young generation. And that is good...
...BUT...
We are missing out on something when we ignore the older generation.
I’m just going to go ahead and say it! I like old people! When it comes to church, I don’t like their music, I don’t like their formality, and I don’t like some of their traditions but I like the people. More importantly, I like to learn from them and hear their stories. Admittedly, we don’t have a ton of old people at Discovery (see the previous section about loud music and bright lights), but talking to those who are there fascinates me. We have a World War II B-29 pilot, an all-state football player who played with no face mask on his helmet, we have women who cried when they first voted or got jobs, and a couple who went through the Depression and spent Saturday nights listening to the radio for entertainment.
We also have some amazing spiritual history sitting in the seats and in our small groups. We have missionaries, teachers, preachers and former leaders from several denominations (deacons, trustees, elders, and such). I’ll bet the few older folk you have in your pews, seats or bean bag chairs have a storied past too. A past that’s just waiting to help you build a church.
I think we hurt ourselves when we exclude the oldsters. They have wisdom, they have time, they have energy (for short periods of time!) and for all you pastors, they usually are good stewards! I’m not advocating that you haphazardly appoint five or six AARP members to your Executive Leadership Team. Actually, I’d warn you not to do such a thing with any age group. But I am saying that we need to find ways to marry the wisdom and years of spiritual growth of the old with the energy and adventuresome spirit of the new. How that’s done is your job to figure out – you’re the leader...lead!
When teaching at the NEXTinitiative.net church planting seminars I often defend our style of doing church by saying, “The methods are different but the message is the same.” You’ve probably repeated the same mantra. Well, let’s turn it around and expand it some. The methods of the older generation won’t reach a thirty-seven year old couple with an eight year old BUT the message is the same and they have years of maturity and wisdom. Let’s find creative ways to tap into that knowledge.
In Acts we find a spine tingling promise, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” Let’s find creative ways to harness the dreams of the old men (and women) and use them to motivate the visions of the young! When we do so I think we’ll find that cooties aren’t so bad after all.
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