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“It can feel like a Catch-22. The way an older church reaches younger families is to already have younger families in the room. But the congregation skews older precisely because it has so few.” - Thom Rainer

Discussion

Wed, 07/29/26

My wife and I are entering the stage where parenting is giving way to grandparenting--we have a 14 year old son and a nearly two year old granddaughter, with more on the way--and it is striking me more and more that the "getting old" stage has a lot to offer those who are younger. You can remind young men how the maternal instinct is hitting their wives, help middle aged men understand their teens, etc..

Plus, I've felt for a long time that a huge ministry for older people can be the "lap ministry" in the nursery. We might no longer have the energy we used to, but that's not a problem for infants and toddlers who mostly want to be held and rocked and read to. Pair gray hair with brown in the nursery, children's church, and the like.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.