A Different Direction for Churches

The big talk among many churches today is how to reach young people. 20-somethings aren't going to church and we wonder why. Being 22 myself I find this very exciting as new, biblically-sound churches pop up reaching out to my generation(sorry emerging church, this might count some of you out). Sadly, there are still many churches that have no real ministry to 20-somethings. A great example is Monmouth , IL, where I went to undergrad. There were at least 3 Baptist churches in this town of 10,000 plus many other denominations and yet few of them reached out to the small, liberal arts campus in the middle of town. The few that did I wouldn't recommend

What if churches looked to reach retirees? I have heard that centennials, one of my new favorite words meaning hundred-year-olds, are the fastest growing age group. I don't hear of any cool, trendy way that churches are trying to reach this age group. Maybe that is partly because there seem to be so many churches filled with older people who have no vision for the young.

Maybe it is time we combined these missions.

In the Bible it says to have old men teach the young men and old women teach the young women(though I can't seem to find the reference so don't quote me on that). It is a great encouragement to meet older people who have fought the good fight for so long and by God's grace are still winning. I believe that young people, especially 20-somethings, come to find a new respect for their grandparents and other older people. They see the world before them and wonder how the older generation managed.
I wonder if we as a church could reach the older generation and encourage them to reach the younger generation.

There is something to be said for being relevant to an age of kids who are living through the technological revolution and are coming face to face with pluralism and relativistic visions of truth. I believe mankind has always been sinful and that this generation isn't any worse than the generation before it. It is time for someone to mobilize the retirees. I could venture to say that the two age groups with the most free time are college students and retirees. Retirees aren't working, their kids have been out of the house for awhile, and their income is (mostly) stable. They need to be encouraged to love and reach this younger generation.

The great question is always, how? How can we reach the older generation that hasn't been reached by the older churches? How can we encourage the older generations to reach the younger generations? That is where the conversation goes from here.