by David Almanzar
I had a missionary friend come to present his field and burden to our church. The next day, as we were casually talking, he said, “You have a gray-haired church.”
Immediately I was apologetic and somewhat defensive. After he left I thought about what he said and how I answered and thought, “Why should I be apologizing for the church God is building in Cañon City, Colorado.”
When I came to the church eight years ago the regular attendance was about 30. Last week we had 235 in the services. Back then the church was heavily in debt (a bond program gone bad) for property they no longer even owned. Now we have a debt, but it’s for property and buildings purchased and built in the last couple of years. Before, the older buildings were in need of repair and woefully outdated. Today, every square inch of the building has been repaired and remodeled. The church has gone from not supporting a pastor to taking very good care of me, and we have a full-time associate pastor, a part-time music director, and two secretarial staff members. We also help support 43 missionaries at $120 a month. All that is accomplished by a gray-haired church.
As I look over our mostly gray-haired congregation, I see a group of people who grew up during the heyday of the BBFI. They were a part of the times marked by the bus ministry, the big days, the three-or-more-services-a-week, the soul-winning visitation night, big youth camps, singing with the hymn books, and wearing a suit and tie for church.
Now we are supposed to tell that generation of people to forget all that because we are now “something-or-theother driven.”
“Technology and seeker-sensitive thinking has bypassed you, and we have to keep up with society, so get out of the way or get run over.”
I see those gray-haired ones differently. They love the Lord, they love the church, and they love souls. They have been willing to give up many of their loved traditions in order to reach out to the lost and unchurched. Many grayhairs and younger ones alike have been saved and baptized in our church.
I think the church is doing a lot of things today without due consideration for this generation of people. We criticize and condemn them for their reluctance to abandon all they grew up with, telling them to “get with the program.” And through all this, I observe these gray-hairs are still willing to give of their time, gifts, and money to see people saved, discipled, and called into ministry.
In Cañon City they have given sacrificially so we could build a church seating 600. My gray-haired church has no problem putting in screens to sing praise choruses, no problem with chairs instead of pews, no problem with a large lobby or atrium that will also house a coffee house, no problem with three large, well-equipped nurseries. They just want consideration and appreciation for their being gray-haired faithful. After all, they were willing to build this $1.7 million building for the next generation.
My last pastorate, where I was for 20 years, was not a gray-hair church. There are definitely differences between the two congregations. In my former church, the average age of the membership was much younger. The members were consistently late to services and activities. We could not do as much financially. It was more difficult to get volunteers. A potluck dinner contribution from the younger church could be a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter. My current gray-hairs literally bring pots of home cooking.
This past Veterans Day we identified 42 veterans, and we had them stand in our congregation. Most of them were Vietnam, Korea, or WWII vets. And gray-hairs. I say, let’s ask God to bless the church of the future, but be sure to include the church of the now. In your thinking and planning, don’t forget the gray-hairs, the forgotten generation that makes our present and future possible.