HALF JOKING, HALF SERIOUS

HALF JOKING/HALF SERIOUS

  Now that I am open to pastoring full-time again, I’m thinking about changing my hairstyle, spiking it (should I color it, too?), so that I look younger and more appealing to church pastor search committees, most of whom seem to want a pastor in his 30s or early 40s (but with 20 plus years experience). What do you think? You can’t see it but I am wearing a blazer with a mock turtleneck, too. Since the picture was taken, I have also gotten some new stylish plastic glasses like were worn in the 1960s.

Below is my seven month old grandson Brantley’s reaction to my new look! I would take his response to be a disapproval!

I’m having a little fun, half joking/half serious! The serious part is that I am seeing a trend today where churches are now becoming among the most age discriminatory institutions around. Churches are actually putting an age limit for a candidate for pastor of their church that is well below retirement age. One church looking for a pastor recently advertised that the prospective pastor must be 35-45 years of age. THAT WOULD HAVE ELIMINATED JESUS from being considered to be their pastor because His public ministry began at age 30 and ended when he was 33.  How ironical that the One for whom and because of whom that church exists could not even be their pastor!

In most professions, the last few years prior to retirement are not only when the CEOs/Executives make their highest salaries and have the wisdom and experience to do their best work, it is also when the average worker/employee is making the most income and knows how to do their work efficiently and effectively. But, too many churches are avoiding calling men to pastor their church who are 50-55 and older, who could be used in a marvelous way to help some of those churches rebound, in some cases, from the lack of being able to maintain stability and consistency from calling young men who stay at the church 2-3 years or less and use that church as a stepping stone to a bigger church.

To my young pastor friends, don’t let yourself get caught up in thinking a church made up of mostly 30-45 year olds is the ideal. The reason some of your churches have the prime locations, land, and facilities they have today is because of the now senior adults who were tithers, givers, and servers, whose time, efforts, and sacrifices led to people joining the church and those buildings being built. I would bet, if I were a betting man, that if you profiled the giving, compared to salaries/income, that you would see a high level of gifts to your church in what would be 10% of what Social Security pays. Those senior adults may not have as much to give as they had at one time, but they still continue to tithe and even give beyond their tithe. Yet, I have observed too many of the younger pastors today who don’t give much of their time to senior adults and some who try to avoid giving any time to them. The church ought to be a reflection, as far as age groups go, of what society is. With the fastest growing segment of society being 70 and over, a church that does not make that age group a significant part of a church is a church that is not ministering to the whole body of Christ and not wholly evangelistic because there are many senior adults who will die and spend eternity in hell if we ignore seeking to reach them because our focus is only on those below 55 years of age.