What's Wrong With Those Adults?
Yesterday's post was about teens, so I thought I would look a little at the adults today. We are to be the example for the younger generation, so just how are we doing?
I want to start with a short story about a teen. This teen was somewhat musical and he felt that the hymns being sung in church were boring. The musical styles were too far behind the times and the lyrics were often meaningless to him or other young people. His father encouraged him to write some better hymns for the church and he did just that. This teens name was Isaac Watts and it was in 1690 at the age of 16 that he started writing hymns for the church. He wrote more than 600 hymns, including "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" and "Joy to the World."
Why did I start with this story? Because I believe it symbolizes what is wrong with some of the adults today, not all, but at least a portion of the adults I have seen in our churches. You see, the music of Isaac Watts was received with lots of excitement in the 1700s. People were willing to learn new hymns to sing in the church. People were even excited to see some of the new hymns that Watts had written just for the young people. Unfortunately it seems that the entusiasm with new hymns has died out in most of our congregations that still sing hymns. They prefer to sing the "old hymns," by which they usually mean the hymns of the gospel era. Give them a Fanny Crosby hymn or Stuart Hines' "How Great Thou Art" and they are as happy as can be, but throw in a new hymn by Keith Getty or Paul Baloche and they barely even try to sing.
Adults used to be adventurous and they used to work hard throughout their entire lives. They wanted to stay on top of all those new-fangled inventions, such as the telegraph, and telephone, and television. They were living in a time of great progress. But it seems that with the creation of retirement in 1935, senior adults have slowly decided to drop out of the human race while watching the rest of the world progress around them...and complaining about it at the same time.
As I stated, this is only a portion of our adults and not the whole. But I would definitely say that this attitude pervades most declining or dead churches. It is steeped in selfishness rather than selflessness. They want what they want and they don't care about the needs or desires of others around them. They use phrases like "I am a tither" or "I have been at this church for 50 years" in order to get their way. They feel as if the church owes them for the many years of service that they gave to the church.
I am reminded about a church I interviewed with about 12 years ago. They wanted to know how they could reach the young families in their community. I took a tour of the church facilities and then shared with them what I noticed. All of the adult classrooms were nice and cozy: new chairs, cushions on the seats, nice decorations, fresh paint, current posters and announcements on the walls, etc. But the teen's, children's and babies' areas were about 20 years behind at least with used and castoff furniture and toys.
I told them that they needed to quit spending their money and time focusing on the adults and start putting it into the teens and children if they wanted to see young families start attending their church. Even though I was just a candidate for their music and worship ministry, I knew that if they were unwilling to put their focus on the needs of others then they would never reach beyond their own walls. I am sure they wanted to hear me say that we should start some vibrant, energetic music ministry to attract the young families, but no change in music would fix the underlying problem of selfishness among their adults. Needless to say they did not ask me to come on staff and they are still struggling to reach young families.
When we become comfortable in our life, we often become critical of others. When we become set in our ways, we become stagnant in our growth. When we become self-focused, we become sinful. And that is what is wrong with many adults in the pews of America...in my humble opinion.
I want to start with a short story about a teen. This teen was somewhat musical and he felt that the hymns being sung in church were boring. The musical styles were too far behind the times and the lyrics were often meaningless to him or other young people. His father encouraged him to write some better hymns for the church and he did just that. This teens name was Isaac Watts and it was in 1690 at the age of 16 that he started writing hymns for the church. He wrote more than 600 hymns, including "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" and "Joy to the World."
Why did I start with this story? Because I believe it symbolizes what is wrong with some of the adults today, not all, but at least a portion of the adults I have seen in our churches. You see, the music of Isaac Watts was received with lots of excitement in the 1700s. People were willing to learn new hymns to sing in the church. People were even excited to see some of the new hymns that Watts had written just for the young people. Unfortunately it seems that the entusiasm with new hymns has died out in most of our congregations that still sing hymns. They prefer to sing the "old hymns," by which they usually mean the hymns of the gospel era. Give them a Fanny Crosby hymn or Stuart Hines' "How Great Thou Art" and they are as happy as can be, but throw in a new hymn by Keith Getty or Paul Baloche and they barely even try to sing.
Adults used to be adventurous and they used to work hard throughout their entire lives. They wanted to stay on top of all those new-fangled inventions, such as the telegraph, and telephone, and television. They were living in a time of great progress. But it seems that with the creation of retirement in 1935, senior adults have slowly decided to drop out of the human race while watching the rest of the world progress around them...and complaining about it at the same time.
As I stated, this is only a portion of our adults and not the whole. But I would definitely say that this attitude pervades most declining or dead churches. It is steeped in selfishness rather than selflessness. They want what they want and they don't care about the needs or desires of others around them. They use phrases like "I am a tither" or "I have been at this church for 50 years" in order to get their way. They feel as if the church owes them for the many years of service that they gave to the church.
I am reminded about a church I interviewed with about 12 years ago. They wanted to know how they could reach the young families in their community. I took a tour of the church facilities and then shared with them what I noticed. All of the adult classrooms were nice and cozy: new chairs, cushions on the seats, nice decorations, fresh paint, current posters and announcements on the walls, etc. But the teen's, children's and babies' areas were about 20 years behind at least with used and castoff furniture and toys.
I told them that they needed to quit spending their money and time focusing on the adults and start putting it into the teens and children if they wanted to see young families start attending their church. Even though I was just a candidate for their music and worship ministry, I knew that if they were unwilling to put their focus on the needs of others then they would never reach beyond their own walls. I am sure they wanted to hear me say that we should start some vibrant, energetic music ministry to attract the young families, but no change in music would fix the underlying problem of selfishness among their adults. Needless to say they did not ask me to come on staff and they are still struggling to reach young families.
When we become comfortable in our life, we often become critical of others. When we become set in our ways, we become stagnant in our growth. When we become self-focused, we become sinful. And that is what is wrong with many adults in the pews of America...in my humble opinion.
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