By David Hobbs
The question I pose to you today is: Are you attending an “Old Folk’s Church”?
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
40 years ago, our community, like others, had many small, outwardly vibrant churches. But they weren’t reproducing. Then God moved sovereignly through the Jesus’ Movement which swept many new converts (including me) into the Kingdom and toward the churches. But many churches refused to accept what God was doing in their day and wouldn’t let the new believers in unless they cleaned up their acts and became like the established church members first. The trouble was, the church members, though well-appointed in this life with clothes, cars, casas and careers, were far behind the new converts in passion and commitment. So the hippie converts started their own churches (which have prospered), leaving the older people’s churches (where their spiritual life and energy was so badly needed) high and dry. They didn’t stop having church, but they kept aging until now there are many small churches where the average believer is 70 years old or more. The ones left love the Lord and are sweet people, but their future is dim because there’s no one coming behind to take their places; when enough die off their churches face closure and extinction.
But the question remains, how can you tell if you are in an Old Folk’s church or not? I attend two churches, one is “Old Folks,” the other not. They both have some older people and some younger people, so to the untrained layman the answer might not be readily apparent. But is there a quick way to tell, rather than spending years at some far-off seminary?
Yes there is, and the answer came to me suddenly in revelatory form last week: My Old Folk’s church is always hot—you never want to wear a sweater, suit jacket, or even long sleeve shirt unless it’s the thinnest material. At my other church you can wear all of the above, but ix-nay on the short-sleeve shirt in the winter.
So it was obviously the temperature that was the indicator, but what exactly was the cutoff point, after which you morphed from one church to another? After diligent research and extensive analysis I can now positively affirm that the cutoff point is 70°. If the sanctuary is kept below 70°, you are in a regular church. But if the temperature is 70° or above (usually the 72°-74° range), you are in an Old Folk’s church.
Happily, the Lord attends both!
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
40 years ago, our community, like others, had many small, outwardly vibrant churches. But they weren’t reproducing. Then God moved sovereignly through the Jesus’ Movement which swept many new converts (including me) into the Kingdom and toward the churches. But many churches refused to accept what God was doing in their day and wouldn’t let the new believers in unless they cleaned up their acts and became like the established church members first. The trouble was, the church members, though well-appointed in this life with clothes, cars, casas and careers, were far behind the new converts in passion and commitment. So the hippie converts started their own churches (which have prospered), leaving the older people’s churches (where their spiritual life and energy was so badly needed) high and dry. They didn’t stop having church, but they kept aging until now there are many small churches where the average believer is 70 years old or more. The ones left love the Lord and are sweet people, but their future is dim because there’s no one coming behind to take their places; when enough die off their churches face closure and extinction.
But the question remains, how can you tell if you are in an Old Folk’s church or not? I attend two churches, one is “Old Folks,” the other not. They both have some older people and some younger people, so to the untrained layman the answer might not be readily apparent. But is there a quick way to tell, rather than spending years at some far-off seminary?
Yes there is, and the answer came to me suddenly in revelatory form last week: My Old Folk’s church is always hot—you never want to wear a sweater, suit jacket, or even long sleeve shirt unless it’s the thinnest material. At my other church you can wear all of the above, but ix-nay on the short-sleeve shirt in the winter.
So it was obviously the temperature that was the indicator, but what exactly was the cutoff point, after which you morphed from one church to another? After diligent research and extensive analysis I can now positively affirm that the cutoff point is 70°. If the sanctuary is kept below 70°, you are in a regular church. But if the temperature is 70° or above (usually the 72°-74° range), you are in an Old Folk’s church.
Happily, the Lord attends both!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment