Are Sydney Anglicans thinking beyond 2012?
Ok cheeky question… but please read on and I’ll explain

I’ve been thinking a bit about the massive generational shift that will occur in decade 2012-2022 as the baby boomers move into retirement. This will impact church ministry on a number of levels…

I’m wondering.. Will it create a leadership vacuum in our churches? And will it change the face of ministry?

Some researchers have noted that by the time all the baby boomers reach 65 in 2030, about 1 in 5 people will be retired.

Here are some provacative predictions about the shape of ministry beyond 2012, which I hope encourages some discussion about the issue.

1. With the frail aged population of Sydney more than half a million, parishes are struggling to fund ministry to members who are homebound etc

2. Seniors Ministry doomed
Anecdotally, boomers respond poorly to anything labelled seniors ministries in churches today. Instead, short-term O/S missions become even more popular.

4. Counter to predictions, ministry volunteer time actually decreases
On face value the numbers of retiring boomers sounds like an army of potential volunteer ministry workers. However… A) Older adults will probably be working longer in P/T jobs. B) Family pressures on those between 40 and 70 will increase because there are increasing numbers of the “old-old,” i.e. 85 years of age and over, many of whom have disabilities.

5. Boomers strangle church budgets
Contributions to churches will decrease, as the ‘bulk’ of church congregations move into retirement. Boomers have the largest accumulated wealth of any group in our history, but have become addicted to spending it!.

6. Evangelism among older adults revives traditional church.
As Boomers - the largest de-churched people group in history - slow down they become nostalgic. A significant number return to churches that resemble the liturgical church of their childhood. The ‘nostalgia’ trend also opens opportunities for ‘Re-Introducing God’ courses for the 40% of dechurched boomers who went to Sunday school in the 1950s.

Feel provoked by these observations? I’d love some feedback on what trends people see ‘on the ground’ in their churches in regards to the poorly named ‘seniors ministry’. What is the biggest issue facing ministry with the ageing of the population as the boomers retire?

G’day,

What’s your 3rd point Jeremy? Or do you have something against the number 3.

On a serious note, I have seen what you refer to in point 2.

Yours in Christ,
Mark

Maths was never my strong point :)

Mark, you guessed rightly that my post was an edit of a longer piece to make it readable on a thread. I compressed two seperate points into point 4. I mainly just deleted research evidence to back up my points. I also deleted some thoughts about 4b the impact of retired boomers having to care for hundreds of thousands of frail aged parents.

Care-giving members will look to their congregations to support them in numerous ways… volunteer respite care for care-givers, transportation for those who can no longer drive, regular visitations with those who are unable to attend church services. It would also be worth thinking about how to utilize the gifts that the older persons can bring to the church, whatever their functional level.

Mark, do you have any thoughts on the future for ‘seniors’ ministry? Does it matter if it disapeers? I have a nagging sense that our churches are somewhat caught up in the cult of youth that infects the rest of our culture.

Point 6 about a return to ‘traditional’ liturgy seems counter-intuitive and out there… even to me ;). But this prediction is actually based on ministry research in the US that spoke to dechurched boomers. However Americans are far more churched than Australians, so I remain sceptical about that prediction.

What do others think?

Some fascinating thoughts there Jeremy. And yeah, I have oftened wondered who the “next generation” of Sydney Anglican opinion leaders will be as the current crop moves into retirement.

Wow, some more thought needed. The opportunities for “Re-introducing God” are pretty significant, I agree. Especially in the post 9-11 world…

G’day,

Jeremy said:

Mark, do you have any thoughts on the future for ‘seniors’ ministry? Does it matter if it disapeers? I have a nagging sense that our churches are somewhat caught up in the cult of youth that infects the rest of our culture.

My one thought is that you don’t call ministry to boomers “Seniors Ministry”.

There’s a group at Beverly Hills Anglican (where I used to be) called “Super Seniors”. Now even though there are quite a number of people over 65 at that church, Super Seniors only ever attracts the over 75’s (there are some exceptions). Some over 65 think that Super Seniors is “too old” for them. The lesson that I learnt from this is that like youth ministry, seniors ministry has different levels. One level won’t suit all.

I also agree with your point 6 Jeremy. Another thing that I detected about the Senior types at Beverly Hills is that they’re looking for something in life that won’t change, or they want to go back to the good old days when things were better.

Yours in Christ,
Mark