A pastor told me recently about a conversation with a young person who associated himself and his belief with the Emerging church movement. The young person said to this pastor he, the pastor, needs to step aside because he was no longer relevant (because of his age.) This pastor is in his 50′s. As someone no longer “youthful”, I find this person’s view of the body of Christ to be very narrow. I am hoping the emerging church movement as a whole does not believe that the older in faith have somehow lost their wisdom or can no longer be relevant to the church.
Some of my employees are from India. And from the stories they tell me about their culture, they have a respect for their parents and for people who have “been around awhile.” I watch even how they are respectful to me which I find to be refreshing. After all, most of the time, with age and experience comes wisdom. And for people my age, our struggle is to continue to remain teachable to what God is doing, maintain walking by faith and yet reach into our wisdom from experiences in order to mentor and encourage the generations behind us.
I love the generations behind me and the young leaders I see coming up to lead and some who are already leading the body of Christ. And like most people my age, we are more than willing to allow them to lead us. But my question to the young leaders, will you hear those of us older than you? Or will you only listen to those who are “well known” or have “written a book?”
I had to check my heart before writing this blog – and I have asked God to show me if this is all my stuff. I continue that prayer.
I, too, see this much too often in all parts of our culture. I am thankful for the Christian “older” adult mentors that my children have. They can learn a lot from them. Thank you for being one of them!