Senior Saints and Postmodernity

I've spent a fair bit of time wondering out loud how cultural postmodernity might affect Christian ministry. We've together spent many posts and comment sessions debating the merits of many different thoughts. But they've virtually always been related to adult ministry generally, and mostly to young adult ministry in particular.

But what about, say, ministry to children? Or ministry to "Senior Saints"? Does postmodernity have any tools to offer us in these endeavors?

As you might have guessed, I think they do. In this post, I'll wrestle with the implications for Seniors ministry. Later on I'll tackle children. [Wait, that sentence doesn't quite sound right, does it?!]...


One of the biggest upsides to postmodenity is its inherent (and fierce) desire for community. Whereas most churches in the Modern era really had/have to work hard to foster a sense of genuine community (at least larger churches; smaller churches had/have a built-in help - their size!), churches that embrace cultural postmodernity more or less insist on community. The individual is as de-emphasized as s/he can be in American culture, and the group (the church) is lifted up. So what has this to do with ministry to seniors?

For whatever reason, most seniors share this desire for community, but primarily in the context of their blood family. If we can convey the concept that Christian community can be even more meaningful than blood relationships, I believe we'll find seniors more engaged and more encouraged by the ministry of the local church. But how to do this?

Most postmodern younger adults really want to spend time in multi-generational contexts. We don't want to only or primarily be around those exactly like us. Nor do we really want to even be categorized by our age. This lends itself naturally to mentoring relationships within the local church. Those with a more postmodern bent will need little persuasion to spend time around those with more/different life experiences than themselves. Thus, a practical path to the hypothetical community I mentioned above.

Local churches should be actively seeking and promoting ways to encourage such relationships to grow. They can't be forced, though - remember, one of the key concepts in cultural postmodernity is that relationships develop organically and community be authentic. So how do we do this?

I think the local church should officially conduct a funeral service for the concept of strict age-step Sunday School classes and/or small groups. Nothing discourages the kind of organic community I'm talking about more than forcing people to be isolated with only people in the same age group. Once one reaches a certain age, don't the substantive differences between ages largely disappear? Surely there are major pathmarkers on the journey of adulthood (marriage, children, empty-nest, retirement, etc...), but shouldn't these different experiences be shared with others? Can't we learn more together than we can apart?

For me personally, one of the greatest ministries I have been involved with in the last ten years was an adult elective Sunday School class that was intentionally multi-generational. We had members from 20-something to 80-something! It was really a wonderful mini-community within the context of the larger local church. I miss it, frankly.

Here's another thought: I've long maintained that one of the primary ways a pastor conducts the business of ministry is by trying to place people in contexts where they are most likely to feel and follow the Spirit's leading. Surely multi-generational classes/small groups is a way to do this. But there are others. How many churches actually have some kind of strategy for encouraging mentoring? I don't think this is something you can necessarily have a program for, but there are things a church can do to encourage the process.

For example, as simple as it sounds, why not spend some time preaching about mentoring? The Bible is full of examples of younger men learning at the feet of older. Samuel and Eli come to mind. Show that it's important to your local church by using time in the pulpit to encourage it.

Or how about a pastor/elder specifically seeking out some of the older and wiser people in the assembly and regularly discussing the mentoring concept with them. Then set in place "social" events that might put the right people in the right place...

I could go on, but you get the point. We can leverage cultural postmodernity within the life of the local church to better minister to seniors, as well as to be better ministered to by by them.