Rev. Michael Denton

October 31, 2006

St. Peter’s UCC, Elmhurst

Men’s Breakfast Group

Today’s topic has really been an evolving one. As we began our discussions about my presence here with you as a more general discussion and that moved to the suggested topic of “How God is Still Speaking to Our Churches’ Seniors” to, “The Role of Seniors in the Church,” to, now, something more along the idea of what Seniors can give to the church. I always appreciate the opportunity to meet with people in our churches which is something that many people find difficult to believe because, although most of the time I’m invited to a local congregation in a role that is celebratory, instructive or even as a guide through the sometimes confusing maze of the search and call process, I’m also called to be with churches in much more difficult moments. It’s not unusual for me to be called when a church is in conflict; when a pastor is in some sort of crisis; when a church disagrees with a decision of the other churches that are a part of the denomination; or, fortunately rarely, when a church feels that there has been a difficult moment between a congregation and myself. Although all of these moments have their own stresses and strains, I still really do appreciate these opportunities. At the very least, it’s an expression that a local church takes its relationship with the wider church seriously.

I think the general topic you’ve suggested, however, is really fascinating. I don’t pretend to know all the answers for this topic which is one of the reasons I’m really happy there’s going to be an opportunity for further discussion after my presentation. I know that, sometimes, the expectation of someone in my position is that we’ll give some sort of party line but I try not to do that just for the sake of doing it. I’ve gotten to know some of you more than others and I respect you too much to do that. In a conversation like this, I really only do that if I agree with that part line. Today, I’m going to risk being provocative. I’m not going to give you some sort of boiler plate, politically savvy, general to try answer to the question about what the role of seniors may be. I’m going to avoid simply giving you answers only to try and make you happy, or even comforted, and try my best to let you know what I really think or am trying to figure out. All these thoughts are thoughts in process. And I know that some of the suggestions and perspectives I’ll give, from my experience, are not probably going to match up with all of your hopes or desires of what I might say. I’m not going to suggest that it is important to less of some things and more of others.

In order for this to be a constructive moment, let’s acknowledge a few things, too. First of all, I’m under no illusion that one presentation with you is necessarily going to be so challenging or so inspiring that it’s going to “fix” or “settle” anything. This is, simply, another part of the continuing dialogue that you’ve already been a part of within this congregation for several years, already.

One of the other things that we need to acknowledge, right off the bat, is that my experience in the Church, as a pastor and member, has been with seniors not as one. It may be seen as a kind of paradox to invite me as the person to speak on the role of seniors within the Church. I was born in 1968 and, at 38 years old, am the youngest person in this kind of Conference ministry role in the United Church of Christ (although I’ve heard that may be close to changing). Although I have hopes and prayers of how our church members, regardless of age, participate in the Church, and I’m getting closer and closer to being a senior I’m still 32 years from my own retirement, maybe longer if the retirement age is raised (something most of my peers expect and, in many cases, support). Not only that, but, we have to acknowledge that within the US Church, I’m in the minority.

There has been a significant shift upward in the age of church members and clergy, overall, within our denomination and within all mainline denominations. In 1974, there were about the same percentage of clergy under 40 years old in the US Church as there were lawyers; about 25%. However, these numbers have changed in some frightening since then. At the end of 2005, the percentage of lawyers in the US stayed about the same however, the percentage of clergy under 40 in the United Church of Christ crashed to 4%. This decline is similar (by three to four percentage points) within most of the US mainline denominations although Rev. Da Vita McCallister (our national Minister for Youth, Young Adult and Outdoor Ministries) believes that the United Church of Christ may currently have the lowest percentage of clergy under 40 (although this number looks as though it may have some upward trends). The numbers for church members are only slightly better, but really not much, and it’s a trend the mainline church is panicking over with an increasing crescendo. A survey in 2003 discovered that 80% of those under twenty years old had no relationship, and hadn’t had any relationship, to any church, to ant religious body, at all. Let me repeat that with the hopes that it sinks in deeply; a survey in 2003 discovered that 80% of those under twenty years old had no relationship, and hadn’t had any relationship, to any church or other religious body, at all. The conversations among my peer-aged colleagues are far beyond whether the local churches we serve will be around in another 20 years. We’re wondering how much of any kind of US Church there is going to be, at all. We’re in a moment when the survival and relevancy of the US mainline church is questionable, at best. Many of my peers now refer to the US mainline church as the sidelined church.

So, here’s the ironic thing and maybe my most controversial point, this morning: I think one of the most important roles of seniors in the US Church is to work to help make it a place that has youth and young adults as a primary outreach and programmatic focus or, quite simply, the US Church may soon be in the same state of the European church without any of the government support for the upkeep of the buildings. With a few exceptions, most services of worship, programs and structures look and act way too much that the worship, programs and structures of the 1950’s or, in a few cases, the 40’s or 60’s without the same numbers of people. These churches worked, in the times they were booming, because they were demographically appropriate and attractive to the people they were hoping to attract. We need to remake our churches to be able to do the same, in this time, so that there can be a church for our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc.

Now, when I suggest this, I’m suggesting this with the full knowledge that the renewed Church may very well be a Church that misses some of the elements you and I prefer. Personally, when I’m talking about the kind of church that I feel most comfortable with, I prefer a more European classical style of worship. It’s what I grew up with. I like the formality of it, the flow of it, the music of it and the pace of it. I love the sound of a good pipe organ, church bells, a good choir and a well constructed, classically constructed sermon. However, worship like this leaves a lot of people – most of the people we’d like to be in our churches - cold. They find the formality oppressive and the flow deadening. The classical music played on a pipe organ all sounds the same to them. They don’t want a choir that sings as much as they want to sing, themselves. They want to be surprised by variety in worshipping styles and for the sermons, if there even are sermons (as opposed to a dramatic presentation, a question and answer period or even a video). These folks we want to get in our churches want a service and some form of presentation to address contemporary issues from a spiritual practice angle, with very little scholastic theological rhetoric.

I prefer, for my own comfort, a structure of a church with clearly set responsibilities and meetings, preferably, run on some version of Roberts Rules of Order. But this structure is failing most of those who are looking for churches. Most folks work in, and expect, an atmosphere that’s more team based and consensus based; where people have the ability to help their organization grow through several different services and foci as opposed to the one initiative at a time process that many of our churches use.

I prefer a more traditional Sunday school program where the parents attend Sunday school at the same time as their parents and then attend at least part of worship with their parents. I prefer that the children involved in these classes are in a program that, in some ways, mirrors the secular school system where each year’s education is built upon the previous year’s education. But, these aren’t necessarily the programs children or adults are willing to participate in, anymore. As you already know, Sundays are no longer days for church but one more day to be busy. For some families, Sunday morning is the only real day they get to spend together and fewer and fewer families want to spend that time in church. Christian education, in its traditional form, is rarely the preference of most families. They want a less Sunday centered church that will meet them where they are in their lack of Christian education, develop programs that challenge them, entertain them and enable them to make their own decisions. This means that, in churches that are growing, Sunday has become less and less of a focus for programming and, in many cases, even worship. There are more and more options for small groups throughout the week, there may be several youth groups and Christian education integrated throughout the life of the church as opposed to simply being part of a few programs at a few times.

These may be places where you and I find we are in common agreement about what we prefer and what we may be the most comfortable with but, when it comes right down to it, what we prefer and what comforts us isn’t necessarily what’s best for the Church. The fact that I am under 40 and prefer many of the traditional worship, educational, programmatic and leadership styles of the church doesn’t mean that this way of doing church is actually still relevant or helpful to the vast majority of youth and young adults in this contemporary period. When you take the small percentage of people my age, or younger, who are part of the more traditional mainline church it may better show the percentage of people in my age group who are actually interested in this kind of church and the percentage of the population that we can expect to continue to be part of our churches in the future if we continue to “do church” the same way we have been doing. I think we can expect that if we continue to do church in the same way and involvement in the mainline church continues to decrease at its current rate that, by just 2036, the mainline US church will be only 4-7% of the US population if we’re lucky. And, just as a reality check, this prediction may be optimistic. In many European countries, the weekly attendance numbers for people who attend worship is even lower. The reality is that what so many of us may prefer – those things than may comfort us in the church experience - just isn’t working and our insistence to continue in this model may be, in fact, killing the Church.

My brothers and sisters, we have a choice about what our legacy may be. We can either continue to do things as we’ve always done and the Church will continue to diminish or we can make the bold decision to say that today is when we decided to dedicate ourselves to end the decline of our Church; that today is the day we are going to set the foundations for a Church that will grow again; that today is the day we are going to work to not just allow, but encourage our Church to be relevant; that today is the day that we are going to say thank you for what the Church has been in our lives by making sure it has the opportunity to play a significant part in other people’s lives, too; that today is the we are going to assure that our Church has the same legacy of resources that was out fore-fathers’ and for-mothers’ trust to us. Brothers, today is the day we rededicate ourselves to that which we already know; that the Church doesn’t exist to serve us but we exist to serve God and God’s people and the Church is a vehicle for that. The Church is not about us.

How can we do this? This may be my second most controversial point but it’s an important point to make with any group that is asking questions about their role in the Church. I think one of the most significant things we need to begin with is taking responsibility for our own spiritual lives. Sunday worship is not supposed to be the only place that mature or experienced believers find spiritual sustenance. For too many, Sunday has become the day we commune with God the most or think we should commune with God the most. But, if Sunday is the main time we commune with God, we have a built in to our lives an unhealthy dependency on the institutional Church that takes the place of what should be a healthy, daily dependency on God. Our faith life becomes dependant on the human actions of those who are part of our churches instead of the divine actions of the one who gave us breath. The result of this is that when things within this very human institution become difficult because of a disagreement or change, we become as irrational, agitated and spiritually sick as an addict who is without his or her drug of choice. Although the practice of communal worship may be a central element of our faith-life, it should not be the only element of our faith life. We need to have our own active prayer life, our own active bible study, our own active retreat and reflection time outside of just Sunday morning; ideally every day. If we don’t, we tend to expect our own local congregation to feed all our spiritual needs and, when that happens, we’re bound to feel malnourished and uncomfortable most of the time. It is our relationship with God through Christ that serves our spiritual needs. To expect our church to be our sole sense of spiritual nourishment is a form of idolatry that gives too much power and responsibility to an institution that, in and of itself, is not divine.

This does move us in to another thing that seniors, in particular, do have the ability to contribute to church life. Retirement has radically changes. The time of retirement used to be that time that people were lucky to get to if their health was good. Retirement, by younger folks, may have been promoted as a time to rest but, in reality, many people saw this as a time to prepare to die. There was an idea that people should retire because, somehow, they got in the way of work place productivity. 65 years old doesn’t mean this anymore. Those who choose (or are forced) to retire now are healthier than ever and living longer than ever than they ever did. Retirement is no longer simply a time to prepare for the end of life but another opportunity to continue to live in to the fullness of the life that God has given us. As people of faith, there is one key question we need to ask ourselves every day of our lives because we don’t retire from being people of faith. That question is: What can I give to God, today? For many of us sitting here, that may mean direct service to the Church and service to the Church is about more than just what we want as individuals, it is about what the community of faith discerns as it’s vocation. To paraphrase one of the most famous lines in an inaugural speech ever, ask not what your church can do for you. Ask what you can do for your church.

This is especially important in a demographic moment when less and less folks who aren’t retired have a significant amount of time to give to the Church through volunteerism. It wasn’t that long ago when most households were one income households. During that time, women working at home had the flexibility in their daytime hours to give a significant amount of their time to support the church with volunteering and church had the added benefit of being a place to fight the isolation that many women felt at home. Although men frequently were in the formal leadership of the church, women lead and did a lot of the volunteer work to support the discernment work that took place in church meetings. It was also through this kind of volunteerism that a lot of the hands on mission work of the church really got done. When the tide shifted and most households had very little choice but to become two income homes, the Church really suffered and has never recovered. Too many of us who experienced a church in another age expect the same kind of vibrancy, activity and volunteerism as seemed to be present in the church we grew up in. As the volunteer numbers have shrunk, we’ve cut programs and expected more of our staff. As one of my colleagues suggested, its not that the current church staff are any more or less competent as our predecessors as much as that we have less human and financial resources to work with than before. Clergy work hours are increasing and, to be blunt, it’s killing our clergy. In the last 30 years, clergy have moved up from being in the 24^th position of career positions most likely to suffer from heart disease to 8^th. One of best friends in ministry is just a couple years older than me and he was put on the same diet as people with heart disease by his doctor. It wasn’t because he had any physical symptoms that were specifically worrisome. It was because this doctor had several other patients who were ministers and he treated ministry as an indicator of possible heart disease. He was put on a heart healthy diet as a preventative measure. Not only that, but clinical depression is becoming a larger and larger problem for clergy. Most of the information we have about this is more anecdotal but the Lilly family that makes a lot of its money on the production of Prozac saw this as such an issue that their foundation has put millions of dollars in to sabbatical programs that work to prevent clergy depression and burnout.

Beyond the health effects this has on pastors, this has a very real effect on the day to day work of pastors in churches because a lot of the work done by pastors, now, used to be done by volunteers in the past. The result? Pastors have less time to visit people; less time to prepare sermons and worship; less time to help guide stewardship campaigns, etc., etc., etc. When local churches ask me how they can best help their pastor improve their sermons, I always suggest two things; give constructive feedback and help the pastor have more time to work on their sermons by finding volunteers for some of the things the pastor is currently doing.

So, my sisters and brothers, now is not the time to take a rest and do less, as previous generations in your same age group sometime expected, this is the time to do more. This is particularly important in three main areas. I apologize for not going in to a lot of detail here but I recognize my time is almost over for this part of my time with you.

The first(and I really believe this may be the most the important is for the modern church) is helping your church connect with hands on mission and social outreach work. We’re nothing without mission and outreach. Churches without this focus tend to spiritually collapse in on themselves and then begin to devour themselves. Doing mission and outreach work is ultimately not a drain on a church’s finances but some of the sustenance that helps a church survive. Work with one of our UCC churches that serves the poor and help them do their work. Connect with the Heifer Project or Habitat for Humanity in a more direct way. Connect with another local organization through Church World Service or even an advocacy and service program like Bread for the World.

Secondly, become more involved in stewardship programs within the congregation as part of a spiritual practice. It’s not just about the money. It’s about being good stewards of all that God has given us and supporting the work of God in the world through the church. As part of that, it’s important not to just make assumptions about where the money goes but to really learn about how the decision to spend money is certain ways is made. Too many people don’t give as much time, money and prayers to the church as they could because they weren’t asked, they don’t understand the financial life of the church or they think that you give to the church to somehow buy what you want or control the life of the church. A spiritual understanding of stewardship moves us beyond that kind of thinking and in to a much broader understanding as our pledges, our time and prayers as offerings to God and the ongoing legacy of a Church instead of just our legacy within a church. Seniors also have a special ability to talk to their peers about planned giving so that we can continue to give to the churches that have been a part of our lives beyond our physical deaths.

Finally, the Church needs you to share what you have learned and what have experienced in both formal and informal ways. These may or may not be things that “typically” think are an important part of Church life. If you have some particular skills in financial management, teach a course for your church in financial management. If you have some particular skills in woodworking, teach a class in woodworking. If you have some skills in health care, teach a class in healthy eating. It may be a one time offering or it may be a several session class but communities are hungry for this stuff and churches offering life skills classes are attracting new members and serving their communities. But don’t stop there. Find other ways and opportunities to share the stories of your life and the lessons you have learned. This is the key role of elders in communities around the world; to share their life experiences with the community as a community resource. That doesn’t mean that the community always does what the elders suggest but it is one more way that a resource is shared. This may be something we talk about more during our conversation period.

My brothers and sisters, thank you so much for inviting me to be with you this morning and putting up with listening to me. Again, these are some of my thoughts and I’m looking forward to further discussion.