A friend of mine and former pastor now serves
as a consultant to churches, particularly working with
those launching new and innovative worship experiences
or challenging church growth projects. In one conversation,
we spoke about the situation many aging churches face:
their attendance has been declining for thirty or more
years, primarily because of significant demographic changes
in their locations. And, as my friend put it, many of
those churches need to go under “hospice care,”
giving them an opportunity to die gracefully and with
joyous dignity, knowing that through death, new life becomes
possible.
I often think of the church I attended
in my youth, and where my parents are still members: East
Dallas Christian Church. At one point, East Dallas averaged
3,000 worshippers on a Sunday. Now, they rarely see over
100. Another statistic becomes important here: the average
worshipping age. In many churches, especially those nearing
the end of their decline, the average worshipping age
is 70+. For the most part, these are wonderful churches.
Those in attendance can look back on a lifetime of service
and spiritual growth and meaningful friendships built
and maintained over the years. As those members pass from
glory to glory, they can also anticipate a warm welcome
from God as they hear, “Well done, my good and faithful
servants!” when they cross to the other side. But
at some point, these churches will have to close their
doors and experience a re-birth as totally different types
of congregations.
The Krum UMC is unusual in that as we age
as a church—and celebrate our 130th anniversary
this Sunday—our average worshipping age is quite
low. Some Sunday we’ll take an actual census to
get a more exact figure, but I’d guess us to be
somewhere around 35, perhaps even lower because we do
have so many children worshipping with us. I’ve
told many people that this is one of the most well-balanced
congregations I’ve ever seen. We have a wonderful
and powerful group of mature people who offer incredible
leadership to us. Then we have many, many families with
teens and younger children who give so much to this community
and also remind us that we have an exciting future in
front of us.
So, let’s all celebrate together
on Sunday as we look back through those 130 years and
ahead to another 130 years of great service, learning
to be disciples of Jesus Christ, and impacting this community
for generations to come.
