Paradigm Shift Needed

Traditional Service 8:30 am Contemporary Service 10:30

Services will be required for “Seasoned Believers” at a time of day suited to their age and state of health. If 8:30 a.m. is the only time this intergenerational service is offered, it disfranchises many elderly people who cannot be up and dressed by that hour, having also coped with essential medication and toiletries. (Allow me a personal note: 8 am is not the best time for many aging bladders!) By way of contrast, most of their grandchildren are still sound asleep in bed and would not appreciate their Youth Service being at 8:30 a.m.

“Seasoned Believers” need such an opportunity – but as a regular feature of church life, not as an occasional special extra!

Participation in Services

“Seasoned Believers” belong to a generation brought up to community singing and, of course, to congregational hymn singing. Not only are they pre-TV, but some are even pre-radio. They sang around the piano in homes, sang hymns and choruses at Sunday School, fellowship meetings, fellowship teas, rallies and the like.

Many of us gathered around the piano in the fellowship hall after an evening service and sang hymns and choruses for an hour or more. Many were members of church choirs consisting of children, youth and adults who practiced and sang hymns, etc (a significant example of intergenerational co-operation and fellowship).

“Seasoned Believers” predate the ‘listening’ culture of the transistor and walkman era, rock concerts, singing groups, bands and soloist, and the un-singable syncopated meters of many modern hymns and choruses. They, therefore, expect to be able to join actively in the singing. Such forms of services are not mere nostalgia or a yearning for sentimental self-gratification, but are a means of spiritual refreshment and encouragement to spiritual growth. They are also essential if “Seasoned Believers” are to have confidence in inviting their peers to evangelistic and outreach services.

By some odd form of logic, the choir singing or a cantata and the very playing of an organ are seen as signs of senile self-indulgence, in fact, almost a form of idolatry. Yet the domination of a service by a band (with strong beat and loud amplification) is an indication of vitality in worship! The value of well planned intergenerational services and social activities from time to time within the total church community will lie in the degree to which they are generationally representative.

The Boomer Blogger