This is the last part of a two part discussion on age relations in the church.  The first part was Elder Not Old.

If young people continue the way they are we are all going to end up like Icarus, our potential melting away as we crash land and smash our lives to pieces.  In Elder Not Old I examined how older folks need to step up and become elders, and not just fade away in grumbling and apathy.  The same needs to happen for the young folks who are part of many congregations: after college they are going to church because they want to be there, and not because of any societal or cultural obligations, which do not exist anymore. 

It is crucial for the young folks in the church today to stay young, to change, to move with the Spirit, but all to often that is interpreted as being the perpetual follower.  Follow the new leader from sermon to sermon, follow the new praise songs from service to service, follow the new programs from day to day, follow the cool people from church to church.  I have not seen a lot of old folks church-hopping, but I see middle-aged persons on down doing it consistently within Protestant circles.  ... more