Two weeks ago, I invited pastors and leaders to weigh in on the topic of older adults in their congregations. (Click here if you’d like to take this brief survey. I’ll be keeping the survey active for at least 2 more weeks.)
I’ve heard from nearly 60 leaders to date. While I received a fair amount of feedback from pastors and other congregational leaders in the survey I did last summer querying those over 40 to share about their relationship with the local church, my questions focused on church attenders. (And, as it turned out, plenty of church non-attenders as well.) 53% of the 461 people who took that survey told me that they were either just as involved or more involved in the life of their local church as they were a decade ago. The remaining 47% had either downshifted their involvement or had stopped attending entirely.
I appreciate the thoughtful feedback I received from this group of pastors and church leaders about their experience ministering to those in their second adulthood. Please allow me to introduce these leaders to you in the form of some data. (Thank you, Survey Monkey.) [Read more]