Thom Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, recently shared five implications for local churches as boomers retire. Since the youngest boomers have already started retiring, it is important that all congregations pay attention to how the coming wave of retirees will change the church. While I agree with his list, I am especially interested in the final item since it is not talked about as often as the others.
Retiring Boomers will kill traditional church senior adult ministries. The primary reason is that most of them don’t like to be categorized as senior adults. The secondary reason is they would be bored silly with some of the potlucks, travels, and activities of churches that attempt to keep their current senior adults happy.
So What?
I am a minority in the congregations I serve. The vast majority of members are retired, and only a small percentage of this group are currently boomers. In the coming years I expect that my local community will welcome many boomers. These congregations believe they are ready to welcome this group, even if they are not entirely sure what such a welcome should look like.
- Does your congregation have a senior adult ministry now? If so, who is involved and what does the group do?
- How do you envision ministry to, with, and for retirees to change as boomers move from a minority to a majority of that group?