I do not know when the current paradigm of the successful church became the reality. Almost everything we can get hold of concerning church life in centuries past has been written, and therefore interpreted by those immersed in the current paradigm. It is likely that they read into and then write into history their own paradigm.
My concern is that the current church paradigm is robbing our churches of the most valuable asset we possess; the wisdom of the seasoned, hoary headed preacher.
Current church culture demands the pastor to be active. He must attend to weddings, funerals, hospital visits, and late night family interventions. He is expected to live by his telephone, answer it every time and respond to the perceived emergency of the caller in a moment’s notice. Frankly, we reach an age where this just isn’t possible. I am afraid it has never been practical and neither is it healthy for the believer. The pastor becomes a sort of surrogate savior. The average Christian leans upon his or her pastor more than the Lord. A young preacher can only do that so long. An older man cannot do it hardly at all.
And so we put the older preacher out to pasture. Because he hasn’t the energy to build a ministry he is expected to step aside and make way for the younger man who can. We thus perpetuate the paradigm. The elder preacher becomes complicit to the paradigm by yielding to it.
We hear preachers encourage the older guys to step aside, to know when to hang up their spurs. We watch them denigrate the man who chooses to do otherwise, viewing him as irresponsible and robbing the world of a strong, vibrant church. (By that they mean one that suits their paradigm.)
I think worse tragedy than that, the tragedy of leaving the ministry in the hands of novices, in some cases men who will forever remain novices because they lack the input and example of the older, wiser and well seasoned man of God.
We need a paradigm shift.
I propose this shift requires we stop seeing churches as these growing businesses, meant to be large and operated by sound management. We need to stop seeing pastors as executives and view them as men of God, responsible for prayer and the ministry of the Word. We need to see churches as families; of necessity, smaller bodies of believers who are locked together in purpose. The church should be more than a different brand of store where one might prefer all the options of multiple super departments to select from.
I propose the elderly preachers must be more visible. They need to be present at gatherings of preachers. They need to be given the pulpit frequently. Their voices must be engaged in the conversation of preachers. This, I believe, would happen more readily if those elderly preachers attended fellowships and other preachers’ meetings regularly.
They also need to write.
The elderly preacher needs to become involved where people are:
-Blogs
-Vlogs
-Electronic books
-Social media
-Podcasts
These are not difficult to master and do not require that he get involved in what might be considered the seedier side of Social media. He simply provides encouragement where appropriate and content that, I am certain, would elevate that of the audience.
No preacher ought to fade from memory due to his years. We need his wisdom until his race is fully run.
