Aging in the Church: 4 Ways to Remain Vibrant in the Church and Your Faith

Written within the pages of my prayer journal you can find this simple verse,

"Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me." Psalm 71:18

The Psalm resounds with the very heart of the Great Commission given by Jesus to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Found in Matthew 28:19-20, this commission is the heartbeat and express purpose of the Christian church at large and of every person who would call themselves a follower of Christ, regardless of ethnicity, gender, or age.

As Christians advancing in years, we may find that changes both personally and within church dynamics have left us with a sense of confusion and dismay as to where we fit in and our relevance as valued members of the church. The good news is that the Good News hasn't changed, and our vital commission, even as older adults in the church, is still to share the gospel in word and deed and to live in such a way that others will see and know our love for God and each other.

Here are four ways as you grow in years that you can continue to remain vibrant and vital in the church and your faith.

How Church Congregations Can Support Their Pastoral Leadership

As a young woman, I accepted Christ in the middle of a large gymnasium located on a high school campus in Southern California. I don't remember the name of the pastor who spoke that day, but to this day, some 42 years later, I remember the young woman from my workplace who invited me into that unusual church building. She had a passion for Jesus and a sense of calling to do the work of sharing him with others. In a very real sense, she was ministering the tenets of discipleship to me, acting as a shepherd to a soul that needed tending.

In the four decades since, I have attended churches ranging from 150 to almost 10,000. As a volunteer, I have served through leading small groups, overseeing Bible studies, writing training curriculum to train leaders, and co-leading a prominent women's ministry. Eventually, after earning a hard-won seminary degree, I served as a Director of Women's Ministry. My oldest daughter became an accidental pastor's wife, and somehow a family with only a few tentative roots in the Christian faith became passionate about the work of ministry.

How to Understand and Embrace the Vulnerability of Aging

Author and researcher Brene Brown writes, “We associate vulnerability with emotions that we want to avoid such as fear, shame, and uncertainty, yet we often lose sight of the fact that vulnerability is also the birthplace of joy, belonging, creativity, authenticity, and love.”

My husband and I are both getting older. He is a good-sized man with broad shoulders and a barrel chest, and I am a petite woman sporting red hair who likes to tease that my emerging greys make me a bit of salt and cayenne pepper. We each lost a parent to cancer when they were much too young. Our surviving parents both lived well into their late eighties. I share these bits of biographic information as a backdrop to a conversation that my husband and I shared recently, wherein we both confessed that some of the outcomes of the aging process are leaving us with a new and unfamiliar sense of vulnerability.

While the turning of the years can offer new freedoms, physical and cognitive changes may also usher in the potential for shame, despair, and fear, begging the underlying question of just how vulnerable do we feel when we go out into the world and how do we face aging as followers of Christ.

6 Simple Ways to Cultivate Thanksgiving in Your Grandchildren

"In November, people are good to each other. They carry pies to each other's homes and talk by crackling woodstoves, sipping mellow cider. They travel far on a special November day just to share a meal with one another and to give thanks for their many blessings—for the food on their tables and the babies in their arms."

The annual turning of the seasons ushering in cool weather and changes in nature can bring grandparents to the Thanksgiving holiday and the impending Christmas season with a checklist of menus or travel to plan. There are gifts and cards to be purchased and a general sense of busyness. In our hearts, we know the entire season, from the beginning of November to the joy of Christmas day, should lend itself to thankfulness and a general valuing of faith and family. Yet even as grandparents, the busyness of this celebratory season can have us more focused on completing tasks than on cultivating gratitude.

In the sweet children's book quoted above, "November," written by Cynthia Rylant, the author paints a lovely portrait of gratitude for simple daily moments with logs "crackling" warm and cider being sipped. She draws attention to the truth that the myriad of blessings present in our day-to-day lives, when noticed, give abundant reasons for giving thanks. 

4 Powerful Ways Grandparents Can Impact Their Adult Grandchildren

Currently, I am at what I consider the early end of the grand-parenting spectrum. I have five grandchildren, with the youngest just in preschool and the eldest having recently had his last first day as an elementary school student. So yes, the clock is ticking on just how soon I will have a teenage boy as a grandchild. One who just might tug away as I try to pull him in for a tight hug and a kiss on the forehead.

I must take action while I have the opportunity to show each of these grandchildren my love for them, my faith as a woman of God, and my heart toward them as unique and valuable human beings who will someday have the opportunity to impact the world. Still, like parenting, being a grandparent is a long-haul endeavor for those who desire to have a lasting influence on future generations. As a grandparent, I find myself thinking about topics such as legacy, faith, and a testament of love that will endure long after my years of rambling this earth have been completed.

3 Ways Women Can Delight in Descending from Eve

I am grateful daily that because of the redemption of Christ, I will never be seen in God’s eyes through my worst choice or darkest moment. Even after accepting Christ as a young woman, I continued to struggle as a rocky road walker. My heart required years of mercy and grace, as well as the consistent and ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, acting on my life as a transforming agent.

If you have chosen to follow Christ, the Bible teaches that we can overcome the enemy of our souls “by the blood of the Lamb” and the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11). With this in mind, we each can, in some way, choose to share the stories that God has written in our individual lives. As a woman who has experienced firsthand the beautiful kindness of God, I want my story and my life to be useful for others. On the other hand, I have zero desire for my account to become a dark and devastating cautionary tale.

5 Things That Hurt Relationships with Grandkids

The wise and loving grandparent has the opportunity to treasure and value their grandchildren, seeking at all times to nourish both the child and their relationship with their grandchild. As is common with all relationships, there can be many seen and unseen pitfalls ready to wreak havoc between grandparent and grandchild.