Recently a Net Results subscriber asked for an article about ministry among people over fifty. That s a good idea, partly because much of the writing today describes how to reach young people under fifty, but especially because so many false assumptions exist about ministry to people over fifty. Ministry to people over fifty can easily include anyone from 50 to 100. This article, first of a two-part series, will discuss ministry among 50s. Next month I ll talk about ministry to people over, say, fifty-eight years old.
Generational distinctions can be very misleading.
Attitude, not age, makes all the difference. When it comes to people over fifty, however, age can be very significant, because the close of World War II was such a decisive event. First-Wave Boomers tend to grow a new church or shrink a large church to about 300 members. When Kennedy barely beat Nixon in the popular vote, Nixon chose not to challenge the results for the good of the nation. He expressed the builders sentiments.