Failing church kicking out its old folk.

Gordon Wright

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Struggling Cottage Grove Church Asks Older Members To Go Away

Churches die for reasons. This one is Methodist, but it's a pattern I've observed independent of denomination.

My position: an aging church membership is a symptom of a failure to fulfill the Great Commission, and a declining membership is another symptom. But failing to fulfill the Great Commission is itself a symptom of a deeper spiritual illness. This church lost its way a long time ago. And this latest cynical move is yet another manifestation of the sickness.

Jesus welcomed the humble from all walks of life and of all ages. But the Church he founded - the Church described in the New Testament- does it even exist anymore?

If the church were led by the Holy Spirit, things never even would have gotten to this point.
 
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2PhiloVoid

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Struggling Cottage Grove Church Asks Older Members To Go Away

Churches die for reasons. This one is Methodist, but it's a pattern I've observed independent of denomination.

My position: an aging church membership is a symptom of a failure to fulfill the Great Commission, and a declining membership is another symptom. But failing to fulfill the Great Commission is itself a symptom of a deeper spiritual illness. This church lost its way a long time ago. And this latest cynical move is yet another manifestation of the sickness.

Jesus welcomed the humble from all walks of life and of all ages. But the Church he founded - the Church described in the New Testament- does it even exist anymore?

If the church were led by the Holy Spirit, things never even would have gotten to this point.

While I'm a fan of Kierkegaard, I don't know that I'd say it's purely the fault of the Church for losing its members. No, I think there's a Devil in the details that we have to seriously consider. The Church is only partly at fault for its losses.

That's a good OP you wrote, though, and I do appreciate the point of it.
 
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Heavenhome

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That is disgusting.

The only thing that the church or any other should be concerned about is preaching the gospel.
Nothing else matters and even if there were only one "old" person attending, that would be more pleasing to God than seeking how to "attract" people.
 
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Bob Carabbio

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Struggling Cottage Grove Church Asks Older Members To Go Away

Churches die for reasons. This one is Methodist, but it's a pattern I've observed independent of denomination.

My position: an aging church membership is a symptom of a failure to fulfill the Great Commission, and a declining membership is another symptom. But failing to fulfill the Great Commission is itself a symptom of a deeper spiritual illness. This church lost its way a long time ago. And this latest cynical move is yet another manifestation of the sickness.

Jesus welcomed the humble from all walks of life and of all ages. But the Church he founded - the Church described in the New Testament- does it even exist anymore?

If the church were led by the Holy Spirit, things never even would have gotten to this point.
The North Texas district of the Assemblies of God Denomination has over 600 churches, and last year over 200 of them reported NO salvations in 2019. THAT'S a problem.
 
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Desk trauma

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The North Texas district of the Assemblies of God Denomination has over 600 churches, and last year over 200 of them reported NO salvations in 2019. THAT'S a problem.

Do they make these reports public?
 
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NeedyFollower

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Struggling Cottage Grove Church Asks Older Members To Go Away

Churches die for reasons. This one is Methodist, but it's a pattern I've observed independent of denomination.

My position: an aging church membership is a symptom of a failure to fulfill the Great Commission, and a declining membership is another symptom. But failing to fulfill the Great Commission is itself a symptom of a deeper spiritual illness. This church lost its way a long time ago. And this latest cynical move is yet another manifestation of the sickness.

Jesus welcomed the humble from all walks of life and of all ages. But the Church he founded - the Church described in the New Testament- does it even exist anymore?

If the church were led by the Holy Spirit, things never even would have gotten to this point.

If the church was led by the Holy Spirit , even the spirit of truth , would there be a sermon and gatherings based on such things as Mothers's Day , Father's Day , Thanksgiving and other man made observances at practically every church of every denomination ? No , but these sermons and observances are expected by the people . I find it odd that the Holy Spirit directs the same "theme" across churches in America on the same day . Are we following God or man ? Walking in Truth is more difficult than having a correct theology .
 
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Hazelelponi

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It sounds like the church is blaming it's elderly members for the failure of the church. In short, seems they are removing them in the same way we are called in Corinthians to remove the wicked from among us.

In this case, they are saying the fault must be those who have been in the church the longest, and removing them for 2 years and then asking them to reapply for membership there, to see if they qualify at that time as believers..
 
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paul1149

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A church that dishonors its older members, or its members who are ill, or its poorer members, will not prosper, or will prosper for the wrong reasons. We are a body, and the wisdom those older folk have can be a ballast and a protection against youthful error. We are in an age that worships youth and the physical, and rather than drawing respect, age is a cause for job loss and sidelining.

Of course, the older folk need to let the life of the church change and evolve, and sometimes they want to cling to the old ways, so that can be a problem too. There has to be a coming together for the overall good of the church. A healthy amount of growing pains is a good sign for a church, and not to be avoided.
 
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RaymondG

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The North Texas district of the Assemblies of God Denomination has over 600 churches, and last year over 200 of them reported NO salvations in 2019. THAT'S a problem.
I think it also a problem that the sucess of the church is j
It sounds like the church is blaming it's elderly members for the failure of the church. In short, seems they are removing them in the same way we are called in Corinthians to remove the wicked from among us.

In this case, they are saying the fault must be those who have been in the church the longest, and removing them for 2 years and then asking them to reapply for membership there, to see if they qualify at that time as believers..
What if the older preachers are preaching the old wine.......and they need wine made for new wine skins?
 
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Albion

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It sounds like the church is blaming it's elderly members for the failure of the church. In short, seems they are removing them in the same way we are called in Corinthians to remove the wicked from among us.

In this case, they are saying the fault must be those who have been in the church the longest, and removing them for 2 years and then asking them to reapply for membership there, to see if they qualify at that time as believers..

As if asking your most dependable members to voluntarily leave for two years or so were not outrageous enough, these people are expected then to re-apply for membership? I cannot imagine how that makes any sense.
 
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Hazelelponi

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As if asking your most dependable members to voluntarily leave for two years or so were not outrageous enough, these people are expected then to re-apply for membership? I cannot imagine how that makes any sense.

Yeah, it's odd at best.

The only thing I can imagine of it is like I said, they are laying all the blame at their feet, and declaring them wicked and removing them from church membership, and (they are hopeful) attendance as a result.

Thing is, they aren't pointing to actual sins these elderly have committed, rather, they are saying the church isn't growing therefore there must be sin.

I find it doubtful any of these elderly will be back, as a result.
 
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Hazelelponi

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What if the older preachers are preaching the old wine.......and they need wine made for new wine skins?

They don't have a preacher any longer at that church for one, after they lost the ability to pay a pastor the pastor left.

They, as a church, were able to begin equalizing the loss and growing some through the laity taking turns preaching..

Then at that point, the overall head of the Methodist body said this isn't good enough or fast enough, therefore they decided to remove all the elderly from membership, period, for two years at which time they may reapply and it can be decided then whether or not they can rejoin.

Here's the thing. What's the old wine verses the new? Biblically it's not the elderly and God never changes therefore the message of salvation never changes.

The same message should bring in new people regardless of age, because the message is God's. We don't discard our scripture because of its age, and we should likewise always have respect for the elderly not condemn them.
 
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RaymondG

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As if asking your most dependable members to voluntarily leave for two years or so were not outrageous enough, these people are expected then to re-apply for membership? I cannot imagine how that makes any sense.
I thought the reapplications were for the perishes not the members......
 
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Hazelelponi

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I thought the reapplications were for the perishes not the members......

No, they are saying the elderly members who are being removed must reapply to rejoin that church after two years.
 
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Albion

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I thought the reapplications were for the perishes not the members......
As I re-read the OP, that looks to be correct.

On the other hand, the oldsters are still to be required--according to the plan as described in the OP's link--to re-apply for membership in their own church after being booted for no reason other than that there is a theory that younger families are not attracted to congregations that are predominantly made up of the elderly???????????

That, at least, is what any of us knows about this matter, thanks to the usual news services.
 
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Hazelelponi

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As I re-read the OP, that looks to be correct.

On the other hand, the oldsters are still to be required--according to the plan as described in the OP's link--to re-apply for membership in their own church after being booted for no reason other than that there is a theory that younger families are not attracted to congregations that are predominantly made up of the elderly???????????

That, at least, is what any of us knows about this matter, thanks to the usual news services.

I wasn't willing to go that far for fear of gettingin trouble, but as you said it I will say:

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

And so the field narrows...
 
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Kenny'sID

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Churches die for reasons.

And after reading the following from the link, it's easy to see why this one is dying, they're killing themselves:

COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. (AP) — A struggling Minnesota church is asking its older parishioners to leave in hopes of making it more attractive to young families.

That's so far off base, I lost sight of the baseball diamond.
 
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Johnboy60

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There is a local church near me that me and this lady friend did go to for a few weeks till the pastor said we want only young people and not older so we left. They are a small church with alot of older people. We went to another Church that is much bigger and more into wanting people of all ages.
 
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