Mon 6 Oct, 2008
This Week in Mission: Week of September 8, 2008
My recent consultation in Florida has me thinking about the changing mission with retirees. Here is a small community with about 70% retirees … including a huge number of mobile home developments and lots of seasonal residents. Not surprisingly, the church growth strategy for many churches in the area from the 1980’s to the present has been to be as “senior friendly” as possible.
What church leaders don’t seem to grasp is that the new generation of retiring baby boomers will be very different from the past generation of retirees. For one thing they will be generally healthier and more active, less willing to just settle down and play with the grandchildren.
Here are some implications:
1) Quest for Quality: The retiring boomers will have much higher standards for program and property than past retirees. They will be less likely to attend churches with mediocre programs or hospitality services, or dilapidated facilities, just because of denominational affiliation or memories of Christendom. The past generation of seniors settled for “good enough”, but retiring boomers will expect better.
2) Comfort Zones: The retiring boomers will look for churches that honor their comfort zones. While they may claim to prefer “traditional” worship, they are going to prefer more informality, more easy listening music, more lifestyle-relevant preaching, and more leg room. Image and projection will be a necessity, not a distraction.
3) Active Mission: Retiring boomers will have different expectations for mission. The current generation prefers financial mission (giving money to charitable causes) or depot mission (collecting goods that can be given away), but retiring boomers will want to be more personally involved in mission. Mind you, it will only be short term. But in the brief spurts of energy they give to mission, they will want to be hands on and face to face.
4) Affinity Groups: Retiring boomers will prefer peer groups more than curriculum groups. Their small group preference will focus on an affinity for personal need or shared enthusiasm. The topical or curriculum driven adult Sunday schools will be less attractive, and they will prefer to take their spirituality as a mixed cocktail rather than straight up.
One of the most interesting changes in retirement ministry is that boomers will be more likely to spend money. Senior-friendly churches of the past have tended to pride themselves on large reserve funds and debt freedom. The emerging boomer retirees are more likely to spend down those reserve funds and accept mission-driven debt. The reserve funds will be spent on themselves (for facility, technology, and hospitality upgrades), and the debt will be spent on outreach (continuing education and social service projects).
