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10 Ways To Connect With Older Congregations by Lane Sebring
10 Ways To Connect With Older Congregations by Lane Sebring
10 Ways To Connect With Older Congregations by Lane Sebring
My church has two Sunday services. The earlier service is a more traditional worship environment. This service
tends to be attended by an older demographic. From my experience of preaching this service I have made some
observations about preaching to older crowds:
1. Older crowds are way more receptive to young preachers than you might think.
Sometimes when I preach about a topic that I don’t think they’ll be comfortable with (social issues and vices),
they surprise me with how positively they respond to it.
4. You get the added benefit of them squeezing your cheeks afterward.
They think you’re cute and sweet. It’s flattering.
5. Older crowds are super encouraged when they see a young person who loves Jesus.
Nothing brings more joy to older faithful people than seeing younger faithful people serving Christ. Don’t
underestimate the blessing you could be to an older person just by ministering to them through your sermon.
I preached a sermon on what the Bible teaches on alcohol. I knew that a lot of the older crowd believed it’s a sin
for a Christian to drink in any amount in any context. This idea is not biblical, but it is held strongly by some. So,
I kept that in mind and navigated them through a more biblical approach. As I challenged assumptions, I
acknowledged the tension in the room and the difficulty of abandoning strongly held beliefs.
I gave a sermon on sex as part of a series we were doing on marriage and family. I thought the earlier service
would be offended that we were addressing it so upfront and honestly. To my surprise, they responded well. I
got lots of great feedback from older people who said they wished the church would have talked about this stuff
forty years ago.
10. Like any other situation, you need to be faithful to God’s Word and approach it with lots of prayer
and preparation.
Preaching is supernatural. If God is glorified and people are pointed to Jesus, then it’s a win no matter the age of
the crowd – or the age of the preacher.
What have you found helpful when preaching to older crowds? If you’re older, what do you want to hear from
younger preachers?
Scriptures: Esther 1-4:1