June 16 1997

ARTICLE TOOLS

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As uprisings go, it was quieter and more genteel than the average student protest, but the goal was no less revolutionary and ambitious—namely, the overthrow of the youth cult in the church and the world.

"The future belongs to the aged, to the old people," church-growth specialist Win Arn told attendees at the North American Congress on the Church and the Age Wave. About 120 pastors and senior-adult ministry leaders gathered in Colorado Springs for the five-day conference that ended May 2.

The "gray summit" was staged by LIFE (Living in Full Effectiveness) International, an Arcadia, California, ministry for senior adults that Arn, now 73, founded in 1990 after a stroke led him to conclude that "hospitals know a lot about nutrition, exercise, and therapy, but nothing about God."

Further research on recovery led Arn to believe that "widespread ageism" exists in churches, with many offering no, or woefully inadequate, ministry to older adults.

Arn and his 46-year-old son, Charles, believe churches are missing out on both a huge potential volunteer force within their walls and a large mission field outside by ignoring senior citizens. LIFE's goal is to "sound a bugle to wake up the church to the opportunity that is available in adult ministry."

Attendees, primarily people older than 50, heard that the focus on youth in most churches simply flies in the face of demographics. The rising "age wave" is apparent by estimates that two-thirds of all people who have lived to 65 are alive today, and the over-65 age group in the United States is growing three times more rapidly than the population at large.

GROWING POPULATION: With the age wave beginning to break as the first of 76 million U.S. baby boomers turn 50, Charles Arn said ...