{"id":98984,"date":"2026-11-06T17:02:36","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T23:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=98984"},"modified":"2026-11-06T17:02:36","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T23:02:36","slug":"ten-suggestions-for-older-congregations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ten-suggestions-for-older-congregations\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Suggestions for Older Congregations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Perry Hall<\/p>\n

Many congregations are graying. What can these groups do to encourage the next generations?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Show the young how to live with confidence and joy in their salvation, without doubt or fear of death.<\/li>\n
  2. Don’t stop serving just because you’ve stopped working. This includes teaching Bible classes. Don’t have the attitude that you taught children when your children were young; now that they are grown, your duty is done.<\/li>\n
  3. Don’t hang on to “my” project. Share and train. Their way may be different but not wrong. Plus, you may learn something.<\/li>\n
  4. Lead with dignity, not compulsion; then, when appropriate, follow. And gently nudge when needed or asked.<\/li>\n
  5. Be mentors. Especially older men to younger men, and older women to younger women. Part of being a mentor is training the young and older people to become mentors.<\/li>\n
  6. Expect high standards while showing mercy. You weren’t always as “perfect” as you are now!<\/li>\n
  7. Become friends with the youth, too. They need you more than your own age group.<\/li>\n
  8. Listen before making conclusions. Be friends before being an adviser.<\/li>\n
  9. Teach that vibrant older folks began with becoming vibrant younger people. So teach them to start now.<\/li>\n
  10. Never, ever, complain about noisy children. Instead, volunteer to help so the young parents can get the emotional rest and spiritual food they need to grow.<\/li>\n
  11. Bonus:<\/strong>\u00a0No one is too old to evangelize. I have known of women in their 80s who did campus evangelism, worked in church booths at festivals, and more.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For more information on the relationships between the older and the younger, read Titus 2.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Perry Hall Many congregations are graying. What can these groups do to encourage the next generations? Show the young how to live with confidence and joy in their salvation, without doubt or fear of death. Don’t stop serving just because you’ve stopped working. This includes teaching Bible classes. Don’t have the attitude that you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[775,776],"class_list":["post-98984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-elderly","tag-old-age"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34579,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-for-a-younger-woman-to-teach-older-women\/","url_meta":{"origin":98984,"position":0},"title":"Is it wrong for a younger woman to teach older women?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been in several small congregations and my wife has been asked to lead woman's classes or has started one where there wasn't one. The problem is that she feels a little strange about it because she is a young woman teaching older women some twice her age\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":96983,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/healthy-teaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":98984,"position":1},"title":"Healthy Teaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 27, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier Though there are some teachers who need to be silenced, as Paul explained at the end of Titus 1, teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach, upsetting whole families, Titus needs to teach what accords with sound or healthy doctrine. I have no doubt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69360,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/advice-to-younger-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":98984,"position":2},"title":"Advice to Younger Preachers (Hall)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall It is OK to disagree with older preachers. Zeal is commendable, and the young possess it in abundance. Here are five ways to be successful: Know the Scriptures: The more specific the use of scripture, the better. 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In my quarter-century plus of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61659,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-teaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":98984,"position":4},"title":"Notes on Teaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"All Christians are encouraged to grow to the point of teaching - Hebrews 5:12; II Timothy 2:2, 24 Not all Christians will be able to teach or should teach - James 3:1; I Corinthians 12:29; Romans 12:7 Age is not a restriction on who may teach. Young Timothy taught older\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92221,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/advice-to-younger-preachers-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":98984,"position":5},"title":"Advice to Younger Preachers (McDonald)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert L. McDonald via Expository Review, April 1983 When I first began preaching, in the late 40s or early 50s, I looked to older preachers for any help they could give me. I was delighted to hear them reminisce about their many experiences and problems encountered. Over the years,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98984"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98987,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98984\/revisions\/98987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}