Shortcuts
Wes Wick
Shortcuts. Good or bad?
We love discovering shortcuts that trim travel time or help accomplish tasks more quickly. And it’s fun passing these shortcuts on to friends who genuinely appreciate the new efficiencies.
But in the spiritual and church realms, shortcuts should have a warning label attached. Sometimes they cut God, others, and ourselves short.
Our hearts grieve when we see churches snubbing older adults in their efforts to reach younger generations. We know spiritual health/impact and sustainable faith are diminished when we treat any living generation as irrelevant and dispensable.
Ageism crushes the spirit and can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies. People treated as irrelevant can lose confidence and actually become less visible and relevant.
We’re also disappointed when older Christians skirt around the need to interact with younger people.
In our most recent YES! board meeting in Arizona, we engaged leaders in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties and seventies. It’s hard to put into words the difference this generational breadth makes as we plan for this new year and beyond. Truly amazing and inspiring!
Our peer-only attempts to reach those younger and those older often highlight shortcut shortfalls.
Engaging all generations requires extra work and determination, but it is certainly worth the effort. It also reflects God’s design for His Church: the interdependent body of Christ and the family of God.
Titus 2 affirms the invaluable role older adults can have in the life of the Church, but imagine how limited that role would be if we take Titus and other young people out of that chapter. And conversely, imagine young Titus shortcutting the elder Paul’s instruction by refusing to incorporate older men and women in his outreach to those younger.
Let’s pray for more young leaders to teach those older to reach those younger! So long, Shortcuts!