{"id":4663,"date":"2016-07-18T04:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomrainer.com\/?p=4663"},"modified":"2020-02-07T15:09:26","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T21:09:26","slug":"five-things-pray-will-not-senior-adult-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/five-things-pray-will-not-senior-adult-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Things I Pray I Will Not Do as a Senior Adult in the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

I received my first AARP material in the mail six years ago.<\/p>\n

I turned 61 years old two days ago. One of my sons says I am fossilized.<\/p>\n

I am a senior adult.<\/p>\n

Have I noticed any differences in my life at this age? Certainly. I move more slowly. My idea of a mini-marathon is running to the kitchen from the family room. I see things differently. I don\u2019t know if I am wiser, but I certainly have different perspectives.<\/p>\n

And I have to admit I view church life differently. In fact, I sometimes scare myself with my rigid attitude. I need to write these words quickly lest I become too comfortable or too complacent.<\/p>\n

I have five specific prayers. They are for me. They are for my attitude about my church. They are reminders I will need to review constantly.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I pray I will not feel entitled because I am a key financial supporter in the church. <\/strong>This attitude means I consider the money my <\/em>money rather than God\u2019s money. That means I am giving with a begrudging heart.<\/li>\n
  2. I pray I will not say \u201cI\u2019ve done my time\u201d in the church. <\/strong>Ministry through the local church is not doing your time, like serving a prison sentence. It is an outpouring of joy and thanksgiving to God. I love those churches where senior adults are the most represented among the nursery workers. I need to be among them.<\/li>\n
  3. I pray I will not be more enthused about recreational trips than ministry and service.<\/strong> There is nothing wrong about me getting on a bus and going to Branson, Missouri, or Gatlinburg, Tennessee. But there is something wrong when that is my dominant involvement in ministry in the church.<\/li>\n
  4. I pray I will not be more concerned about my preferences than serving others.<\/strong> I\u2019ve already blown it on this one. I did not like the volume of the music in the service at my church a few weeks ago. I complained about it to my wife. And then I was reminded of all the young people in the church that Sunday worshipping and praising God during the music. I was more concerned about my preference than seeing others worship God.<\/li>\n
  5. I pray I will not have a critical spirit.<\/strong> I attended a business meeting of a large church some time ago. The total attendance at the meeting represented fewer than five percent of the worship attendance. One of the men who recognized me approached me before the meeting, \u201cWe come together at these business meetings to keep the pastor straight,\u201d he told me. In reality, they came together to criticize the pastor and staff. I pray I will not become a perpetual critic. I don\u2019t want to grow old and cranky; I want to grow old and more sanctified.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Now that I am a senior adult in my own right, I need to make certain I am not a stumbling block or a hindrance to health and growth in my church. I pray my attitude will be like that of Caleb:<\/p>\n

    \u201cHere I am today, 85 years old . . . Now give me the hill country the Lord promised me on that day . . . Perhaps the Lord will be with me and I will drive them out as the Lord promised\u201d (Joshua14:10-12, HCSB).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    May the Lord grant me wisdom and service all the days of my life, including my senior years.<\/p>\n

    Let me hear from you. I bet I will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now that I am a senior adult in my own right, I need to make certain I am not a stumbling block or a hindrance to health and growth in my church.","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,184,175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-discipleship","category-grow"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFive Things I Pray I Will Not Do as a Senior Adult in the Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/five-things-pray-will-not-senior-adult-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five Things I Pray I Will Not Do as a Senior Adult in the Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Now that I am a senior adult in my own right, I need to make certain I am not a stumbling block or a hindrance to health and growth in my church.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/five-things-pray-will-not-senior-adult-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-18T09:00:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-07T21:09:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Five-Things-I-Pray-I-Will-Not-Do-as-a-Senior-Adult-in-the-Church.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"503\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Thom S. 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