Growth through death?

Whilst I'm thinking about the conversation i had with the previous youth minister of my current church, i have thought about a joke i made and his response.

We were chatting about church health and growth and we mentioned how "oldies" of a church can sometimes hurt both.

I said... "That's ok, God will deal with them eventually. Some sooner than others."

Amazingly, he agreed and said that the church can actually move forward through death. Quite a Biblical consept actually... the whole life through death thing...

Now, i don't want to strike down all elderly members of churches. Most of them are fantastic and their death is a monumental loss to the body of believers.

But then there are others...