Generational tightrope walking

The young are to be ignored. They want to change everything.
The old are to be ignored. They cling rigidly to tradition.
Families are nice, but their kids should be "seen and not heard."

Sometimes the church will cut off its nose to spite its face.

During the farewell sermon my minster gave he mentioned something that had been bouncing around my head a while.

Although churches would never act like the italicised intro to the post, all too often they hobble themselves due to the focus they give to one generation.

If one generation, no matter if it is kids & teens, young adults, young families or retirees, is given the lion's share of attention (usually resulting in a larger proportion of this group) then the church community becomes unbalanced.

And it loses what the other generations bring to the table.

Churches lose tradition and the value of life experience if the "oldies" are missing.
Churches lose the blessing of witnessing toddlers grow and discover their world by excluding young families.
Churches lose the enthusiasm and vigor for transformation of teens if they exclude them.

Each generation offers more then what was listed above, but the Body of Christ works best when there is a generational balance brought about by acceptance of all.

If it takes a "village" to raise a child, then surely we should strive to include the entire spectrum of ages...