What do you think of when you hear that the epistles were written to a “young church”?

The biblical letters written to the churches were sent to “young churches.” This is what we say.

But would we define an epistle penned to a church today, which has been established for a decade, correspondence to a “young church”?

I suspect not.

But, this is what we find in the New Testament - Letters written in the 

and 60’s to congregations founded a decade prior.

Of course, this is not comparing like-for-like.

Theology wise, the epistles were written to very juvenile churches. Two or three decades of theology is still a young sprout compared to the two millennia we have today.

Theologically, no church today should be considered young. If anything, this term should be considered a red flag.

But, when we call the churches in the New Testament young, does our mind place upon that phrase our modern expectations?

Do we instantly, evenly subconsciously, consider these churches to be a recent startup of only a few years?