one of the things that has bothered me for some time about the way we do church is age segregation. Breaking up Sunday School or other small group time into age categories seems like a way to pool the collective ignorance of a demographic slice of people. In other words, why in the world would we put twenty fourteen year old boys together in a room and expect them to learn something useful from each other. It just doesn’t make sense. Teenagers need some guidance from grownups.
Younger adults need the wise counsel of older adults who have made the journey they are making. Older adults need to benefit from the fresh perspective, energy etc of the younger adults.
When I started a new sunday school department back in 2005, we made it “unclassified” for that reason. Our goal was to have a good healthy mix of older and younger adults in order to cross-pollinate across generations.
Ramblin Pastor Man had a quote on his blog a couple of days ago from JI Packer on Between two Worlds
Here is a portion of what Mr. Packer had to say:
J. I. Packer: We have separated the ages, very much to the loss of each age. In the New Testament, the Christian church is an all-age community, and in real life the experience of the family to look no further should convince us that the interaction of the ages is enriching. The principle is that generations should be mixed up in the church for the glory of God. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t disciple groups of people of the same age or the same sex separately from time to time. That’s a good thing to do. But for the most part, the right thing is the mixed community in which everybody is making the effort to understand and empathize with all the other people in the other age groups.
Go read the rest of it. Its not too long. What do you think? Is age segregation a good thing? why or why not?
Forgive me for being long-winded. I am still thinking about this and trying to integrate as much biblical material as possible and I would like to know what others think…
My thoughts on the issue of age segregation in the church are mostly practical, rather than theological. For example, we could go to passages like Ephesians 2- 4 and I Corinthians 12 and talk about the unity of the church despite the diversity of its members. We could look at passages like I Peter 4:10-11 and talk about importance of sharing our gifts with the whole body of Christ. However, most of my thoughts regarding the danger of age segregation in the church are focused around the practical mistake of separating younger Christians (either chronologically younger or spiritually younger) from those who are more mature in the faith.
With this said, on a practical level, I think it is possible to apply Proverbs 13:20 to the dangers of age segregation in the church… Proverbs 13:20 (ESV) – 20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
To become wise… it is helpful (not absolutely necessary… see Psalm 119:99-100… but very helpful) to be well-acquainted with those who are wise. Scripture seems to demonstrate this over and over again (i.e. Moses and Joshua, Eli and Samuel (maybe?), Elijah and Elisha, Hezekiah and Isaiah, Barnabas and Paul, Paul and Timothy, and, of course, Jesus and His apostles… just to name a few examples.) Off the top of my head, I cannot think of too many relationships among peers which resulted in either party becoming “wise.” (Perhaps Jonathan and David?) However, even the disciples of Jesus seemed to influence one another toward foolishness rather than wisdom (Luke 22:23-24 is a good example of this.)
This should motivate us within the church to be intentional about forging relationships among those at differing stages of spiritual growth within the church. In fact, we should be as strategic as possible in bringing together those who are “high-risk” for foolishness with those who are more mature in the faith. How can we do this if we segregate young Christians from more mature Christians?
Secondly, notice that “…the companion of fools will suffer harm.” In other words… those who are surrounded by fools are simply a train wreck waiting to happen (see I Kings 12:3-19 for a good example of this.)
Let’s be honest… age segregation often separates the wise from the foolish. How can a young person learn to become wise if they never associate with those who are wise, but only spend time with those who know God no better than they do themselves? Yet isn’t this exactly what we do in most of our churches? We send the kids off to “children’s church”… the teenagers to the “youth group”… the “young marrieds” in one direction… the “empty-nesters” and “seniors” in another. Wouldn’t we all be better served if we spent time in the Word and in fellowship together? Doesn’t the “senior” have something which can benefit the teenager? Can’t the “empty-nester” provide insight and support for the “young marrieds”? You get my point. It seems to me that Paul’s primary point in Titus 2:1-8 is that these type of mentoring relationships should be happening in the church. But that is hard to do… when we are all separated to different sections of the church.
Furthermore, although those who are “younger” than us in the faith (either chronologically or spiritually) may not have much to offer us in terms of growth in the knowledge of God (although we shouldn’t discount this too quickly)… they can often be a great encouragement to us. Their excitement and energy can often be infectious. It can be a great blessing to see the work of God in their lives and watch as they grow and mature in the faith. Consider Paul and Timothy’s relationship. Timothy certainly benefited from his relationship with his mentor. But Paul did as well. Through their ongoing relationship, the Apostle gained a “true child in the faith” (I Tim 1:2) and a “beloved son” (II Tim 1:2). Sounds like a blessing to me!
This comment is rather long (sorry!) and I have probably said very little of value. But I think this is an issue which we as the 21st century Western church should seriously consider.
Thanks for the biblical comment, Dan. Well said. I heard Voddie Baucham’s talk from a convention of Southern Baptists in Texas back in 2005. I downloaded it and I have listened to it several times since then. http://faithandfamily.com/radio/program/evangelism
I highly recommend it on the topic of age segregation in church
Thank you for the link to the message… I will listen to it.
God bless!