KARA POWELL, JAKE MULDER,
& RAYMOND CHANG
style. Leaders experienced significant resistance from senior adults used to hymns, choir robes, and a more liturgical worship service. Instead of simply getting frustrated and admonishing an older generation that they needed to get on board with the changes, these leaders took time to listen. When they did, senior adults shared vulnerably that while they’ d experienced many changes in the world and their own lives, those familiar hymns had remained consistent since their childhood. The dependable experience of worshiping through hymns kept them grounded and centered in the midst of so much disruption.
The leaders in this church realized that it wasn’ t the change in worship style that the senior adults opposed but the loss of comfort and connection to their own history.
As leaders wondered HOW to keep moving forward, they wisely recognized that senior adults’ hunger for stability didn’ t lessen the church’ s need to change worship styles. But within their progress toward the future, leaders gained a greater sense of empathy for the pain behind the protest and adjusted HOW they paced their change. Instead of trying to push the changes through quickly like a microwave, the leadership took a slower and more deliberate approach akin to a slow cooker. In other words, they failed the older generation’ s expectations at a rate they could stand.
In the long run, the church ended up offering two different styles of worship service, one more traditional and the other more contemporary. As a coach for this congregation, I( Jake) joined a contemporary worship service and noticed a woman participating who was several decades older than the average worshipers. After the service,
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