Stayin’ Alive!

Written by John Coulombe, Director of Spiritual Development, Legacy Coalition

Comedian George Burns, at age 95, had the simplest secret to living on and on and on: “Don’t die.” He did though, as has everyone else who was ever born. It’s an amazing statistic, as George Bernard Shaw commented: “One out of everyone dies.” And so it is with anyone or anything (and that includes churches).

Many years ago, I was speaking at a retreat center for a church. As I was cleaning up and preparing to leave, I discovered a piece of paper in a trash can (a weakness of mine!) from a previous group, which included ideas that came from their staff retreat. It was a profound find and included a comparison between live churches and dead churches. Note some of the characteristics.

• Live churches take risks – Dead churches play it safe.
• Live churches innovate – Dead churches stagnate.
• Live churches expect growing pains – Dead churches avoid growing pains.
• Live churches build up and edify people – Dead churches tear down and put down people.
• Live churches have lots of noisy youth (& Seniors) – Dead churches don’t.
• Live churches evangelize – Dead ones don’t.
• Live churches are visionary – Dead ones are nostalgic.
• Live churches apply the Word of God – Dead churches analyze the Word of God.
• Live churches pray – Dead ones don’t.
• Live churches move out on faith – Dead ones operate on sight.

Let’s thank God for the growing number of churches today that are praying, moving out in faith, and launching intentional Christian grandparent ministry in their communities!  

If you’ve wondered how to start a grandparenting ministry in your church, our Church Engagement Team has a solution for you. Our Starter Kit for Churches will help you equip grandparents in their biblical role to be intentional in perpetuating a legacy of faith.