The Threatened Rant on Age Segregation
(If the Apostle Paul can use sarcasm, and I believe he does, I’ll give it a go myself.)
Of course, it goes without saying that program offerings, especially within the church, should be limited to people of similar age and stage of life and/or family status. After all:
- when God brought His people out of slavery in Egypt, He arranged their camp around the tabernacle demographically: teens in one section, with the college-age people right by them, families with young children in another area, and so on.
- a couple of times, I have lamented to someone close to my age that we were no longer eligible for all the fun stuff the youngers get to do, but not old enough for the 50 and up group. The answer? We need our own youth group! Because, of course, God sets the lonely in youth groups.
- finally, scripture is replete with exhortation to share what we have learned with our peers. Right? (It’s a bit of a joke around our household that the majority of the Titus 2 blogs are written by twenty-somethings. Correct me if I’m wrong.)
(end sarcasm.)
Now, allow me to say that I am newly convinced, with some reservations, that larger churches may need to conform to the public school model for Sunday School. And I realize there are probably two camps on this issue: one, those whose extended family members share both their beliefs AND their zip code, and the other, those who find themselves needing to form their own community.
But what is the reasoning behind all the segregation in programming? And how have you gone against the flow to create a more natural community in your own life?
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