What do you do when a new pastor only teaches "The Milk"?

[debrakay]

We have been going to our fellowship for over 30 years and are actually part of the group who founded the non-denominational church we attend.  Last July our old pastors retired and new younger pastors came in.  They are wonderful, great people and this is their first church as senior pastors.  They have a heart for younger people and even during all of the covid restrictions were able to bring in some new young families.  But during this first year, more than a dozen couples of the older group of members left the church due to the new pastor only preaching to the new believers and nothing for the older believers.  They also changed the praise and worship to be more of a rock concert than praise and worship, also to cater to the new, young crowd.

I understand the new believers need to be taught the milk of the words of God but the older people still need the meat teachings.   Should we just be thankful the church is bringing in new believers and let the older ones move on or should we ask the new pastors to include some teachings for those who have been with the church for decades and still need some stimulating teachings?

I would love to hear your words of wisdom!

[OneLight]

May I suggest having two services, one for the new and young in Him and another for the older, more mature group?  I imagine it is hard to bridge the two groups in order to find a "middle ground", so to say.

[Ancient]

Most pastors don't know what the meat is so they can teach it. Just because one goes to a seminary or bible college doesn't mean they know the word to teach it. Most seminaries or bible colleges are denomination based therefore they get taught how to run a church their way. We I here of stories of students going to these colleges and seminaries and say for eg there may be a class of 30 and only 3 or 4 are taking their bibles there is a problem.

Sorry but this is what happens. There is a tendency to try and be relevant to the younger crowd, running meeting like an entertainment event rather than making disciples and teaching people what God expects and how we should live according to His word. But to do that one needs to know the word.

Shalom friend

Ancient

[Alive]

13 hours ago, debrakay said:

We have been going to our fellowship for over 30 years and are actually part of the group who founded the non-denominational church we attend.  Last July our old pastors retired and new younger pastors came in.  They are wonderful, great people and this is their first church as senior pastors.  They have a heart for younger people and even during all of the covid restrictions were able to bring in some new young families.  But during this first year, more than a dozen couples of the older group of members left the church due to the new pastor only preaching to the new believers and nothing for the older believers.  They also changed the praise and worship to be more of a rock concert than praise and worship, also to cater to the new, young crowd.

I understand the new believers need to be taught the milk of the words of God but the older people still need the meat teachings.   Should we just be thankful the church is bringing in new believers and let the older ones move on or should we ask the new pastors to include some teachings for those who have been with the church for decades and still need some stimulating teachings?

I would love to hear your words of wisdom!

I suggest that a small group meet with the pastors and openly discuss the issue and doing so in a non-confrontational way.

[BK1110]

Get some of the older families together and have a meeting with the pastors to explain your concerns, in a loving way of course.

I remember hearing one time that John Calvin's style was to just preach directly through the Bible, instead of picking and choosing topics or having "series" like a lot of modern pastors do. It was almost like a Bible commentary. I think many modern pastors need to be reminded that "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." -- 2 Timothy 3:16-17

[Selah7]

Hello sis. . .  Perhaps forming a study group that desires to go a little deeper into the Word of God. . . and then a little deeper still. . .

There is so much to learn; we’ll never reach the end. . . and the best is yet to come.   
selah . . .

[Starise]

Probably one of the main focus points of this would be what we consider to be "milk". 

My own personal opinion on it is we sometimes periodically need a reminder that might be considered milk. All steak dinner taste good with a little milk.

Then what constitutes "meat"? Sometimes scripture can have one passage that is seen as both depending on the maturity of the believer. If I only surface read it I get milk. If I dig a little deeper I might find some meat in it.

I wanna say that deep in my spirit I think this opens up a can of worms because there might be different definitions of what the meat of the word is from one person to another, then we get into agendas that might be very individual agendas superimposed on the entire group. One member might say, " You should preach more on this or that", while another member believes it should be something else. This all probably makes a pastor feel like the congregation is beginning to dictate his leading from the Lord. I mean, the church picked him to preach the messages and seek the Lord's leading in what and how they are delivered.

I am beginning to notice this in many churches that cater to mainly a younger crowd. Probably all the more difficult for an older member to see a big change from a more inclusive church to a youth centered church. The idea is that strong families and godly youth make for a strong church future while us old folks are often seen as the old school passing away. I am always astounded at what seems to be an "either/or" situation. Why can't we include everyone? The music must be either modern or older music. Why? God's body on this earth has many different people in it. 

While most of these types of churches will point to older people and say they have this or that program that older folks can go to, in reality they don't walk the walk and instead clearly favor energies into the younger crowd. I can't lay all of the fault on the younger ministers since they see things mainly from their limited perspective and really think this is what they should be doing. It takes a very mature person to see things from all vantage points. If a church invents an environment that makes people feel good one has to wonder what the motive was? There are plans and systems that all seem to be very good from a fleshly view, but what about the spiritual view? There are many things done in the flesh that look like they are spirit things.

If a church is no longer a fit, I don't think it's a sin to look for another assembly that works better for you. This might be better than attempting to remold the actions of the present minister(s). It's probably what I would do rather than calling meetings and creating a stir over it. The people who are elected to be in charge are there for better or for worse. Sometimes they grow with the needs and mature. Sometimes they don't. There have been many a man full of gusto who leapt into a new church with tons of new ideas who two years later gave out of wind and left. Some things are often really better left unchanged. We don't want man's stamp on it, we want God's stamp.

A pastor's job is to minister to everyone in the congregation. Sometimes this might involve allowing some slack. If his main crowd is younger then he somehow needs to find a way to minister to all of them and also to the minority who are older. The funny thing is that at 59 years old I have come to realize that now I'm the old guy who was once the young guy who had this vision for how I thought things should be in my church. The old people were so behind the times. We needed new stuff to happen. Yeah right. What we all need is for God stuff to happen.

If I were in a church where everyone around me was 18-35, I might begin to question if this is really the place where I can use my gifts and be ministered to in the best way possible. I think churches need to be VARIED since heaven will be VARIED. IF I have something to offer those younger people that might help them then I'm all in. If I feel I'm a 3rd wheel that's a much different feeling.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Starise

[Alive]

Just a thought here:

But let me first make a caveat statement.

I think its important that pastors, teachers and preachers concentrate on expository presentation.

From there, what I believe to be true and have seen it play out over the years is the work of the Lord--the Holy Spirit Himself in a congregation. He will 'speak' to the hearts of the various individuals old, new, babes and mature what He wants to communicate to them. He will meet each one in the congregation where they are. When two or more are gathered He is present.

There is both milk and meat in scriptures in the hands of our Lord. When saints are looking to Him--they will get exactly what they need.

I will not now discuss provisos that exist in practical ways because the Lord Himself is Faithful to the needs of His own.

Pastors are learning just the same--only performing a function. Be gentle.

[johnthebaptist]

15 hours ago, debrakay said:

We have been going to our fellowship for over 30 years and are actually part of the group who founded the non-denominational church we attend.  Last July our old pastors retired and new younger pastors came in.  They are wonderful, great people and this is their first church as senior pastors.  They have a heart for younger people and even during all of the covid restrictions were able to bring in some new young families.  But during this first year, more than a dozen couples of the older group of members left the church due to the new pastor only preaching to the new believers and nothing for the older believers.  They also changed the praise and worship to be more of a rock concert than praise and worship, also to cater to the new, young crowd.

I understand the new believers need to be taught the milk of the words of God but the older people still need the meat teachings.   Should we just be thankful the church is bringing in new believers and let the older ones move on or should we ask the new pastors to include some teachings for those who have been with the church for decades and still need some stimulating teachings?

I would love to hear your words of wisdom!

When you are old and wise, who is left to teach you?

[Alive]

1 minute ago, johnthebaptist said:

When you are old and wise, who is left to teach you?

It doesn't work that way--the inter-functioning of the Body of Christ beholding the Head is not just about knowledge--its is about Life and that Life maturing us. We are being changed into His likeness one degree of Glory to another.

Christianity is Alive and vital--just as life itself is. When I was young, I looked forward to getting old because I naively thought I would have 'arrived'.

What I have in fact learned--is that the surface has been barely scratched.