The median age of the church I pastor is mid-50s but we have been experiencing rapid growth among young adults and families in the last 4-5 months. The Builders are a significant influence in the church.

That said, I wear whatever I want usually. I only own one suit and that's for funerals and weddings. :-)

I typically wear jeans and a button-up shirt or sweater or something. It's casual, but I'm not up there in a T-shirt and ball cap, if you know what I mean.

But, then, the dress at our church in general is casual, including among the old folks. I think it's the area we're in. Lots of blue collar folk, etc.

No tie. But if you had asked me a year ago, when we were in a different church, I would have said tie, suit, and perfectly coiffed hair!

How does your church reach the younger generations without offending the older? Or maybe your church doesn't worry about offending the older, especially if it's a newer church that was started for the purpose of reaching the younger three generations.

The church we are at now was started decades ago, before anyone thought about reaching particular generations. They do the nowadays popoular thing of having the "traditional" service two hours before sunrise. (Yes, I'm exaggerating.) Other than that, I can't see any concession to the builders at all, except for taking their money, of course. That seems to be the way in evangelicalism now. I think it's kind of sad.

I am a member of the Salvation Army, so my pastor ("Officer" in Salvation Army speak) wears a uniform, complete with tie (for male pastors, for female pastors there is no tie, although there is a neck pin). As a member ("soldier" in Salvation Army speak) I have a similar uniform, although my trim is blue, not red.

The link is a picture of the leader of the Salvation Army ("General") in his uniform. It's distinguished by the metalic border around the epaulettes.

http://www1.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_ihq_general.nsf/vw-dynamic-index/F555C0D606F267EC802571FB004F6238?openDocument

I'm 27 and like hymnals because I like being able to read the music on unfamiliar songs... Just wanted to add that...

Amen Saya.

All those years of learning to read music in band and choir in school, and now most churches adopt a method where you have to guess at the notes if you don't already know the tune.

I'm a buster, but my heart is often with the builders.

I go to a large church, a Calvary Chapel, but it's rather unusual, quite Reformed. Our pastors don't run with other Calvary pastors, but attend conferences of diverse leaders. (Driscoll, Begg, etc.)
Pastor always wears a button-up shirt, song-leaders, everyone around pulpit dress the same: modest, medium, stylish, but not over-kill. Sort of Target quality.
We have a pretty even mix of ages, which I like. The last church I attended was all Boomers--we needed way more wisdom.

I believe my pastors wear ties, but you can't see them under the robes. I think my worship leader does not, but again you can't tell. Any elder who reads from the platform or serves communion must have a tie and jacket.

About your other points, I'm a Buster or Gen-X, and I don't fit your model.

I prefer hymnals over screens, especially when I don't know the song.

If you don't hand out bulletins, how do you give people event info, registration forms, and responsive reading content?

"Older Builders don't believe in co-ed Sunday School, the younger builders and the other three go to couples Sunday School classes." Wow, I've never thought of segregated classes as a normal program. We have classes that are more or less age-based because that's who everyone seems to think, but many of us go wherever we want. The oldest class has many young couples who want to be surrounded by the oldest people in our congregation.

"Builders wear ties and dresses to church . . ." I do too, probably because I always have. Others in our church probably want to be comfortable.

"Builders want to be recognized when they visit a church, the other three want to be anonymous." I don't understand this. All I hear is that people want to find friendly people at church. A young woman who is new of our church told me she stayed with us because we talked to her more than anywhere else she went.

"Builders value sending their money to support missions. The other three value doing missions themselves." I'd like to know what my church thinks about this.

"Builders go to church because that's what you are supposed to do. The other three go because of what they get out of it." Yeah, gotta love that spiritual buzz. How many non-builders go to church on Wednesdays and Sunday evenings?

My pastor never wears a tie on Sunday mornings. He usually wears something like khaki pants and button down shirt.

I go to a large Baptist church that has a large number of members from all four groups. I fit the Buster age group. I’m 41. My pastor wears a tie to the more traditional service and takes it off for the contemporary service. Sometimes he has a sport coat on; sometimes a sweater vest. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in jeans. His wife always wears a pant suit. I’m glad my pastor doesn’t go out of his way to show how young he is (he is in his late thirties) and to fit in with only the younger generations. Our members wear whatever they want, but most are dressed somewhat conservatively with the ladies either in slacks or dresses/skirts and the men in jeans/slacks and a nice shirt. Some of the men still wear suits, but not too many. My husband sometimes wears jeans to church (and he teaches SS) but he almost always wears a button down shirt or at least a shirt with a collar. Sometimes when he is feeling hip he will ask me if he can leave his shirt un-tucked. I advise him to tuck it in. It is a respect thing and he has to interact regularly with men and women from all the generations so I feel it is better to be tucked than not. (I do allow my boys to leave their shirts un-tucked though.) My husband usually wears slacks. He only wears a suit when he has to serve the Lord’s Supper or has been told to wear a suit (he is a deacon). We get a bulletin on Sunday, but I never look at it. We also get the bulletin emailed to us (or used to). I never looked at it either. In the church bulletin there is also a little paper for sermon notes with blanks to fill in. I personally go to church because I’m supposed to and because I love to be there. I do not go to church for what I can get out of it. I go with the expectation to give and not get – if I happen to “get” something out of it in return I’m thankful, but I would go anyway. Our pastor reaches the younger generation without offending the older generation by being considerate of both and encouraging both groups to love and respect each other. He makes sure that he sits firmly in the middle of both groups without leaning to much toward either side. He also makes changes in the church slowly. One of the best things he did for our more mature members was to bring in a wonderful worship leader for them who has a vibrant old fashioned personality and a passion for the old hymns. He practically single handedly revitalized the dwindling Builder group. I think the guy he brought in is in his early thirties.

Realized I didn't answer any other questions you asked, Phil. :-)

We do a bulletin and nobody seems to wish otherwise, old or young.

We have blended worship, with 4-5 "contemporary" worship songs led by a band but these songs are more of the hymnic type, with strong theo-centric lyrics, developed verses, etc, and not much of the repetition or superficiality or triteness of lots of other modern praise songs, and then we usually have 3 hymns.

The band consists of one young lady who is 15 and then 4-5 other adults who are all over 50. :-)

The hymns are led by one of those men who plays our pipe organ.

Both young and old like the mix just fine: we have no worship style conflict going on, but of course older folks like the older stuff more and younger folks like the younger stuff more, but b/c we're all family we enjoy enjoying what the other appreciates more.

We try to reach the younger generations without offending the older by not jettisoning good, solid ministry and church stuff "just because" it seems "old."
On the other hand, we don't cling to stuff just because it's old either. Tradition for tradition's sake doesn't help anyone.

And then of course I do my best not to show preferential treatment to anyone. I've already gone on record saying I can't carry the student ministry banner to the exclusion of ministering to the rest of the congregation. Nobody has outlived their usefulness, as it appears so in lots of churches that are obsessed with youth.

Btw: The only comments I've gotten about my casual dress have been from older folks (as in, over 60) who are glad I dress "down" because they do too.
But of course these are "salt of the earth" people here: carpenters, road crew workers, dairy farmers, etc.

I'm 41 as is my minister. He wears a coat and tie every Sunday, unless we're outdoors at a park. I'm one of the song leaders and I rarely wear a tie, but never wear jeans either.

We are a mixed congregation of around 120. A handful of 60+ year olds, a hand full of campus students and a mix of folks in between. A healthy mix for a 13 year old church, we are blessed.

Raindream,

"Builders wear ties and dresses to church . . ." I do too, probably because I always have.

Ties and dresses? How is that working out for you?

dani-I would never put you at the brunt end of conversation. I have nothing negative to say. I absolutely agree with your observation on our mega-church. The young lady who was clueless on Auschwitz does not surprise me. I do hope that there is a desire to "google" or research facts presented from the pulpit.

Our pastors don't wear ties. We go to a Presbyterian Church (PCA). Ours is a good mix of age groups. We have Builders who dress down and Boomers who dress up and vice versa.

Lyrics get put up on the projector.

One of the things we're working on is "cross generational mentoring". It's annoying that a)there's a phrase for that and b) that we have to work on something that's so clearly Biblical, but hey at least we're going in the right direction.

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