Why does there seem to be more older people in churches?

Wow. Interesting discussion for me. My daughter is in her first year at seminary. I think her interest and calling at this age was helped by having a strong youth program at our church. It is sad to hear the youth leaving your churches.

As for the initial question I would say by the time one is of a certain age, there has been at least one situation in their life that they would not have gotten through without their faith in the Lord. I have been a 'Christian" my entire life. I would say it has been the past 7 years where I have gone deeper in my faith and relationship with God. My daughter's example of faith probably helped to deepen my own. Aside from the question of salvation, I am not sure how you get through the struggles in life without that faith. This world will always let us down. Our church has become like a family to us.

As for the thought of going to church to "be good", that isn't how it works. One doesn't 'earn' their way into heaven.

I do find the comments about what is driving people away interesting and sad, given my daughters future vocation. I have seen some metrics on numbers of people moving toward non-denominational churches, which I'm not sure of the cause. While I think the church needs to "change" to grow, I'm not sure what that needs to look like. Without question the core message needs to remain the same. ...While an all music service may be a nice "event", it doesn't "feed" people spiritually.
 

Our church does have a small congregation of younger people but there is a disconnect between this group and the older members. They attend on Sunday evenings for an informal meeting where participation and discussion is encouraged. They don't come for the music because there is mostly none. We (I occasionally attend this service) sit in a circle with water and some refreshments in front of us and half way through we take a break for coffee and a light supper. In the main, the lectionary is followed but occasionally there is a themed series. The 'young' folk are highly educated with post grad degrees and very committed to following the path of Jesus and to social justice. Their opinions and insights are important elements of the meeting.

Our Christmas Eve service is also a bit unusual. The atmosphere is created with dim lights and candles and we sing familiar carols and hear a commentary of the birth narratives that always contains a challenge to our thinking and lifestyle. This is popular with every age group from little children to the very old. There are some faces there that do not appear throughout the year but they love this service and come with their families. The same thing happens at our Holy Thursday Tenebrae Service.

People will come to church when they experience something that is relevant to their lives, both in terms of the message and the manner of its delivery. It is wrong of the old people to insist that nothing changes because that is how you kill off a church community.
 

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