21/08/2026
What does it mean for a community to grow older without growing smaller?
I had the privilege of spending time this week with the Methodist Church Women's Auxiliary at their annual Connexional Meeting, reflecting with them on a question that many churches and organisations are facing:
What happens when the community we have inherited is ageing—and how do we create space for the generations that aren't yet at the table?
I was struck by the generosity with which the women engaged the question.
Because this isn't simply about "getting younger people in." It is about asking deeper questions:
• What is it about our community that is worth carrying forward?
• What have we perhaps become so accustomed to that we no longer question it?
• Where might we need to make room for different voices, different experiences and different ways of participating?
And perhaps most importantly:
• Can we honour what has been while remaining open to what is still becoming?
I don't think the answer is to discard traditions or try to become something we're not. Perhaps it is about becoming curious again. Listening. Experimenting. Making room. Allowing a new generation not simply to join what already exists, but to bring something of their own to it.
Thank you to the Women's Auxiliary for the invitation, the honesty of the conversation and the willingness to think beyond "the way we've always done it."
