American churches are dealing with a challenge similar to the dilemma faced by the major political parties: How do you keep your “base” involved while appealing to a broader range of new, preferably younger, people?

It’s no secret that many U.S. church groups — including evangelicals — are struggling to keep their own kids from dropping out of church involvement as they finish school and enter adulthood. Attracting children, teens and young adults with no Christian background in an increasingly secular society is an even bigger task. The growing youth vacuum has caused concern, even panic, in plenty of pastors’ studies and denominational offices. Without new blood and a continuing infusion of young leaders, churches face a bleak future.

Meanwhile, the generational “base” of many churches is now the baby boomers, the 76-million-member cohort of Americans born between 1946 and 1964. Yep, I’m a loud-‘n-proud member of that ever-vocal group. The oldest of us have surpassed traditional retirement age; the youngest are rapidly approaching the big 5-0. But 50 is a lot younger than it used to be — or so we like to think — as life expectancies lengthen and folks stay healthy and active for decades into what was once considered old age.

If you’re a church leader trying to figure out how to keep us 50-somethings involved while reaching out to younger people, I recommend the advice of Matt Thornhill, one of the smartest guys around when it comes to all things boomer. He is president and founder of The Boomer Project, a marketing research group that studies the boomer generation and provides key data to corporations, nonprofits, government agencies, media outlets — and faith groups.

In a recent article, “Activating boomers to save churches,” Thornhill writes about a 56-year-old church member who organized a weekend mission trip to build ramps for wheelchair-bound people in a poverty-stricken area. The eight adults he recruited to participate in the project ranged in age from 24 to 72.

“Upon their return from the mission, the first question all of them, including the young adult men who went, asked was: ‘When can we do something like this again?'” Thornhill reports. “That question is music to the ears of anyone involved in running a church today. That’s because church membership and participation among the younger generations has fallen to the lowest levels ever, according to the National Opinion Research Center’s General Social Surveys, conducted annually since 1972.

[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The source for this document was originally published on Baptist Press—however, the link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed.]