The media glamorizes people making the choice to defer marriage and children in order to focus on other priorities like career. While this is a free country and people absolutely have the right to live their lives how they want, the longer term consequences of this for many is not as well advertised. The proliferation of older singles in the pews is in part a downstream consequence of these decisions. The church should not simply become an underwriter of other people's choices to live life on their own terms. While the church absolutely be adjusting to the new realities of more singles in congregations, it should also make sure the role of individual choice in how people ended up where they are is fully acknowledged. And people should be challenged to make different choices going forward.
I also look back at a famous sermon on abuse by Jason Meyer, the successor to superstar evangelical John Piper as senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church.
Blog post on Jason Meyer's sermon: https://themasculinist.com/bethlehem-baptist-churchs-jason-meyer-thinks-kathy-keller-is-a-severe-physical-abuser/
Text and video f Jason Meyer's sermon: https://bethlehem.church/sermon/fooled-by-false-leadership/
NYT article on deferring marriage: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/16/us/declining-birthrate-motherhood.html