Journal: Journal of Discipleship and Family Ministry
Volume: JDFM 03:2 (Spring 2013)
Article: A New Way Of Life For The Old
Author: Josh Mulvihill

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JDFM 3:2 (Spring 2013) p. 24

A New Way Of Life For The Old

Josh Mulvihill

Josh Mulvihill (Ph.D candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) serves as pastor to children and families at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and as Adjunct Professor of Christian Ministries at Crown College. Josh is blessed to be married to Jen and together they have four children.

Historically, grandparents have held a meaningful and important place in the family. However, changes to American society around the mid-1800’s began to alter family structures and grandparental functions. A primary concern for Christian educators is that Christian grandparents have accepted societal changes to the role of grandparent as normative rather than adopt a biblical perspective of passing the gospel from one generation to the next. Historians of the elderly believe “we cannot readily evaluate even more modern history of the subject without some sense of what the elderly are moving from.”1 What place did the elderly have in American society in past centuries? How did Americans view the elderly prior to the twenty-first century? What roles did grandparents have in the family? These questions will be explored in order to piece together a state of grandparenting in America prior to the twenty-first century.

Studies on the elderly in America show a steady deterioration of respect and responsibility from a once solid base. Some gerontologists hold to a nostalgic “golden age of age” in the preindustrial past and use this time period as a framework to determine how present day generations should interact.2 Peter Stearns, a historian, believes that preindustrial society should not be the basis for an evaluation of the elderly.3 Christians agree and look to the Bible for instruction regarding the role and responsibility of grandparents.

According to Scripture, grandparents have a vital role in the transfer of faith from one generation to another (Ps 71:17-18; 2 Tim 1:5; Deut 4:9; Gen 31:55). The grandparent’s primary responsibility is to teach the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord (Ps 78:1-8). A grandparent is to love the Lord and train children and grandchildren to fear God (Deut 6:1-2). The Bible speaks of grandparents transmitting godly values, beliefs, and traditions to future generations. Younger Christians can learn to ...

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