50 years have come and gone. A once apparently timeless chuch had a clear future in site. What historical or cultural event took place at the start of the 1960s that altered the socio-economic forces of contemporary society? Can it be counteracted realistically or what adaptations can be set in place to thrive in such a culture? Did the seeds of this history-altering force originate even earlier in another decade?
Specifically, what can we do to ensure that the Youth, a demographic group that is essential to ensure the survival of any religious or sociological movement or body, become an integral part of both the church's present and future existence?
The events or forces I am referring to can be found in news media and history books of both the 1950s and the 1960s. The solutions to the problem at hand is not so evident.
We can perhaps study the ways other organizations or movements have employed to guarantee both their survival and their success. That is, of course, no guarantee that the methods used by others will work in solving the problem at hand.
Surviving at any cost sometimes does more harm than good. History is full of cases where a movement or organization has changed so much that its founders would mistake it for another entity altogether?
How important is it that any movement or social entity be true to its founding ideals? Is success at any cost always appropriate for every group or movement?
In the case of an organization, company or philosophical movement adaptation at an price could be justified. In the case of the religious movement at hand that might not be wise.
History is rife with examples of groups or movements that have survived and have caused more harm than good. More importantly, sometimes the dogged survival of a movement or entity has prevented the formation of natural mutations or developments that would have done much good had they been given a chance to develop.
Sometimes selfishness and pride are at the heart of the persistence of a good thing whose time has come and gone.
Finally, if the religious entity being considered presently exists because God meant for it to exist then it will thrive if he wills it to continue existing in whatever form or stage that it is meant to exist.