WTH? Minnesota Church Asks Older Members To Leave

This morning I was flipping through my news feed and I saw the Associated Press reported  Grove United Methodist Church in Cottage Grove, MN is asking its older members to leave...and it's not a joke.

Um, what?! My initial reaction was WTH?!

The church is apparently struggling and they plan to shut down in June and reopen in November under a new strategy. The strategy is to kick out all of the old people. They're saying, you don't have to go home but you can't stay here.

They want to attract new, younger families...which means they're kicking out their current members...who average around age 60.

Someone, please, enlighten me on how this is a good strategy?

How are you going to turn people away because of their age? People are upset, and they should be. The Associated Press mentions that when the church reopens, the 'present members' will be 'invited' to worship somewhere else.

You better bet, I'd be worshiping somewhere else if this happened to me.

They even sent out a letter which says after spending two years somewhere else, they can reapply to be members again. You've got to be kidding me. Is this some kind of sick joke? Who would want to rejoin after being discriminated against based on their age?!

This is extremely offensive. A spokesperson with the church said they won't physically remove an old member from joining a worship service, but the 'expectation is that they won't.' Oh, that's nice.  I hope your strategy works out for you.

Just when you think you've seen it all, folks.

(Associated Press via WJON)