The discouragement of "church"

I recently had the opportunity to be involved in a church meeting at a local church in our community and I was very disturbed. The meeting initially had a positive direction until there was a discussion about some changes being made to the edifice to make it more attractive to visitors and more functional for the current and future members. One of the things that was absolutely disappointing was that the church needed new pews, but the older members were so attached to the old ones that they had worked hard to purchase that they began to beome intensely angry with the pastor for even mentioning that a change needed to take place. It even got to the point that one of the older couples in the church began to exclaim that maybe they needed a new pastor who would appreciate their old pews. How trivial of a matter! I certainly am not suggesting that we do not honor those who made sacrifices to get us where we are, but I am suggesting that they allow us to honor them by continuing to advance what they have started. It can be discouraging to youth and young adults to feel as if they have no say or part in what happens at their place of worship. This also happens to those who have served long and hard to make the church a beacon of light. The older they get, the less they are heard. A happy medium should be met and we must understand that we will not be excited about everything that takes place, but at least we can appreciate it if it benefits the overall ministry.