I am often asked the question, “If you were starting a senior adult ministry, how would you begin?” My answer includes five components:
1. Finding, selecting, training leadership. The success of your ministry will be directly related to the quality of your leaders. Someone(s) needs to own the goal of ministry/outreach to seniors. My experience is that the senior adult leaders who are most successful have a genuine love for people in this age group.
In research we conducted with 500 churches that had a full-or part-time senior adult staff member, we found that the leaders who had received training in the area of older adult ministry were far more effective—and their senior adult ministries were more likely to be growing—than were those leaders who had received no training. We also found that retired pastors are generally ineffective as senior adult leaders … unless they have been re-trained in the unique issues and challenges of senior adult ministry in the present generation.
2. Getting factual information. Here is a proven growth principle: “Abundant, accurate information, properly interpreted, enables churches to be good stewards of the grace of God and effective communicators of the Gospel of Christ.”
How many people are there in your church over the age of 50? 55? 60? 65? What about your community? How many are homebound? What percentage are males and females? What are the various needs and interests represented?
The reason that gathering such information is important is that effective programs and activities will be based on the findings of your research.
3. Begin with an older adult ministry, not a senior adult group. This distinction is important. If you begin with a “senior adult group,” you limit the potential involvement to those individuals who see themselves as “senior adults.” Many other older adults in the congregation and in the community will not identify with “those old people.” If you begin as a ministry, all kinds of groups could develop; many of which might not even be identified as “senior.” A typical church of 300 members could have three to five various older adult groups, thereby responding to the variety of needs, and touching the lives of many more people.
4. Develop a Purpose Statement. A clearly written purpose statement will be the guiding light for a successful older adult ministry. This purpose statement should be “owned” by the older adult members and serve as a regular yardstick to measure progress. If a clear purpose statement is not established and pursued in the ministry, activities will become increasingly self-serving and self-centered.
The following is one possible purpose statement; use it if it describes the purpose you desire for your older adult ministry. If not, create your own. But in any senior adult ministry—one that is just beginning or one that is already established—you need a purpose statement.
Sample purpose statement:
The older adult ministry of ______________ Church has as its purpose to communicate and share God’s love to those in the church family, and to those outside the church. The assumption behind the older adult ministry, the groups, and the activities sponsored by this ministry is that they exist for the purpose of serving, not being served; of giving, not receiving.
In the pursuit of this purpose the senior adult ministry will emphasize four ministry areas: 1) evangelizing and assimilating unchurched senior adults, 2) involving senior adults in meaningful ministry and service, 3) facilitating the growth of senior adults toward Christian maturity and discipleship, and 4) providing fellowship opportunities for senior adults in their relationships with others.
5. Build a “Senior Conscience.” Creating an awareness about the value, the need for, the role of older adults in the church will help combat the ageism that exists in many congregations. When seniors are seen as assets not liabilities, as givers not consumers, and as targets for the church’s evangelistic outreach, then new energy and enthusiasm will be dedicated to the task.
A senior conscience can be built in a variety of ways; from the pulpit, in the church newsletter, through appointments to leadership positions, by events focusing on seniors, and through special recognition.
Don’t make the mistake of starting a senior adult group that looks like the one in your church when you were growing up. It’s a new day! And they are new seniors! And today the fields are white unto harvest!
