I often tell people that I grew up in a nursing home. After I explain to them that my dad was a nursing home administrator when I was a kid, they shake the puzzled look off their faces and nod politely. I believe this perspective has given me an uncommon perspective on seniors.
I had a conversation yesterday with a lady who leads a multi-congregational seniors ministry who was decrying the difficulty of getting seniors to show up for their ministry. The days of the trips to Branson, visits to the museum, and potluck dinners have slipped past us. The former ways of drawing this crowd in do not seem to work any more.
In particular, the ministry she was talking to me about started in my congregation 40 years ago. That group was populated by long time Christians and ladies who had never been in the workforce. Today's group is very different. Many seniors today have not been life-long Christians, and many women at retirement age have worked outside the home. The spiritual makeup and the work backgrounds of our seniors today just do not look like senior from 40 years ago. But we are still trying the same old methods.
I find it interesting that 20-30 years ago seniors ministry seemed to take a "youth ministry approach" to seniors. The goal was to keep them occupied and happy. Where youth ministry had as a goal the approval of the kids' parents; seniors ministry tried to please the children of seniors. While there certainly is pay-off with happy people, ministries that utilize activity to attract must use activity to maintain. The goal is usually loftier, but the results are usually a continued need for bigger and more exciting activities.
I believe there is a threshold on evangelism that becomes difficult to overcome with such models. The clientele is always our people within the church with winks and nods to people outside the group. There may be attraction value to draw others in, but "you keep them with what you win them." It is hard to make the gospel primary when it is secondary.
My heart breaks as I consider that we are losing seniors to death at a staggering rate. The 65 and older population is larger today than ever before. However, their death rate per the National Vital Statistics Survey of 2010 was 4 times that of my generation (46 years of age). Almost three out of four deaths in America in 2010 were seniors.
Churches tend to reach for young families. They can be reached as a group. They are wage earning. They can be involved in programming and volunteering. Certainly all true. I was told once by a church leader that we could not really afford to reach seniors because they could not pay for our efforts to them. "They are on fixed incomes with little to give" was the rationale. Sadly their lost souls are as costly as younger lost souls.
When will we open our eyes to the great harvest of low hanging fruit that is just ready for picking. All we need to do is open our minds to new possibilities. The expiration date for seniors is closer than that of younger people. If we are not careful, they may be gone before we know it.
I may write a new book called "Taking the Old, Old Story to Old, Old People." Catchy, huh?
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