Tips to Expand Effectiveness in Older Adult Ministry, part 2

Rev. Lisa Jean Hoefner, Older Adult Ministries Coordinator, Discipleship Ministries

Jim Frazier, a staff member at Vestavia Hills Methodist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, for almost thirty years, helps us think about how to make ministry with older adults more effective. He shares what he wished he had known when he began:

• If you have a church data system with members’ contact information, include the names and phone numbers of relatives in case of an emergency.
   
• Identify a church that is doing older adult ministries well and learn from it. Don’t reinvent the wheel! Look for churches with a strong older adult ministry and find out what they do and how they do it. Then adapt to meet your church’s needs.
   
• Consider offering a support group to help facilitate conversations between adult children and aging parents. Often, family members talk past one another when they try to tackle important conversations. An excellent resource for getting people to talk together about difficult topics is Missy Buchanan’s book, Voices of Aging: Adult Children and Aging Parents Talk with God (available from the Upper Room). Use it to lead a series on selected topics for adult children and their parents.
   
• Provide counseling or group discussions for people considering retirement. They need to have more than just a financial plan; they need to consider doing something that makes a difference in other people’s lives. Encourage them to read Bob Buford’s book, Half Time: Moving from Success to Significance.
   
• Use a funeral planning resource that can be downloaded from the church system, so that the children don’t have to scramble for resources for a memorial service. We have found that using a funeral planning book we can download into our church system is helpful for the family when a loved one passes away, and it’s less stressful if they misplace the hard copy.
   
• Provide transportation to and from doctors’ offices or the hospital. We have a wonderful ministry called “TLC Taxi Service,” where volunteers take older adults to and from the doctor’s office and the hospital.
   
• Consider providing transportation to and from retirement communities. This is an important service, but it can get complicated if there aren’t enough volunteers. Are there community resources that can assist with this as well? Encourage people to work together to meet needs.
   
• It’s important to visit and develop a relationship with people in retirement communities. It’s also important to take the time to get to know the people who run the retirement communities. Connect with the activities staff or chaplain. I have group lunches with my church members and also fill in on Sunday mornings and at special worship services. In some locations, this can be a ministry that involves other church members as well!
   
• Building intergenerational relationships is something churches can do well if they do it intentionally. Consider intergenerational events like Grand Camp and Grand Readers:
   
  • Grand Camps are three-day/two-night camps at our local United Methodist camp planned for grandparents and grandchildren between the ages of five and nine. They stay in private hotel-style rooms and participate in all the things people normally do at camp: hiking, swimming, arts and crafts, worship, and campfires. Shared experiences deepen relationships!
     
  • Grand Readers are grandparents who volunteer once a month to read to the preschool children.
     
• Care for caregivers! Caregivers sometimes die before the person they are taking care of does. I spend a lot of time checking in on those caring for loved ones. They usually forget to take care of themselves and end up in worse shape than those they are caring for. You might also refer people to some excellent online resources, such as caregiver.com, loving
   
• Many older adults have a sedentary lifestyle. Sitting for four hours is as bad for one’s health as smoking a pack of cigarettes! I encourage the older adults in our congregation to get up and walk around the house or their neighborhood. Maybe your church can start a walking group, a prayer walking group, or another exercise program.

Our next article in the series on expanding effectiveness in older adult ministry will address trip and travel programs that churches can offer to deepen relationships and foster spiritual renewal.

The first article in this series is archived in our resource library at https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/articles/tips-to-expand-effectiveness-in-older-adult-ministry.