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It is becoming quite popular for people to move into a 55+ adult community when they retire. Most large metropolitan areas, as well as smaller communities have recognized this trend and are responding with unique living environments for the active retiree. Del Webb, the nation’s leader in building active adult communities, found in a survey that 59 percent of baby boomers plan to relocate upon retirement with 7 percent of those considering a 55+ living community.1
These communities are marketed as resort style living with golf courses, recreational activities, and fitness centers. But what about the spiritual lives of the thousands of adults who live in these communities? Some churches are taking a serious look at the importance of evangelizing and ministering to older adults where they live.
May 6, 2008
Congregational Model for Caregiving
An array of ministry possibilities that embody Christ’s love for aging families.
As we go through middlescence, our children go through adolescence, our parents head into convalescence, and the "sandwich generation" often turns into a "hoagie." What goes for the home also goes for the church. God has given us the ideal design for handling the challenge in which we often find ourselves when caring for our older loved ones, both within the nuclear family as well as in the church family.
I’m suggesting an array of ministry possibilities that embody Christ’s love for aging families, while at the same time providing a model of how the biblical mandate can be lived out through congregational responses. While these are drawn from the ministry of First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, California, I’m not intimating that EV Free of Fullerton is a model church in this regard. Instead I offer Webster’s reminder that the word model is a “small imitation of the real thing”! Christ is our ultimate model for ministry (Is. 61; Lk 4:16-22), not the church. Yet there is much we can learn from one another by continuing to do church according to Christ’s model.The next time you have an event and are looking for something to stimulate a group of people sitting at different tables or in a group setting, try this. Find people that fit the descriptions and have them sign their name on the appropriate line. No one can sign more than once.
The next time you have an event and are looking for something to stimulate a group of people sitting at different tables or in a group seeing into conversation, try this. See which table can come up with the most correct answers to the following quiz. Our thanks to Pastor Dick Cooney, Rolling Hills Covenant Church, Rolling Hills Estates, CA, and Chairman of CASA Advisory Committee for sending in this quiz.
From the following vanity license plates, can you guess which “professionals” own these cars? Match up a numbered word with a lettered word.
The next time you have an event and are looking for something to stimulate a group of people sitting at different tables or in a group setting, try this. The following represent familiar words or phrases. See which group can come up with the most correct answers to the following quiz.
The “Crazy Quiz Answers” follow. (No peeking before the quiz).
The next time you have an event and are looking for something to stimulate a group of people sitting at different tables or in a group setting, try this activity. See which group can find the most correct answers.
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