After two years, the church set up a monthly group in the lounge using the ‘Brain and Soul Boosting’ resource from Pilgrims’ Friend Society. Jenny, although shy at first, began overtime to share her faith with others and publicly praise God in the times of prayer. For the others in the group, the resource was a great springboard to communicate the gospel and was a safe place to be vulnerable, built on the strong foundation of friendships built over time.

Church members moving into a care home may feel isolated and cut-off from the fellowship of the church; it is common for members to feel forgotten and abandoned when they move into a care home. Arranging for regular visitors, including members in church activities and involving them in meetings and decisions about church life, are all ways in which the church can help those living in care homes to remain active in the fellowship and maintain a valued contribution to church life.

Ministry and pastoral care to people living in care homes can be undertaken by many members of a Christian faith organisation – it does not have to be only the remit of the leadership team or pastoral care team. Indeed, this ministry can be intergenerational – involving a wide range of age groups from the church; it can involve single visitor support or small team ministries. Care home residents can be encouraged and enabled to attend church services, events, and regular activities; church groups can be facilitated to provide outreach and teaching to those living in care homes – e.g. small services held in the home, bible study, or prayer groups, children and young people visiting to sing, perform small plays or simply read or talk to residents.

National Schemes to Support Those Living in Care Homes

There are several national schemes to promote the pastoral & spiritual support of people living in care homes:

Care Home Friends

Care Home Friends is a Christian organisation that exists to support churches in making links with local care homes. They work to facilitate churches to ‘adopt’ local care homes, with trained volunteers spending time and building friendships with residents and developing good community and neighbourhood relationships between church and care homes (www. carehomefriends.org.uk)

The Methodist Homes Association

The Methodist Homes Association employ Care Home Chaplains who regularly visit residents in care homes, building up relationships and getting to know the life experiences and interests of the residents, in order to better meet their spiritual and pastoral needs. (www.mha.org.uk).

Anna Chaplaincy

Anna Chaplaincy promotes the support of local churches with regular visits to residents in care homes and the provision of small religious services to offer spiritual and pastoral support to those living in care homes (www.annachaplaincy.org.uk).

Pastoral Action in Residential Care Homes for the Elderly

PARCHE (Pastoral Action in Residential Care Homes for the Elderly) is a church-based ministry of Christian teams who visit care homes to bring fellowship, comfort, bible-teaching, communion, and friendship to the elderly living in care homes (www.parche.org.uk).

How Church Can Provide Pastoral Support

Here are some ideas for churches to provide pastoral support to those living in care homes:

• Identify and understand the services of local care homes in the neighbourhood.
• Meet with the managers and staff of local care homes, to hear how the church can help
  them in meeting the spiritual and pastoral needs of residents.
• Break down the barriers and dispel the myths and fear of care homes through fostering good relationships between church and local care homes.
• Ensure that every church member living in a care home is visited regularly and kept informed and involved in church activities and decisions.
• Invite and include care home residents to church services and regular activities.
• Offer practical support to residents who may wish to attend church, e.g. care, transport.
• Identify opportunities for church members to engage with local care homes – visiting,
  befriending, holding small services.
• Involve church groups in ministering to residents in care homes – e.g. bible study, prayer
  groups, youth and children groups visiting, nativity play performance, singing.
• Identify a pastoral lead for ministry to local care homes – to liaise with care homes, co-ordinate pastoral support and links with the church.

© Professor Keith Brown from ‘Guidance for Christian Faith Organisations in the Support and Value of Older People’.

In churches, the proportion aged 80+ has doubled or even tripled in the last 10 years. Across the denominations, this brings great opportunities for churches – to nurture, develop and value these members, to bring glory and give service for the kingdom of God. The challenge these changes to church memberships bring is to view those in the fourth age as a ‘gift to enjoy, rather than a burden to bear’ (Jewell 2013).

Despite most churches having declining numbers and ageing memberships, very few have specific ministries, leadership or missions involving or among older people. Rohr (2012) suggested that many churches have a ‘first-half-of-life’ culture, where the focus of ministry is on children and families, with the contributions and needs of elders being largely ignored. In particular, there is little focus on those in the fourth age – the ‘forgotten faithful’, who may not be able to attend church services, events or groups; whose spiritual and pastoral needs may go unnoticed or unfulfilled in most churches; who may have enormous amount of knowledge, experience and wisdom but few opportunities to share or use these in ministry or mission.

Ageism in churches often overlooks the pastoral and spiritual needs of older members, lacks sensitivity towards the changing circumstances and social needs of the fourth age and ignores the contributions of the oldest old to church life and work. Albans & Johnson (2013) commented that churches have yet to fully appreciate and engage with the ‘new populations of older people’ Churches need to develop more pastoral ministries, which focus on the spiritual needs of people, to bring together age-groups and counter against the ageism of society today; to enable the church to better recognise the rights of the very old to be heard and valued. Rather than marginalising and disempowering those in the fourth age, the church needs to include these wise elders, recognise their contribution to life and to the fellowship and celebrate their wisdom and understanding.

This is something that Faith in Later Life seeks to address. Sign up to become a Church Champion and have priority access to our resources.

Reflection

• What is the age-profile of our church membership?
• What leadership, ministry and mission do we have relevant to those in the fourth age?
• How much of our resources goes towards ministry among older people?
• Does our view and strategy for mission and out-reach include mission among older people?
• How does the ministry of our church reach out to meet the pastoral needs of the oldest old?
• How does our church listen to the needs and views of older people?
• How could we better minister to the needs of those in the fourth age?
• What assumptions and prejudices exist regarding the needs and values of older people?

© Professor Keith Brown from ‘Guidance for Christian Faith Organisations in the Support and Value of Older People’.

Wendy Dodson, one of our Church Champions, recently sent an email to us sharing an interview she did for BBC Three Counties Radio. During the interview, Wendy shared about her ministry with older people in her church and we were so inspired that we just had to share it. So, with Wendy’s permission, we have written the interview up into a blog format. 

Wendy Dodson is part of St Luke’s Church in Watford. She led a thriving over 60’s group called ‘Being Educated’ that meets every Tuesday for coffee, Bible study, expression, and prayer at St Luke’s Church. The group grew out of a social coffee morning that was held on Tuesdays. However, the members of this group said they wanted something more spiritual, as Wendy Dodson explains, 

“There was already a flourishing Friday lunch club for older people, and they started coming on the Tuesday morning. They were asking to have either an Alpha course or a Lent course. And that’s how it began.” 

During her interview with the BBC, Wendy shared lovely stories of spiritual renewal, reconciliation, and healing that God had worked in the group. This is what she had to say,  

“We like the idea of blessing people by giving them a nice cup of coffee and a welcome, then they feel they belong. One lady said that the turning point for her was when somebody said, ‘I have saved you a seat’. That is when she really felt like she belonged.

Having blessed people and helping them feel that they belong, we want to help them come to faith and believe because this changes their behaviour in the challenges of life.” 

Romans 14:7-9 says, “For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living.” 

We all want to feel that sense of belonging, of being part of a family, of experiencing unconditional love. But we all come from very different walks of life, and not everyone has a positive view of family. So, simple things like saving a seat for someone or greeting people at the door and welcoming them inside can let people know they are loved. 

I am often reminded of the words of Jackie Pullinger, a straight-talking missionary, who worked in The Walled City. She shared in an eye-opening interview that Christianity isn’t all about preaching, it’s also about acting. People come from very different backgrounds and they interpret words and expressions very differently. During her time spent in the Walled City, Jackie was asked whether it was a problem that she did not speak the language. Her response changed the way I thought about Christian ministry. 

“If I had known Chinese I would have said too much. I thought that preaching the gospel was explaining how Jesus came to die for your sins and, of course, that’s not preaching the gospel at all. Because that’s not necessarily good news to anyone who doesn’t know love, who doesn’t understand your language, who doesn’t follow your logic. So, it was a good thing because I found out that the people were not listening anyway, they were watching to see how I acted, whether I really did love them. And if I really did love them, maybe God really did love them.” 

Isn’t that beautiful? Sometimes it’s the simple things that make all the difference; taking the time to listen, making someone a cup of tea, phoning once a week to check-in, praying for someone when they come to mind. Be encouraged that God can work through the normal everyday situations to reveal His love to the lost. 

Wendy certainly discovered this for herself, with her over 60’s group, as she explains, “We have seen lots of answers to prayer. We have seen people who have not been reconciled in their families become reconciled to them. 

For instance, one lady had a son that she didn’t like but she loved her daughters, and she gave the daughters money regularly. She was very challenged by what we had been discussing and she came one Tuesday and said, ‘I just want you to know that I’ve actually written a cheque to my son’. That was a very moving occasion.

Another time, we were reading a passage from Isaiah 49:15-17 that says, ‘can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Your builders make haste, your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.” 

One of the women in the group became a little tearful and asked if I could visit her. So, I went round in the afternoon to see her. She told me that she’d been adopted and had never ever told anybody, not even her husband of her children, and she’d carried the burden of not being loved by her mother with her all these years. We were able to talk about it and she really found some healing from that which was wonderful.” 

Wendy Dodson and her team have been faithfully serving the over 60’s at St Luke’s Church every Tuesday for a long time and they are still so encouraged and overwhelmed by the many ways God restores, heals, and brings joy to people over and over again. 

If you have a passion for serving older people but you don’t know where to start, would you join our community of Church Champions? We encourage and walk alongside hundreds of church champions who care about reaching, serving and empowering older people. Maybe you can start supporting those in your community today by praying for people you know of, making phone calls to the lonely, writing letters, or carrying out doorstop visits. We also have a variety of free resources on our website to help give you some ideas.  

To listen to the full interview with Wendy Dodson, click here. I know it will be a great encouragement to many of you faithfully serving in this season.