by Reverend Chris Holck

Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center

Sabbatical Study (May 2008) for Reach National and the Evangelical Free Church of America

PROJECT BEGINNINGS

My personal interest in older adult ministry or “senior adult ministry” as I used to refer to it, was sparked during my time as pastor at Faith EFC of Spirit Lake, Iowa from 2002-08. The church was located in a retirement destination, and I began to see the “age-wave” and it’s effects on the church. Growing numbers of relatively young and healthy adults were retiring to our area and too many of them were playing their second half of life away. A big part of the problem was that the church was unprepared to receive them and to help them find a place of service, even if only for the six months they spent in our location. The challenge of helping them to fold in, making them feel they had a new church home that needed their active involvement and the larger quest of helping them to find significance in their second half of life spurred my thinking about creating a more effective ministry to older adults.

I began to research the topic and even enrolled in a DMin program at Fuller Seminary in hopes of specializing in this new ministry to the 50+ crowd. My research led me to Don Wilcox of Leadership Network and Richard and Leona Bergstrom, leaders of the Second Half for Him ministry of the Baptist General Conference. My wife and I were invited to attend the BGC National Conference, 2^nd Half for Him equipping day, which preceded the conference, and there we had our eyes opened to a new paradigm of older adult ministry. We drove directly from the BGC conference in St Paul to the 2006 EFCA National Leadership Conference in Denver. As a result of my interest in ministry to older adults and the wonderful experience with our Baptist counterparts I decided to attend the Senior Adult Luncheon. After the luncheon I stepped into the foyer and ran into Steve Hudson. I asked Steve who in the EFCA was responsible for senior adult ministry.  Steve said no one, but if someone were to oversee it would be Fritz Dale, the brand new National Ministries Director. Providentially, Fritz Dale walked into our huddle and a formal introduction between Fritz and myself was made. It was the beginning of a partnership and I have appreciated his openness and affirmation since that first day we met.

E-mail from Chris Holck to Fritz Dale on July 3, 2006:

My experience at the Senior Adult Luncheon on Friday was brutal. It started with seeing Bill Hamel at the food table outside the Urban Intercultural Luncheon and the Senior Ministry Luncheon. I told Bill where I was going for lunch and he took it as a joke. Once he saw me heading that direction he knew I was serious and he was shocked at my decision. As I stood with my turkey sandwich looking at the two rooms, it was like choosing to go to a party or a wake. I went to the wake – I just had to see it and experience it. Sort of a benchmark for how low we can go. My new friend, Don Wilcox, from Leadership Network went with me because he is giving national leadership to networking churches that are working in the area of older adult ministries. He and I had been at the BGC pre-conference workshop that I told you about and since he lives in Denver, he wanted to see what the EFCA was doing in this area of ministry. HE SAW IT! There were 15 people in the room – two at one table, four at ours and the guy at ours starting asking if there was a program because he was ready to bail and go next door where the action was. He found out there was a speaker so he stayed. We sat there in relative silence until the former evangelist (Bergren I think) got up as the emcee. He read two jokes that had circulated on the Internet that were about funny things that happen when you get old. PAINFUL! Then we sang a verse of the Old Rugged Cross, a cappella and impromptu, PAINFUL! Then we did introductions. Then our speaker who apparently filled in for Rick Hawn shared some good thoughts on leaving a family legacy. He was a sharp guy who transitioned from senior to family pastor at Aurora, CO. Then we opened up to see if anyone else had something to say. I spoke just to explain why Don and I were there. I told them in the new definition, I was one of them (age 50+) and they looked shocked. I talked of how God has laid on mine and Kathy’s hearts to pursue a ministry to older adults, especially the “young old.” They nodded with approval and explained that this luncheon used to be a lot bigger but has really dwindled in the last four years. I couldn’t wait to get out of that room and go see what was happening in the action packed ballroom next to ours.

I don’t know how the ministry to older adults will play out as a KRA for the denom., but there is a lot at stake here. This group is huge and growing. They are full of maturity and resources. They need help in finding purpose and direction in retirement. If we don’t become intentional to this age group, it could become the weak link in the Free Church’s attempt to be strategic in reaching all people within the body of Christ. I know you can’t do it all, but could we help? I am fully employed as senior pastor of our growing church, but there is no doubt that I would be open to giving some time to this initiative if it aligned with the priorities of the NLT. We have nowhere to go but up, and there is a huge upside!

My suggestion would be to cancel the senior luncheon for next years’ conference. It would be better to offer a workshop or two and encourage those 15 people to go to another luncheon. I think they would be happier next door too. Just my opinion.

A partnership was launched as Fritz empowered me to keep searching and studying in the area of older adult ministries. My wife and I were funded to attend the national conference of CASA (Christian Association Serving Adult Ministries) and to join the Encore Generation Community of Leadership Network. I continued to venture into this world both as a practitioner at my local church and as a movement leader but I wanted to throw myself into a comprehensive study so I asked Fritz to consider a sabbatical study funded by the EFCA that would allow me to give 100% of my time toward the development of a new ministry initiative for our denomination. That request was approved and I spent 4½ months in early 2008 studying, reading, networking, traveling, writing and visionizing about EFCA Encore. I am grateful for this opportunity and trust that these findings will be helpful to our movement and fruitful for the Kingdom.

BIG ROCKS

• The entry-level age for older adulthood is officially age 50 because AARP said so.
• Age 50 is in the ballpark because the most common denominator in people’s minds to qualify for passage into older adult status is that they have more discretionary time.” They may be just as busy, but they choose to fill their discretionary time with things of their choice. Other signals of “middlescence” include bodies that are malfunctioning more often, a nest that is empty, a sense of creeping (maybe charging) obsolescence in their career, a lack of stamina and more thoughts about how they want to finish their life. Just the fact that they are thinking about the finish line (or death to be more blunt) would indicate that they have crossed over a mid-point in their life. Thus older adult ministry is more accurately defined by the “more discretionary time” entry-level criteria than by numerical entry points.  Not every 50 year old has changed their status but many have, like my wife and I who are 52. We are still actively employed and still have a child in college, but we do have more available time that used to be spent on our at-home children. To summarize, you don’t start participating in your church’s Encore ministry when you turn 50 even 62; you start when you have more discretionary time for it.
• The demographic realities predict an age wave that is more of a tsunami. The first Boomers turn 65 in 2011 and the number of 65 and over will increase dramatically during the 2010 – 2030 period with TWICE as many 65 and over in 2030 than there were in 2000, growing from 35 million to 71.5 million and representing nearly 20% of the US population. If gray hair is the dominant color in worship services now, just wait! Unless of course the Boomers all color their hair. The age tsunami is inevitable and this paper is the early warning to help the church avert a surprise of tsunami proportions. The power of the age wave can be harnessed for good if we plan ahead.
• Another demographic reality that is obvious is the number of spiritually lost Boomers. The mission field is vast and they are best reached by their peers so the Encore ministry must have a strong evangelistic component which recognizes not only how many lost Boomers there are but the fact that they are confronted like never before with the reality of their mortality and their desire to do something significant before they go to the grave. Good timing for them to hear the Good News.
• The whole concept of retirement has changed, in fact that word is being used less often because Boomers view their future differently than Builders did. My father for example worked HARD until the day he retired and then he flipped a switch and moved to the rocking chair, or more accurately to a little park-home in Mesa, AZ. I don’t expect to go from work to retirement in one fell swoop. I, like other Boomers, expect to throttle back and begin to work less and at my own discretion, but keep working nevertheless. A Boomer I was with recently summed it up when he said, “Retirement, whatever that means?!”  This open attitude about the second half of life is an OPPORTUNITY for the Kingdom of God when compared against the stereotypical Christian “Builder” who retired from church when they retired from their job, saying that it was time for the younger ones to take over. Boomers are living longer and healthier lives so they don’t want to hang it up. They want to keep contributing at some level, but on their terms!  They may or may not need to be reimbursed but they would like to focus their gifts, talents, and passions toward something significant in their second half of life. Boomers have always wanted to change the world and make a difference.  They’re not done yet and before they die, they want their life to count for something. Life isn’t over or necessarily even winding down, perhaps the best is yet to come. Encore!
• The older adults of typical growing EFCA churches have felt devalued. It wasn’t intentional; they have just been overlooked as the attention turned to the newer and the younger. They feel in many ways that their church has been stolen from them because of all the change ushered in that is motivated by trying to reach more people and the younger generation. Too many churches have done too little in the way of prioritizing the folks that have been there the longest. Sadly, they feel that they just don’t matter in their church any more.
• Encore encompasses both the Builder and the Boomer generations. Age definitions should not create barriers or divisions. A menu of activities and opportunities should be offered and the older adults will choose where they fit.  For example, a 74 year old may play in the tennis outing or go on the mission trip while a 57 year old may make quilts or hold intensive care babies in the hospital.
• Older adults is the preferred term over senior adults, seniors, or elderly. It would be safe to refer to 80 and over as seniors but why not just erase the word from your vocabulary and stick with the more inclusive and friendly term of older adults. The young old will stay away from anything “senior” but you have an increased chance if the label is “older adults” or better yet, Encore.  By our definition, Encore Generation or Encore works great because it includes both Boomers and Builders.
• A paradigm shift is necessary in older adult ministry.  Generally speaking, the traditional senior adult program’s primary agenda was fellowship with a secondary goal of Bible training. The new wineskin has a primary agenda of service, with secondary goals of fellowship, outreach and then Bible training.  Encore is less a “program” and more of a lifestyle. It isn’t something that older adults belong to; it is something they participate in.
• Emphasizing older adult ministry and unleashing more of the 50+ group into active Kingdom work leads to increased intergenerational health. Rather than walls of difference dividing the ages or different approaches to ministry polarizing groups within the church into age rated camps, cross pollination of the generations builds relationships and thus raises the trust and respect that they have for one another. A healthy church metric is when four or five generations are worshiping and working together in harmony.
• Along with the traditional senior adult fellowship priority came a strong component of pastoral care. Traditional senior adult pastors were often viewed as caregivers that visited the sick, the homebound and dying and they were responsible for the majority of the memorial and funeral services. They also planned some fellowship gatherings and some occasional “field trips.” The new model of older adult pastor is more consumed with missions and ministry engagement, seeking to deploy older adults into ministry opportunities that are a match for their gifts or “sweet spot.” There is also a pastoral care piece as well as fellowship and teaching but generally speaking, they are more of a placement director than they are a chaplain, more of a catalyst than a caregiver. There are different models to choose from when it comes to developing an Encore ministry in a local church. They can be fellowship centered, service centered, Bible study centered etc., but it will be important for a church to determine their primary purpose so they can measure if they are effective in reaching their goals. 
• There is an obvious link between hiring an Encore pastor (or at least empowering someone in the church to prioritize older adults) and increasing church resources.  Is there any other staff position that has such an upside? The Encore segment has the years of experience that provide wisdom and maturity. They have the extra time that the rest of the church people just dream of. They love the Lord and want to make a difference for His Kingdom – they are motivated.  To varying degrees they have financial resources, but the big picture is that they are the wealthiest generation in history and the amount of money that they stand to inherit is measured in trillions. A case can be made for placing an Encore pastor that pays for himself quickly. He or she will value this age segment and unleash them to finish strong. If a church had 75, 100 or 500 teenagers, would the church hire a youth pastor? We know the answer to that, but very few with those numbers of 50+ adults will consider hiring an older adults pastor, even though the return on investment is much more obvious with an older adult pastor than with a youth pastor.
• Our churches and districts don’t have many parachurch resources to turn to when they want help in the area of older adult ministry. It is not like student ministries, or men’s or women’s ministries or small groups or stewardship, where multiple specialists stand ready to come along side the local church. For this reason, an in-house denominational consultant is necessary. There is so much to be done in our churches and denomination as a whole, but in a larger sense, the EFCA has an opportunity to impact at a Kingdom level by hiring and turning loose a staff person in this vital area of older adult ministry.

PROJECT TAKEAWAYS

The following resources are my “A” list:

For churches that are ready to formulate a vision, one resource stands out as the best tool available today. Michael Kinsman is a specialist in older adult ministries and has served his Portland, OR congregation in that capacity since 1996. He has prepared a ministry development guide for people 50 and over and his guide is called, Encore – A Fresh Approach. Here is how the author describes this tool:

This Guide has been constructed to help you design a Mid-Life+ Ministry that perfectly fits in your local church setting. The method used in this book is simple. We teach you how to thoughtfully move through the process of establishing a strong team-based ministry. Our ultimate goal is for you to form a vibrant 50+ Ministry that will become an incredible blessing to your whole church, community, and beyond. This Guide works well for churches of all sizes. For example, with this tool, pastors of small churches are empowered to build a team of ministry assistants through a simple 12 Step process. Larger churches will save years of development time by following this plan before they try to establish a ministry for 50+ adults. Even churches with ongoing older adult ministries should benefit greatly from the ideas offered in this handbook.

This guide is available for only $20 plus shipping by requesting it from:

Encore
13565 SW Walker Road
Beaverton, Oregon 97005
Or Call 503-644-9104 (x-133) Or e-mail encorefreshapproach@gmail.com

There are other approaches but you won’t go wrong for the price of $20. Glean what you can from the Encore Guide and then create your own action plan.

If you prefer to have a church consultation, you can send an e-mail request to chris.holck@efca.org. Rev. Holck’s 22 years as a pastor in three Evangelical Free churches, his expertise in older adult ministry and specifically the “young old” as the Boomers are referred to, and his network of contacts make him a helpful resource.  He presently serves as the EFCA Encore Director.  EFCA Encore exists to reach and unleash older adults for the cause of Christ during the encore years of life. Chris is also the President and founder of Encore Generation Inc. which was created to assist Christian organizations in understanding and reaching the next generation of older adults. The consultation could be with older adult ministry staff, lead teams consisting of pastoral staff and/or laypeople, older adult laypeople or any combination of these groups.

RESOURCES

There are a few web sites that could be helpful to you and your church.

http://www.gocasa.org This site is for CASA (Christian Assoc. Serving Adult Ministries) whose purpose is “Equipping & Encouraging Leaders of People 50+”

http://www.sl50.org This site is for Significant Living, which is the parent of CASA, and a leader in 50+ ministry.  This site has many tools for individuals in the second half of life.

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/buildingadultministries This site is a partnership between Significant Living and Christianity Today with many helpful articles.

http//www.encoregeneration.blogspot.com This site is a blog sponsored by Leadership Network’s Director, Don Wilcox

https://leadnet.org/LC_EncoreGeneration.asp This site has information about  Leadership Network’s Encore Generation Community

http://www.halftime.org Halftime’s website has valuable information about making adjustments to find more significance in the second half of life.

http://www.finishers.org This site is for Finishers Project, which provides opportunities for short-term mission work for people in their second half.

New paradigm of Christian older adult ministry

Dr. Amy Hanson has written two articles that are must-reads. Amy was the Active Adult (50+) Ministries Director at Central Christian Church in Las Vegas prior to completing her doctorate in Gerontology. She is now an educator, speaker and consultant in older adult ministry and has contributed freelance articles to the following website. Follow these directions carefully.  The find will make your search worthwhile.

Go the Leadership Network website: https://leadnet.org/LC_EncoreGeneration.asp

Click on the Resources tab under the picture on the right hand side.

Choose Click Here to view all resources for this leadership community

The two downloads that Dr. Amy Hanson wrote are:

Churches Responding to the Age Wave: Top Innovations in Older Adult Ministry and

Creating New Opportunities for Older Adults to Serve; 50+ Age Adults Reaching Outside the Walls of the Church

You will have to go through the New User enrollment in order to download them but there is no cost to do so.

Helpful Books on Generational Differences

Understanding the Generations by James Knapp, published by Aventine Press, 2005

One Church Four Generations by Gary McIntosh, published by Baker Books, 2002

Who Stole My Church? by Gordon MacDonald, published by Thomas Nelson, 2007

Age Wave by Ken Dychtwald, a benchmark read published by Bantam Books, 1990

Helpful Books on Making Mid-Life Corrections

From Success to Significance by Lloyd Reeb, published by Zondervan, 2004

Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper, published by Crossway, 2003

A Resilient Life by Gordon Mac Donald, published by Thomas Nelson, 2004

The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren, published by Zondervan, 2002

Cure for the Common Life, Living in Your Sweet Spot, by Max Lucado, published by

W Publishing Group, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2005

Portfolio Life, The New Path to Work, Purpose, and Passion After 50,  by David Corbett,

published by John Wiley & Sons, 2007

The Power Years, Pursue Your Dreams, Deepen Your Relationships, Achieve Financial Freedom, by Ken Dychtwald & Daniel Kadlec, published by John Wiley & Sons, 2005

Encore, Finding Work That Matters In The Second Half Of Life, by Marc Freedman, published by Public Affairs, a member of the Perseus Books Group, 2007

Second Calling, Finding Passion & Purpose for the Rest of your Life, by Dale Hanson Bourke  (for “grown-up women” who want to make their lives count for something)

Published by Thomas Nelson, 2006.

THE FOLLOWING EV FREE CHURCHES WERE CONTACTED:

• West Des Moines, Iowa  – I held a dream session with a pastor and a group of interested laypeople who hope to start an older adult ministry.
• Fort Collins, CO – I helped them to plan and carry out an outreach event with Lloyd Reeb and I have participated twice with representatives of the church in Leadership Network’s Encore Generation Community in Dallas.  They are creating an Encore ministry that is primarily focused on ministry engagement.
• First EV Free of Fullerton, CA – They are leaders in the field with two full-time staff dedicated to older adult ministry.  I attended their one-day “Confab” prior to the CASA conference in 2007 and spent time with their two pastors when they spoke at the National Leadership Conference in 2007. We must watch and learn from this leading edge ministry.
• First EFC of Rockford, IL – This church is in the process of remaking their older adult ministry. I met with Pastor Chuck Rife and learned of their innovative new ideas.
• Naperville, IL,  – I met with Rick Pierson and learned of his personal passion and good ideas for an Encore ministry but he has been given so many other pastoral duties that he is not applying his ideas to Encore at this time. Their ABF for older adults is filling the gap for ministry to that age at this time.
• Hershey. PA  – Their inquiry led to a consultation in late May 2008. They have had a ministry for Builders but want to create one for Boomers. I met with the pastoral lead team, the older adult ministry staff and a group of interested age 50+ laypeople in three separate sessions.
• Indian Wells, CA – I spoke with Jim Smoke on the phone and learned of his very active Encore ministry. Jim is 74 and is willing to share information but not serve on any national ministry team.
• Arlington Heights, IL – I met with Ted Olsen and learned of his ministry primarily to the Builders. He is an example of an effective older paradigm pastor who is more centered on pastoral care.
• Hot Springs Village, AR – Mark Cain leads a church in a retirement community and is seeking help in understanding and more effectively ministering to the newer wave of retirees, the Boomers. Mark is very hungry to learn and I have shared some of my articles with him, which he has greatly appreciated.
• Boulder, CO – Dan Hauser is trying to start an Encore group but has not seemed very eager to exchange information and has not gained much traction in the last year.
• Charlotte, NC – I met with John Jacobs and learned that their church is ripe with the Encore Generation but John has too broad of duties to focus in on older adults.  He says that the Senior Pastor as well as their Adjunct Outreach Pastor, Tom Henry, is seeking to mobilize older adults into active and fruitful ministry.
• Southern Gables, Denver, CO  – I spoke with Jerry Nelson and learned of their approach to move retirees into a volunteer adjunct staff status so they can use their gifts and passions in a more empowered way in the church by donating 20 hours per week.  They have had as many as eight but presently have 5 or 6 adjunct staff.
• Arroyo Grande, CA – They have an active older adults ministry that appears to be quite innovative. They have a disproportionate number of older adults in the church and they have made them a priority. They had a well-respected pastor serving in this area of ministry but he had a moral failure in January 2008.

I’m sure I missed some churches but I have tried to “sniff out” the players in older adult ministry in our movement. Other churches that may be worth pursuing include Vista, CA,  Redlands, CA,  Lakeville, MN, and San Jose, CA.  Beyond this list, I am unaware of significant intentional ministries to older adults.  It seems obvious that our movement is quite weak in this area of ministry. It is very obvious that the typical retirement destinations of Florida, Texas and Arizona are absent from the list. We have only one church located in a senior community (Hot Springs Village, AR) and some that are adjacent to them like Georgetown EFC near Sun City Texas, and the EFC in Mesa, AZ, but neither have a strategy to reach the demographic at their front door.

NETWORKING WITH LIKE-MINDED ORGANIZATIONS

• Every effort should be made to stay connected to Leadership Network’s  Encore Generation Leadership Community.  Presently, Don Wilcox of Leadership Network has become one of, if not THE foremost authority on innovative older adult ministry in America.
• The jury is out on whether CASA (Christian Association Serving Adult Ministries) and their parent organization, Significant Living/Total Living Network can successfully transition to the new paradigm of older adult ministry.  They want to, they need to, but can they?  At this time, they are the only organization serving and equipping leaders and their churches but they have two biases that hurt them.  The first is their California emphasis and the second is their Builder emphasis.  It is ironic that the very thing that American churches need help with, that is, reinventing their older adult ministries so they are appropriate for the “young old” is the area where CASA itself is struggling.  If they succeed in making the transition, I suggest that our movement be a full partner with them.  If they cannot, I suggest that we band together with other organizations and do a new thing. My recent visit to their office/studio and visit with their leadership team raised my expectations for a successful navigation from a California based organization that catered to Builders to a national organization that clearly is targeting the young old as much as, if not more than the old old.  They are poised to advance this paradigm shift at a faster pace than any other organization I am aware of.
• The Baptist General Conference (BGC) is 5-10 years ahead of our own Encore movement in their recognition and response to the changing nature of older adult ministries. They presently have a couple on part-time paid staff at a national level and it is critical to foster a relationship with them both to learn from them and to work together with them. My wife and I have spent time with them and desire to continue to be mentored by them. To some extent, the Covenant and C&MA denominations are “players” and should be communicated with, but the BGC is by far the most forward thinking of the bunch.
• Lifeway Publishers has staff dedicated to older adult issues and of course out of the giant association of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) churches there are a number of them that are doing outstanding work in the area of older adults. A link with Lifeway would be helpful.
• Leadership Journal has recently created an older adult ministry web site and blog in cooperation with CASA. This web-site could prove to be the central terminal where older adult leaders and older adults go for information and guidance but if it is not, a site is needed that will be the hub that both collects and disseminates the latest information and opportunities in the world of older adult ministries.
• The final resource that must be networked with is AARP. Regardless of political views or preconceived ideas, AARP is THE common denominator for people over 50.  A finger must be kept on their pulse if for no other reason, to learn what older adults are thinking about and interested in.

SUMMARY

First of all, let me commend the EFCA and particularly Fritz Dale for having the foresight to launch this study. I am personally grateful for the opportunity to spend my sabbatical immersing myself in this new world of older adult ministry. I have appreciated the permission to travel, network, write and dream about how the Evangelical Free Church could once again be a leader in the larger Evangelical movement by proving to be ahead of the curve in this area of ministry.

I would ask that the visionary leaders of the Evangelical Free Church of America pray about and discuss the impact they wish to make in the EFCA Encore ministry. Little impact or big impact? Big impact translates into more second half Christians mobilized for dynamic Kingdom ministry and more second half non-Christians reached with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ and more churches and districts experiencing greater health as a result of intergenerational cooperation and respect.

Little impact translates into a movement that gives lip service to an initiative but does not deploy the necessary resources to advance that initiative in a noticeable and/or fruitful way. Resources cost money and involve staff, marketing, promotion, travel, networking and steps of faith that may or may not succeed. I call on the Directional Team and the EFCA Board of Directors to strive for big impact, Kingdom impact that is. The end goal is to assist EFCA churches and districts (and beyond the EFCA movement) to unleash older adults for the cause of Christ during their encore years of life. Please consider adding staff for this initiative so that he or she can develop a National Encore Team and be turned loose to unleash this mighty Encore army of 50+ Christ-followers for an encore that truly was “the best saved for last.”