What are the two most important questions any Church must ask about ministry to people 50+?
Rev. John Thill
Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center
To pose such a question is hopefully to trigger some intentional thinking about ministry to people 50+. The danger is that in the busyness of ministry, we just do what has to be done without reviewing the foundational reasons why we do them. When the principal of a Christian School was asked by a grandparent, “What kind of student are you working to produce from this school?” All he could offer was that he did not have an answer; no one had ever asked him that question before. Preachers are taught that they must be able to summarize their sermon in a sentence if they truly are prepared. Prominent in the business world is the theme of leading with the end in view. So what about us?
What two questions, if asked, would prompt us to improve our leadership of ministry to and through people 50+? The first is like the one asked of the principal. “What kind of people are we producing from our ministry to and through maturing adults?” Matthew 10:24-25: “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.” If someone in your congregation came and asked you what you want the people in your ministry to be known for, what would you say? If the question was asked of the people in the ministry what would they say? If the question were asked of the congregation as a whole what would they desire God to produce among your people? This would also be a fun question to ask of the church staff. What would be the traits they would like to see in the people you are ministering to? What traits do they see now?
To answer this question a number of things need to happen. We must realize how important the question is and not ignore it because it can be elusive to answer. Could you, in a sentence, explain to someone what kind of person you would like to see coming from this ministry. For example: “I would like people to say of our group, when they come in here, it is like Jesus walked into the room.” “I would like God to say of us what he said to Caleb – These people think differently and serve me wholeheartedly.” “I would like to have my people live in the love of God so they are filled to the fullness of God, trust the ability of God, and worship the greatness of God (see Ephesians 3: 14-21).” “I would like our group to be known for the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:16-26.” What are you and your people trusting God to produce from this ministry?
Secondly we need to apply the question to individual events, programs, and ministries as well as to the ministry as a whole. When planning events, seminars, dinners, trips and etc., what would we like to see happen in the people who participate? For example, we are going to go on a trip and want to see a renewed commitment in our people for “gratitude”. What can I do that brings this trait in at every point? What kind of trip would give opportunity to teach about and practice gratitude? Give prizes for catching people expressing gratitude. Watch for examples of ingratitude. Have people share what the response was in someone they thanked who normally would never hear gratitude. Plan a lunch where each person is first given a rock and nothing else and see what they say. Read Matthew 7:7-12 and Psalm 88:12 “Righteousness cannot be done in a land of forgetfulness.” You would want to have something beside the rock or you may have to teach on “thou shall not kill.” At the end of the day discuss ways that your group could take gratitude to the next level and report on the results at your next meeting. How could your ministry become known as the most grateful group of people in the church?
Discuss ways the people in your group could act on the emphasis of the event or trip. After a sermon on Barnabas, and the importance of encouragement, a high school student began “The Barnabas Committee” where Christian students anonymously sent notes of encouragement to the facility and staff of a large secular high school. At the end of two years the principal said to the student, I know you were the head of the Barnabas committee; you will never know what an impact this had on our school. What can we do to foster that kind of response in our ministry?
Thirdly, discuss with your leadership and ultimately with the group as a whole, what God needs to produce in and through our group at this time in our ministry. What would we need to start doing and stop doing to see this happen? Study Ephesians 4:17-5:21, Colossians 3:1-17, and Galatians 5:16-26 and make a list of what your group would like to “put off” (stop doing) and “put on” (start doing
Deuteronomy 32:2, 7 “Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask you father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.” God’s plan for “elders” is that they would declare his power to the next generation (Psalm 71:18); tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done (Psalm 78:4). The best definition of a successful ministry to people 50+ is that we are producing people who have such an authentic relationship with the Lord that their desire is to build God confidence in others and others are drawn to them because of the radiance and reality they see in their walk with God.
The second question is “How do your people view the second half of life?” Of course the answer will vary with each person in your group, but what is the general understanding of aging? How does your group see itself, those older, those younger? What would you say the general view of aging is in your congregation? What is this understanding based on? One of the more interesting things you can do is get your people to define successful aging, what is “old”, why is our culture so fixated on being, thinking, looking young? As ideas are shared, it will become apparent what the prevailing understanding of aging is.
One way to discover the commonly held beliefs about aging in your church is to conduct a confidential survey to poll people’s real attitudes and then present a report and contrast those beliefs with what Scripture teaches. When do the people of our church want to stop growing older and why? Is it forever 21, 29, 39, 49…? Since, barring an early death, all of our congregation will grow old, what are we doing to give them God’s view rather than the worlds. Billy Graham said in a Newsweek Magazine interview that all his life he had been taught how to die but no one taught him how to grow old.
There seems to be three typical responses to aging among churchgoers. Denial, Dread or Determination. The response is dependent on the age, life experience; Biblical understanding and life stage the person is going through. The definition of successful aging in the mind of the individual plays a definitive role in the response. If for example, the definition of successful aging is to stay young as long as you can and die quickly, denial and dread are most frequently the hallmarks of a person’s attitude toward the second half of life. If on the other hand, successful aging is defined as recognizing the seasons of life and living through each of them with God’s purpose, power and promise based on a Biblical foundation, the attitude will be characterized by a determination to engage each season with all of God’s provision.
A great project for your group would be to write and post a Biblical definition of successful aging. A good place to start is a study of Second Corinthians, especially the first four chapters. Some churches have realized the importance of this and have begun a comprehensive means of building a Biblical view of aging in their congregation starting with teaching the children of the church about aging and how to relate to those who are older and working it through each of the generations and ministries of the church.
Two key questions: What kind of adult are you trusting God to produce from your ministry? And what is the view of the second half of life among your people? The asking and answering of these two questions will have an impact on everything else you do.
Rev. John Thill has been the senior pastor of three churches over 24 years and holds a BA in history and sociology from Westmont College, an M.Div from Fuller Seminar and ordination in the Evangelical Covenant Church. He has been in the field of elder care since 1995 serving in retirement housing, as President and CEO of a not for profit elder care company, and with CASA and Significant Living as Director of Ministry from 2005 to 2009. He is currently Pastor to mature adults at Rolling Hills Covenant Church in Rolling Hills Estates California. He can be reached at 310-521-2524 or jthill@rhcc.net.