The Building Adult Ministries Resource Center is designed to assist pastors and lay leaders, missionaries and professionals in aging around the world in becoming more valuable in Christian ministry to men and women in life’s second half. To accomplish this, the BAM Resource Center will collect, categorize and make available resources to empower its users to more effectively minister to and through older adults.
Sometimes it takes a flood to drive a point home. Wes Wick My heart has no desire to stay, where doubts arise and fears dismay. Though some may dwell where these abound, my prayer, my aim, is higher ground. Lord, lift me up and let me stand, by faith on Heaven’s table land. A higher [...]
Index Card Insights Missy Buchanan I often have the opportunity to lead older adult retreats around the country. During the events of the day, I like to mix in activities that cause older adults to honestly reflect on their lives. Sometimes I give each senior adult a large index card and ask them to [...]
Staying Alert to Life’s Simple Blessings Missy Buchanan A few years ago, an older friend lost his wife to a sudden, unexpected illness and death. He was overwhelmed with grief and wondered how he would go on living without her. One of their old friends phoned him when she first heard the news. She [...]
Finding the Positives in a Significant Change Linda Sasser, Ph.D. “It will be gone before you know it. The fingerprints on the wall appear higher and higher. Then suddenly they disappear.” Dorothy Evslin One woman was describing her first grocery shopping trip after her youngest child had left for college. She said she reached [...]
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What Do We Mean by Spirituality? Nancy Gordon What do we mean by spirituality? Spirituality can include religious faith and practices, but can also be experienced and understood in non-religious ways as well. A definition that I like is: Spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express [...]
On Being Taken for a Ride A lawyer and a senior citizen are sitting next to each other on a long flight. The lawyer is thinking that seniors are so dumb that he could get one over on them easily. So, the lawyer asks if the senior would like to play a fun game. The senior is [...]
GOOD VISION IN A DOWNPOUR Some good advice How to achieve good vision while driving during a heavy downpour. We are not sure why it is so effective; just try this method when it rains heavily. This method was given me by a Police friend who had experienced and confirmed it. It is useful—even [...]
For the Airplane Drivers A priest dies and is waiting in line at the Pearly Gates. Ahead of him is a guy who’s dressed in sunglasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket, and jeans. Saint Peter addresses the cool guy, ‘Who are you, so that I may know whether or not to admit you to [...]
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Small Bites … Adventures in Downsizing Jan Kinzel Raising children and downsizing. Can you guess what these two have in common? Well, neither comes with an instruction manual! It’s pretty much on-the-job training. While shopping for some fancy built-in cabinetry, I met a young craftsman named Anthony. With an artful eye for detail, he will [...]
ILC—Anaheim 2011 CONFERENCE GLEANINGS Pat Korieth, Gateway Church of the Nazarene, Murrieta, CA They will bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh… (Psalm 92:14) The J.O.Y. Council of our church sent me, together with Roger and Marlene Bowman and Lisa Watamura, to The CASA Network International Leadership Conference in Orange County last November. I want [...]
Small Bites … Adventures in Downsizing Jan Kinzel Ever been ‘in a pickle’? I must confess that this article is the only one I have written with the main purpose being to deliver certain recipes. But, I have some fabulous recipes involving pickling! Those will come later; however I did get into a pickle [...]
Small Bites … Adventures in Downsizing Jan Kinzel Cleverness…..…Did you ever see anything so clever that it made you wish you had invented it? I did. Our quest to purchase a dining table that suits the size of a smaller living space led us to a locally owned store that carries only dining tables, [...]
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Milestone Reflections Don Parrott The 55-year mark is not a rigid milestone, but it does represent a very significant threshold in the life of a Boomer. Somewhere in the mid-fifties we metamorphose into a new stage of life…one in which we don’t need to prove ourselves anymore, and one in which we begin to [...]
Observations from a Youth and Family Pastor David Fraze Recently I had the honor of speaking at a 50+ conference. A student ministry guy at a conference designed for 50+ year old participants? Yep–it was awesome! I was asked to present some material related to Intergenerational Student Ministry published with the Fuller Youth Institute, [...]
A Trip Through Time by Lonnie Evans Are you a time travel wannabe like me? There are societies and cultures I’d like to drop in on just for a little piece of the action: Shakespeare’s England…Socrates’ Greece…The city of Atlantis (before it was lost)… Well then come on into the IGen 1000, time travel’s [...]
How Churches are Becoming Intentionally Intergenerational Article by Amy Hanson Article Summary Today’s society often segments people by age and young and old have few opportunities to interact. However, some churches are discovering that intergenerational ministry is a rewarding, Godhonoring work, and they are finding ways to encourage meaningful connections across generational lines. [...]
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Seeing ‘Seniors’ as Elders Jim M. Houston The title “Age-ing is for Sage-ing” is not mine. It is taken from a popular Jewish book, “From Age-ing to Sage-ing” by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, 1997. As a secular Jew fearing his own ageing, he sought the wisdom of Sufi masters, Buddhist teachers and Native American shamans. [...]
A challenge to Senior Pastors and Church Leaders John Thill The conventional wisdom of the modern day church says, “The future of the church rests with the young.” Driven by that assumption, many churches have chosen to focus their ministry on children, youth and young families. Sometimes this assumption translates into the neglect or [...]
May be Detrimental to Third Age Ministry by Robert Chism The objective of this article is to create receptivity for appropriate Church change regarding the social disconnect produced by age bias and greater longevity. The term “third age” was introduced by William A. Sadler in his book, The Third Age (2000). The term refers [...]
Dreams are Powerful Motivators Dr. Charles Arn Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center Senior adults in most churches have more available time … give more financially (one study indicated seven times more) than younger members … have years of valuable experience working in the church … don’t go “church shopping,” nor do [...]
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Book Review Leona Bergstrom Building Below the Waterline: Shoring Up the Foundations of Leadership. By Gordon MacDonald. “God, do you have a fresh call for a 60-something guy?” This question, posed by author Gordon MacDonald on the very last page of his recent book, Building Below the Waterline: Shoring Up the Foundations of Leadership, captured the [...]
Meet a contributing writer and his work, Charles Arn. Charles will be at ILC – Anaheim presenting, “Influencing Generations through Heart Transplants.” Heartbeat! How to Turn Passion into Ministry – This new book shows church leaders how to identify existing priorities ad passions among their members, and then how to help them start creative new [...]
Meet Contributing Author Missy Buchanan Missy Buchanan will be at ILC-Anaheim 2011 presenting, “The Far Side of Life’s Timeline: Reaching the Oldest Old in a Culture of Youth.” Aging Faithfully: 28 Days of Prayer Old age isn’t punishment but a gift from God, says Missy Buchanan. In fact, aging is part of God’s plan. [...]
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Now Available: Volume 2, Number 3 Lifelong Significance. In this edition: the story of the Koska family, grandparents raising their grandchildren and discovering how great is the heavenly Father’s love for all. Easy to download and reproduce in color or b/w in your church office. Give away to your small groups or Sunday School [...]
Latest edition available for download to use in your ministries. Read the story of a family who waited out a severe E4 tornado beneath the church stairwell. Missy Buchanan relates a classic RV story, but with a twist. Download the editable Lifelong Significance Summer template 2011 (docx) Download the PDF Lifelong Significance Summer template 2011
New Issue available for free download to CASA Network members: “It began in Munich, Germany in 1934. That is when Max and Louise gave birth to a baby girl they named Elizabeth. Two years later her brother Ernst was born and then Fritz the following year. They lived happily until Elizabeth turned four. In her [...]
New – Lifelong Significance. The inspiring story of Lester Potts, a rural saw miller who became an acclaimed artist after the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. FREE to all CASA Network partners! A brand new resource.
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Pastor Sharon has always been strong in all that she does. The first born of seven with six brothers, she loved serving in her community for years along with her five children in their activities. Then at age 45, the Lord placed a call on her life and today she is an ordained minister and [...]
Conversations with Leaders: James Gambone, Ph.D Posted December 1st, 2010 Leave A Comment | Edit Post Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center Following the completion of an M.A. in Inter-American Diplomatic History, service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia, and a Ph.D. in bilingual/bicultural education at the University of New Mexico; Jim worked as [...]
Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center The Bergstroms live in Seattle where Richard is Executive Pastor at Northshore Baptist Church in Bothell WA. Leona is Director of Lifetime Ministries, a division of ChurchHealth. She and Richard are Co-Directors of 2nd ½ for Him Ministries/Converge Worldwide (Baptist General Conference). They are co-authors of Amazing [...]
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