i've always loved elderly people, and i've always felt like we dont treat our elderly people very well. yeah, we care for them. but we dont give them the respect they're due - most of the christian elderly people in our churches have 40, 50, 60 even years of Christian experience behind them - they've been thru wars, losing their long loved spouse - these people know what it means to trust God through tough times. I find there is a wealth of experience and a massive enthusiasm to share it with us, and yet often we don't bother seeking them out to listen.
but my biggest issue is that of evangelism of the elderly. i went to a seminar at the Northern Evangelists Conference last week called "grey grace" (sounds amazing in a Yorkshire accent) - and i sat there with my heart racing all the way thru! i love it when God puts a burden on my heart for a set of people or a cause, and i really feel this is the area i feel called to, and now i'm in the classic position where i have no idea where to go with it now.
the seminar discussed some of the issues encountered when trying to reach elderly people with the Gospel, by that I mean reaching those elderly people outside of our churches... some being:
- elderly people are massively set in their ways; if you think students have preconcieved ideas, elderly people do too, and with 60 years experience of consolodating them
- many elderly people believe in "God", but have no relationship with Jesus - making them see the importance of Jesus means changing years of what they have considered their religion
- elderly people feel its too late for them to turn to Jesus for forgiveness, as they feel guilty that they can't serve God with their failing bodies and often, failing minds
- many people are housebound, or in residential homes, and have no contact with Christians or way of accessing a church, or any events. this means the classic 'evangelistic luncheon club' idea doesn't reach everyone. door to door knocking is unfair on frail elderly people, in my opinion, it puts them in a position that i never would have wanted my grandma to be in, inviting a total stranger into their home...
- elderly people think church is something they had to do when they were younger, therefore have no regard for choosing to do it now
- elderly people expect the 'vicar' to do everything - if a vicar with a dog collor came to see them, they'd stop and talk. if a random younger person from the church came, they aren't interested
on the final point, this is where the seminar pointed was the biggest problem with evangelism of the elderly. elderly people in our church don't know the importance or effectiveness of relational evangelism. they think the vicar, pastor, elder, whoever... does that kind of thing, they invite their friends to luncheon club, are glad they listen to a Gospel talk, but don't see it as their place to do the follow up. of course i'm vastly generalising here, and know that actually, people in my church here in Liverpool often don't have this attitude. but generally, especially my experience in my church at home, and other churches with a large population of elderly people, older people don't know how to talk to their friends about Jesus.
having spent 3 years very involved in the university Christian Union, i'm slowly realising that its just the same issues as with students. Christian cliques, lack of boldness, not knowing how to share the Gospel with their friends on a one to one level, hoping that bringing friends to events and letting someone else do the work is enough to win people for Christ (obviously sometimes it is, but often it isn't - follow up is always the key)... Maybe the first step to reaching elderly people is training Christian elderly people to see the importance of evangelism and have the tools in which to do it. The seminar leaders called their outreach to elderly people "each one, reach one"... I like. It seems that, as with the CU, training people is the key. You can put on as many events as you like, but unless people are willing to get alongside their peers, evangelism often doesn't work.
so i dont know what this all means practically, but there's my ideas and my thoughts. i guess it's about praying and seeing where God leads me....
No comments:
Post a Comment