Starting a Church based Nursing Home Ministry
While the major thrust of this manual is to help Christians in a nursing home ministry, this final part enlarges the scope a bit to help churches organize to meet the needs of elderly people both inside and outside of nursing homes.
This part is adapted from “Developing Programs for Senior Citizens—A Handbook for churches,” produced by the Delaware County of (PA) Services for the Aging, and is included here with their permission. We gratefully acknowledge the editors: Judy Oerkvitz, Louis Colbert, Norma Thomas and Verne Dalton.
INTRODUCTION
Churches have historically sought to minister to the special needs of widows, orphans and the aged. Today many churches are reexamining their efforts along these lines in light of the changing cultural and social situation. As concern for the plight of the aged has increased, so too have the resources available to the church. Health systems, social agencies and informational services all stand ready to provide support to churches taking on new projects or otherwise strengthening their ministry with the aging.
The purpose of this section is threefold:
1. To provide general guidelines as to how a church can plan a program to serve and involve the older adult.
2. To offer some suggestions about how to plan, organize and maintain an effective volunteer program.
3. To suggest ideas for the kinds of programs that churches can undertake to help alleviate problems faced by senior citizens.
This section has been designed to provide an overview of the major elements of program development. Detailed instructions have necessarily been omitted due to the fact that program development and implementation will vary according to the particular situation of a given church.
HOW TO PLAN YOUR PROGRAM
Develop a Planning Committee
Organize a committee responsible for looking into program ideas and developing a plan to extend the church's ministry to/with the aging. Ideally, this committee should consist of the pastor, one or more members of the church's governing body and several members of the congregation. It is recommended that older people themselves be recruited for this committee. The responsibility of the committee will be to survey the needs and resources, define the problems, develop plans for problem resolution, work to initiate programs, review t...
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...financial base.
Rotating Fund
It is inevitable, given our busy pace of life, that not all members of a church will be willing or able to volunteer time to extend the church's ministry to the aging. However, there may be some individuals who are willing to contribute funds, others who will work on fund-raising projects. These funds may be used to support programs described above by paying for salaries, rent, equipment or volunteer expenses; or they may be combined to form a Rotating Fund to meet special needs of elderly citizens. Here are some ideas for how the money could be used:
To install a telephone and pay the monthly bills for a senior citizen to allow him or her to participate in the Telephone Reassurance Program.
To extend low-interest loans to older people for home repairs.
To assist older people in paying fuel bills incurred during extremely cold winters.
To assist an older person in paying for dialysis needed on a regular basis.
To build a ramp or install a chair lift for a person who becomes disabled (to allow him or her to continue living at home).
To provide glasses, a hearing aid or dentures for a needy person.
To stock an emergency food closet.
Wilson, Barbara S., Arlene Flancher, and Susan T. Erdey. The Episcopal Handbook. New York, NY: Morehouse Pub., 2008. Print.
Mead, Loren B. The Once and Future Church Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier . The Alban Institute, Inc., 1991. Kindle eBook file.
McIntosh, Gary. There’s Hope for Your Church: First Steps to Restoring Health and Growth. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2009.
Mrs. Nancy Hamilton (changed name for privacy) is 95 years old female who resides in a local continued care retirement community (CCRC) located in the Los Angeles County. I decided to interview Mrs. Hamilton for her successful aging. I have known her for 9 years and her aging process has not been an easy ride but she always maintained a positive sprit that kept her going even today. Mrs. Hamilton moved in to a CCRC in 2006, two years after her husband passed away. Mrs. Hamilton has one daughter and one son. Daughter Margaret lives nearby and visits frequently and takes care of personally needs such as transportation to medical appointments or shopping for skin care products or clothes as necessary. Son, David lives in the Northern California and visits a few times a year.
We recently had a church meeting to articulate changes that will affect the church’s future. This chapter came in handy because I was able to engage the congregation by asking the necessary questions to get their buy-in before actually setting the change in stone. Although I ready to implement the change, it was not executed until the congregation saw it the benefits and rewards. This practice is not always the best way, because time may or may not allow it.
It is apparent that the issues are similar at Willow Creek and New Hope, as both have experienced great growth. They are addressing these issues by adding additional services and by assignment of small groups or small ministries to meet their congregation's needs. They have been successful in addressing the issue based on each church's individual needs. Willow Creek has added services to accommodate the service seekers or the un-churched. New Hope attempts to match congregation member's needs through joining auxiliaries or other ministries of the church.
“Reaching Out without Dumbing Down” seems to be constructed for the church leader, elder, or pastor who is considering altering their current, historic worship style for a more modern one that may attract greater numbers of unsaved people. She provides excellent standards to help Pastors and Worship Leaders plan, execute, and evaluate worship services. These same standards provide a great opportunity to educate the church family on the reasons behind the use of certain worship elements. Although written for church leadership, the everyday church member would also benefit from understanding the very concepts that Dawn is directing at God-empowered leaders.
Strauch, Alexander. Biblical Eldership: Restoring the Eldership to Its Rightful Place in the church. Rev. ed. Littleton: Lewis and Roth Publishers, 1997.
To start, I would acquire the assistance of my closest friends and family. We would go to each nursing home, sit with each senior and have a conversation with them. Perhaps we could ask them how their day was, what they had for breakfast, etc. We could take them for a walk, take them to their dinner, or anything else that can
Providing companionship is the top priority here 20% of the elderly population here in America suffers from depression. Now add in those who have lost loved ones, or whose relatives live out of state. Those poor souls are the ones stranded in retirement homes with no possible way to leave the building. The best possible way of any of them communicating with anyone outside of the retirement home are caring volunteers. Setting a program where volunteers with kind hearts to provide elderly with companionship will fill these prison like communities with life and returning souls. The v...
into a richer experience of worship and a more effect life of service" (Crabb, 1977, p.31). The method to establishing an
Young, D. S. (1999). Servant Leadership for Church Renewal: Sheperds By the Living Springs. Scottdale: Herald Press.
The reason I chose to work on senior citizen issue, because my grandmother is living by herself on social security benefit. While I was talking with her, I found she doesn’t need only money to live, but she needs help on house keeping issues like maintenance, and especially a need of someone who visits her once a while. If my grandmother felt this way, I guess there are many seniors in Atlanta, who might share the same feelings. There are many organizations currently active in and around metro Atlanta to look after seniors, but success is a little. There is a constant need of volunteers who dedicate their time and efforts in helping seniors, doing maintenance work, and delivering foods on festivals like Thanksgiving and Christmas as we...
Ritchie, M. (1999). Community bible chapel. The story of the church – Part 4, Topic 5. The Protestant
13. Describe how you would ensure subsequent monitoring and evaluations of the program. What steps can you put in place if the family needs assistance in the future?