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    Senior Adult Ministry Volunteer Handbook
    Senior Adult Ministry Volunteer Handbook
    Senior Adult Ministry Volunteer Handbook
    Ebook192 pages1 hour

    Senior Adult Ministry Volunteer Handbook

    By Mikal Keefer

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Take your Senior Adult Ministry to the Next Level

    That's what will happen when you train and equip your Senior Adult Ministry volunteers not just to minister to seniors, but also to minister with them. Help deepen seniors' faith and grow their friendships with one another, your team, and with God.

    &

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOutreach, Inc.
    Release dateJun 15, 2022
    ISBN9781951304911
    Senior Adult Ministry Volunteer Handbook

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      Book preview

      Senior Adult Ministry Volunteer Handbook - Mikal Keefer

      Copyright © 2022 Outreach, Inc.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

      Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

      First Edition: Year 2022

      Senior Adult Ministry Volunteer Handbook / Outreach, Inc.

      Paperback ISBN: 978-1-951304-90-4

      eBook ISBN: 978-1-951304-91-1

      Contents

      Introduction to the Outreach Ministry Guides Series

      Introduction to theSenior Adult Ministry Volunteer Handbook

      Section 1 Senior Adult Ministry Foundations

      Chapter 1   What The Bible Says About Senior Adult Ministry

      Chapter 2   Why Your Senior Adult Ministry Matters

      Chapter 3   Qualities Of An Effective Senior Adult Ministry

      Section 2 The Anatomy Of An Effective Senior Adult Ministry

      Chapter 4   Models Of Senior Adult Ministry

      Chapter 5   Sorting Out The Seniors

      Chapter 6   Qualities Of Effective Senior Adult Ministry Volunteers

      Section 3 Senior Adult Ministry Ideas, Tips, And Tools

      Chapter 7   15 Ideas To Energize Sunday School For Seniors

      Chapter 8   Guiding Seniors Through Change

      Chapter 9   In-Reach To Seniors

      Chapter 10   Outreach To Seniors

      Chapter 11   Engaging Go-Go’s, Slow-Go’s, And No-Go’s

      Chapter 12   13 Senior-Sized Service Projects

      Chapter 13   Short-Term Mission Opportunities

      Chapter 14   Scriptures That Speak To The Needs Of Seniors

      Chapter 15   Helping Seniors Deal With Loneliness And Grief

      Chapter 16   Becoming A Listening Place

      Chapter 17   The Grandchild Connection

      Chapter 18   Honoring Seniors

      Chapter 19   Do’s, Don’ts, And Tips To Try

      Chapter 20   In Case Of Emergency

      Chapter 21   Job Description Template

      Chapter 22   Discussion Questions

      Chapter 23   Recommended Resources

      About the Contributors

      INTRODUCTION

      to the Outreach Ministry Guides Series

      Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

      (1 Peter 4:10)

      This handbook is part of a series designed to equip and empower church volunteers for effective ministry. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re a church volunteer. Thanks for your willingness to serve!

      Several things make this handbook unique:

      The content is specific and practical for your given area of ministry.

      Experienced ministry practitioners—folks who’ve worked, served, and helped to train others in this particular area—compiled this information.

      It’s written with you—a ministry volunteer—in mind.

      Within these pages you’ll find three sections. The first gives a brief overview of fundamental principles to provide you with a solid foundation for the ministry area in which you’re serving.

      Section 2 unpacks various skills related to the responsibilities involved. Understanding what is required and assessing if it’s a good fit is helpful in creating a ministry team that is effective and serves together well.

      Finally, Section 3 provides a multitude of practical ministry tools. These ideas and tips will help you demonstrate Jesus’ love to the people you serve.

      Whether you’re a first-time volunteer or a seasoned veteran, my prayer is that the information and practical tools in this handbook will encourage and assist you. May God bless and guide you in your ministry!

      —Matt Lockhart, Project Manager

      INTRODUCTION

      to the Senior Adult Ministry Volunteer Handbook

      First, a confession: I’m a senior adult.

      There’s no one cheering louder for the success of your senior adult ministry than me. There’s no better time than now for your ministry to meet the needs of people like me, too.

      Most statistics are out of date the moment they’re printed but trends (especially those that have held for decades) stay relevant. And here’s a trend that shows no sign of changing course: We’re living longer.

      In the United States, the average lifespan in 1900 was 47.3 years. In 2000 it was 76.8 years. Today, an American can reasonably expect to tack about two years on to that total.¹ Elsewhere in the world the numbers vary, but the trend holds.

      Which means your ministry to senior adults is not only important today, it will become even more important tomorrow, and the day after that. It’s not just the number of senior adults that’s skyrocketing. The diversity of people identifying as seniors is also expanding.

      In your community spry 75-year-olds are holding their own on the tennis court, 52-year-old retirees are roofing houses for Habitat, and great-grandmothers are still in the workforce.

      Senior adult no longer describes people who reach 65 and trade in their jobs for rocking chairs on the porch. It describes people who are both working and retired, in good health and poor, who are rich with purpose and who flounder for direction.

      The training and tips you’ll find in this little book will help you engage with and minister to the seniors in your church and community. You’ll learn from people who’ve been at this awhile and discover what helps, what hurts, and how to avoid the mistakes they’ve made along the way.

      So dig in.

      But, before you do, a quick word of thanks.

      Thank you for letting God use you to minister to and with seniors. We’re a peculiar bunch and we know it. We live with an increasingly long list of aches and pains, we’re sometimes prone to forgetfulness, and now and then we may test your patience.

      But we need the connections you help us forge with one another, with our larger church family, and with God. You’re helping and you’re appreciated.

      God bless you.

      —Mikal Keefer, Author

      1 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2017/015.pdf

      SECTION 1

      SENIOR ADULT MINISTRY FOUNDATIONS

      Chapter 1   What The Bible Says About Senior Adult Ministry

      Chapter 2   Why Your Senior Adult Ministry Matters

      Chapter 3   Qualities Of An Effective Senior Adult Ministry

      CHAPTER 1

      WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT SENIOR ADULT MINISTRY

      Not much, actually—but it has a lot to say about seniors.

      Consider these passages:

      Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.

      (Leviticus 19:32)

      In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5)

      Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

      (Exodus 20:12)

      Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. (Proverbs 23:22)

      Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? (Job 12:12)

      No mention of Senior Saints potlucks appear in Scripture, but it’s clear older adults are to be heard and valued, not overlooked or discarded. And for good reason: God seems to use them.

      Among other older adults who played a significant role in the Bible are Adam, Enoch, Noah, Job, and Abram. Toss in Joseph, Moses, and Joshua and you’ve got a Who’s Who of Bible luminaries, many of who accomplished amazing things deep into their old age.

      Abram, for instance, was seventy-five when he left Haran. When Moses and Aaron stood before Pharaoh, demanding God’s people be set free, Moses was eighty and Aaron eighty-three. Paul was in his sixties when he headed out on his final mission trip.

      Caleb was forty when he scouted the Promised Land and eighty-five when he told Joshua he was ready to fight for and work the land he’d been promised there.

      John was closing in on 90 when he wrote the Book of the Revelation and Noah was six hundred when the rain started falling. Quite the overachiever, that Noah.

      Seniors haven’t just been bystanders as God has rolled out his plans for humanity; they’ve been courageous, faithful participants.

      It’s true advanced age doesn’t necessarily equal spiritual wisdom or even maturity. The world is full of older adults busy repeating the same mistakes they made in their twenties. But it’s equally true those who walk with God for decades usually know him better than those who’ve just met him. They’re better able to teach, offer counsel, and perhaps provide able leadership.

      So even in our youth-focused culture, the church is to honor the elderly by treating them with respect and allowing them to continue

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