When people reach a certain age, they will retire and no longer need to toil. But in the church, the elderly will never retire and will never be fired.
From a certain point of view, the elderly are actually more committed to the church than the young. Usually, young people change frequently due to reasons such as work, life, and their children's schooling. But older people tend to be stable and committed to their home churches.
While some churches concentrate on youth ministry, there are also churches that focus their attention on pastoral care for the elderly and organize elderly ministry.
In Guangzhou, there is a church that encourages the whole congregation to participate in serving the church. The chief pastor of the church points out that the elderly can also serve in the church, in positions such as prayer partners, senior choir members, members of the cleaning team, etc. Since he saw many elderly people just watching Tik Tok or other online videos in their free time and had nothing better to do, he organized training classes for the elderly to teach them how to edit short videos and retouch pictures, and he helped them apply their skills to the evangelism ministry of the church.
The church will also regularly visit the elderly who cannot participate in church meetings in person. During the visits, these elderly members are invited to join the prayer ministry and offer their prayers for the church, the pastors, and their family members. At first, many of these older people thought that they could not do anything for God because they were frail and could not go to church, but as they understood the significance of prayers, they immediately had a sense of purpose.
In M city of Guangdong, Pastor Ye of a grassroots church has also been promoting their elderly ministry in recent years. Pastor Ye’s church only has a small congregation, and the members are basically elderly people; even Pastor Ye himself is in his forties already. Previously, for a long period of time, Pastor Ye focused his attention on youth ministry. He tried to find ways to attract and minister to young people so that they would be willing to commit to the church. But one problem faced by grassroots churches is that there are only a handful of young people. Then, where is the hope of the church?
As Pastor Ye is teaching in a Bible training center and further studying for a master's degree in Hong Kong, he understands more about elderly ministry and its significance. Therefore, Pastor Ye and the church staff begin to explore methods to minister to the elderly. Their goal is to encourage church members who have reached 70 years old to serve for another five years, as long as they are physically and mentally allowed. To complement such a goal, they incorporate more activities that are beneficial to the elderly into their Wednesday and Friday gatherings. For example, in group gatherings, they teach the elderly to fold Cootie Catcher and ask them to write on the four corners the names of the people they want to pray for; in this way, they are able to combine pleasure, intercession, as well as finger dexterity training, and increase the elderly people’s motivation to serve.
For those elderly who cannot join the church in person, the church staff will arrange visits for them. During these visits, they will read the scriptures with the elderly, listen to their needs, and offer help accordingly. On the other hand, the church also adds more celebration activities for various festivals and invites the elderly to share their stories of grace. “We are not settling for less when turning our focus to the elderly, but are finding a breakthrough via elderly ministry,” Pastor Ye said.
This year, two churches in Guangzhou have started to set up senior fellowships to better minister to the elderly over 70 years old. These fellowships are specially designed for the elderly, with content such as Sign Dance, birthday parties, Cantonese gospel opera, etc.
In order to facilitate elderly people's attendance at church meetings, there are also grassroots churches that rent cars to transport them to and from church every Sunday. Some churches may even purchase their own vehicles if they are financially capable, so as to avoid accidents happening to the elderly when they travel to the church.
- Translated by Joyce Leung
人到了一定年龄会退休，不用再为了工作奔波。但在教堂里，老年人永远不会被退休，永远不会被解雇。
从某一方面来看，其实老年人相比年轻人是更加委身教会的。年轻人通常会因为工作、生活、孩子求学等各种原因，频繁变动。但老年人一般会稳定、委身在家乡的教会。
当一些教会定睛在青年事工时，也有一些教会做好长者牧养，组建长者事工。
广州有一间教会，鼓励所有信徒都参与到教会的服侍中。该堂主任牧者特别提到，老年人也是可以参与服侍的，比如祷告、老年诗班、清洁组等。他看到很多老年人没事就刷视频，刷抖音，就组织培训老年人制作小视频，美图制作，应用到福音拓展的事工中。
对于不能来实地参加聚会的长者，教会会组织人去定期探访。邀请他们参与祷告事工，为教会、牧者、家人献上祷告。很多老人本以为自己身体不好没办法去教会就不能为主做工了，但当知道祷告的重要性时，他们立刻就有了使命感。
在广东M市，在基层教会牧养的叶传道近期也在推进长者事工。叶传道所在教会信徒人数并不多，基本上都是老年人，他本人早已进入不惑之年。之前很长一段时间，叶传道都定睛在青年人身上，思考如何吸引、牧养年轻人，使他们愿意委身在教会。但在基层教会面临一个处境就是，年轻人屈指可数，如何看到教会的希望？
叶传道在某一圣经培训中心做老师，他个人也在香港进修硕士学位。叶传道和教会同工一起探讨如何做好老年牧养，他们定下的目标是鼓励70岁的老人在身体心力许可的情况下再服侍5年。为此他们在周三周五常规的聚会中，加入了一些适合老人做的活动。比如在小组聚会中教老人做“东西南北叠纸”，把要为代祷的人名写在四角上，将游戏、代祷、训练手指灵活度结合在一起，增加老年人服侍的动力。
对那些不能来实地聚会的老年人，他们主动去探访。探访中加入读经分享话语环节，聆听老人需求，且尽量满足他们的需求。同时他们也增加了教会节期的庆祝活动，邀请年长者分享自己蒙恩的故事。叶传道说，“把焦点转向老年人不是退而求其次，而是透过长者事工找到一个突破口。”
广州有两所教会在今年都开始成立了长者团契，旨在更好地牧养70岁以上长者。并针对长者群体设置团契内容，如手语舞、生日会、福音粤曲等。
而在一些基层教会，为了让老人能来参加聚会，教会每周日租车去长者家里接送他们来聚会；教会有条件的也自己买车接送，避免了老人去聚会时发生意外事故。
基层教会在推进长者事工上的一些有益探索
When people reach a certain age, they will retire and no longer need to toil. But in the church, the elderly will never retire and will never be fired.
From a certain point of view, the elderly are actually more committed to the church than the young. Usually, young people change frequently due to reasons such as work, life, and their children's schooling. But older people tend to be stable and committed to their home churches.
While some churches concentrate on youth ministry, there are also churches that focus their attention on pastoral care for the elderly and organize elderly ministry.
In Guangzhou, there is a church that encourages the whole congregation to participate in serving the church. The chief pastor of the church points out that the elderly can also serve in the church, in positions such as prayer partners, senior choir members, members of the cleaning team, etc. Since he saw many elderly people just watching Tik Tok or other online videos in their free time and had nothing better to do, he organized training classes for the elderly to teach them how to edit short videos and retouch pictures, and he helped them apply their skills to the evangelism ministry of the church.
The church will also regularly visit the elderly who cannot participate in church meetings in person. During the visits, these elderly members are invited to join the prayer ministry and offer their prayers for the church, the pastors, and their family members. At first, many of these older people thought that they could not do anything for God because they were frail and could not go to church, but as they understood the significance of prayers, they immediately had a sense of purpose.
In M city of Guangdong, Pastor Ye of a grassroots church has also been promoting their elderly ministry in recent years. Pastor Ye’s church only has a small congregation, and the members are basically elderly people; even Pastor Ye himself is in his forties already. Previously, for a long period of time, Pastor Ye focused his attention on youth ministry. He tried to find ways to attract and minister to young people so that they would be willing to commit to the church. But one problem faced by grassroots churches is that there are only a handful of young people. Then, where is the hope of the church?
As Pastor Ye is teaching in a Bible training center and further studying for a master's degree in Hong Kong, he understands more about elderly ministry and its significance. Therefore, Pastor Ye and the church staff begin to explore methods to minister to the elderly. Their goal is to encourage church members who have reached 70 years old to serve for another five years, as long as they are physically and mentally allowed. To complement such a goal, they incorporate more activities that are beneficial to the elderly into their Wednesday and Friday gatherings. For example, in group gatherings, they teach the elderly to fold Cootie Catcher and ask them to write on the four corners the names of the people they want to pray for; in this way, they are able to combine pleasure, intercession, as well as finger dexterity training, and increase the elderly people’s motivation to serve.
For those elderly who cannot join the church in person, the church staff will arrange visits for them. During these visits, they will read the scriptures with the elderly, listen to their needs, and offer help accordingly. On the other hand, the church also adds more celebration activities for various festivals and invites the elderly to share their stories of grace. “We are not settling for less when turning our focus to the elderly, but are finding a breakthrough via elderly ministry,” Pastor Ye said.
This year, two churches in Guangzhou have started to set up senior fellowships to better minister to the elderly over 70 years old. These fellowships are specially designed for the elderly, with content such as Sign Dance, birthday parties, Cantonese gospel opera, etc.
In order to facilitate elderly people's attendance at church meetings, there are also grassroots churches that rent cars to transport them to and from church every Sunday. Some churches may even purchase their own vehicles if they are financially capable, so as to avoid accidents happening to the elderly when they travel to the church.
- Translated by Joyce Leung
Inspirations on Promoting Ministry to the Elderly in Grassroots Churches
