In Baptist churches across Alabama, children are benefiting from the wisdom and attention of senior adults who can offer a seasoned perspective to the many children growing up without their own grandparents nearby.
Some churches host an "adopt-a-grandparent" day, while others encourage senior adults to prayer walk for Vacation Bible School (VBS) or to help with children’s church. The common denominator is bringing children together with senior adults.
For children and seniors adults at Harmony Baptist Church, Andalusia, in Covington Baptist Association, mingling the two groups was a big event. In February, the church hosted Adopt-a-Grandparent Day and invited its preschoolers and senior adults to attend. The children decorated cards with their pictures, names and ages and presented them to the senior adults who had pledged to pray for them.
"We brought two age groups that don’t see each other into an area where they could be together," said Stephanie Blackston, a preschool division director who helped organize the event.
Blackston sees this program as a way of filling a need for both children and seniors who may not have grandparents or grandchildren in the area. Her own children — Caleb, 5; Garrett, 3; and Dillon, 1 — all have adopted grandparents, as their own grandparents live four hours away. Caleb even sits with his new "grandmother" during the first part of the worship service while his parents sing in the choir.
At First Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, in Tuscaloosa Baptist Association, minister of childhood education Beth Yates seeks to involve senior adults in children’s ministry whenever possible.
"If they can be in the classroom, that’s ideal, but if not, they can be a resource for the teachers," Yates said of the senior adults, many of whom partner with the Sunday School children’s departments by writing notes of encouragement or calling the children on the telephone.
Senior adults are also active in prayer ministry for children at First, Tuscaloosa. They prayer walk through the church before VBS and then go to a prayer room during that week to pray over the requests of teachers and children.
Senior adults at First Baptist Church, Opp, also minister to children by prayer walking through local schools at the beginning of each school year. They serve as crossing guards during VBS, and for two years they’ve also helped stuff 500 goodie bags for the church’s annual fall festival.
Wanda Tolar, children’s ministry director at Calvary Baptist Church, Scottsboro, Tennessee River Baptist Association, focuses on the importance of children learning perspectives beyond their own life experiences.
"They start out as a child, and as they study and grow, they get the wisdom of a senior adult," she said.
Tolar takes special care to bring seniors and children together so the children can benefit from that wisdom. At Calvary, the senior adults’ and children’s classes are on opposite sides of the church. "Unless we do something special," she said, "they don’t see each other."
Fortunately, senior adults at Calvary are active in ministering to the children. They serve at the father-daughter banquet, are counselors during evangelism night at VBS, help with children’s church and serve as stand-in grandparents for children without their own during the annual Awana grandparent night.
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