More than likely, they aren’t contributing very much to the church’s financial bottom line; neither will they do much toward bringing in new members to the church. They won’t be singing in the choir or teaching a Sunday School class or helping out this Saturday at workday. They are the forgotten church,” Joel Dison said of shut-ins and, more specifically, those living out the latter part of their lives in one of Alabama’s many assisted-living facilities.
Dison, now serving as children’s minister at First Baptist Church, Springville, served as a volunteer pastor of Hearthstone Assisted Living in Clay (near Birmingham) for many years and said what he found when he entered Hearthstone for the first time was something he never expected.
“What I discovered was not a bunch of near-dead, invalid people who could not even remember their own name.
The residents were not merely biding their time before it was their time to board the last train out of town,” Dison said. “Instead I learned the first of many lessons. I discovered that an assisted-living facility is not the same as a nursing home. An assisted-living center is for those who simply have trouble living by themselves but are otherwise as normal as you or I. As a result, I found a living, vibrant community of believers.”
And Alabama Baptist churches like Dauphin Way Baptist Church, Mobile, are making an effort to reach out to these members of the body of Christ through ministries like weekly Bible studies at assisted-living facilities in their areas and bus ministries to drive residents to Sunday morning services.
“It’s a great ministry,” said Bill Whitfield, minister to senior adults and congregational care at Dauphin Way, referring to his Mobile Baptist Association church’s ministry to assisted-living residents that has been active longer than his 10-year presence. “It’s a tremendous blessing to go in and visit with the people who are there. Their families can’t be with them all the time, and they want a connection with their church.”
And that is exactly what these residents need, Dison said.
“These residents all need the exact same word from God that the rest of us need,” he said, adding the message of the gospel doesn’t change with the age of the hearer.
“The gospel is still the gospel, and everyone follows the exact same process when it comes to growth in Christ.”
The senior adults at First Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, in Tuscaloosa Baptist Association understand this and for more than seven years, have been responding to the need through their assisted-living ministry, Second Hand Rose.
Each Monday morning, 28 senior adults gather the flowers from the sanctuary, divide them into bud vases and deliver them to more than 160 people residing in assisted-living facilities in and around their area.
“They really do a good job, and they work hard at it,” said Carl Wells, recently retired senior adult minister at First, Tuscaloosa, noting the people to whom the flowers are delivered and their families are grateful for the ministry.
The church also reaches out with deacon visits, poinsettias delivered to residents at Christmastime and a karaoke night.
Wells pointed out that many times, people resist going into an assisted-living facility. “They’ll say, ‘Don’t forget me.
Don’t forget me,’ because in many cases, they are forgotten and we don’t want that to happen,” he said.
And Whitfield doesn’t want those residents to be lonely either, so he encourages other churches to get involved in ministering to those in assisted-living facilities.
“There’s a lot of needs out there, and I would say to people that this is part of the Christian ministry,” Whitfield said.
If that is true, then the responsibility to minister cannot be left to others.
“I didn’t know the members of my church in assisted living,” Dison said. “They weren’t my family. They were someone else’s responsibility — either the pastor or senior adult minister or the deacons. Unfortunately, if everybody in the church takes that attitude, then no one will go and these wonderful members of the body of Christ truly will be forgotten.”
To find an assisted-living facility in your area, visit the Assisted Living Association of Alabama’s Web site at www.alaaweb.org.
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Learning ways to get involved
By Joel Dison
Former Volunteer Pastor at Hearthstone Assisted Living in Clay
1. Go and visit. It sounds overly simple but most assisted-living residents are very lonely. They just want someone to talk to. Anyone can take an hour out of his or her week and go and visit. Start by just stopping by and hanging out in the lobby or gathering area. You’ll be surprised by whom you might meet.
2. Hold group story time. Volunteer to go by once a week or even once a month for a group story time. There are plenty of short stories out there to read.
3. Host a senior adult game day. You probably already have a successful senior adult ministry at your church, so why not take the whole crew out for a game day at an assisted-living facility? You can play bingo, dominoes or whatever. Your seniors will enjoy the company as much as the residents.
4. Enlist Sunday School classes to adopt a grandparent. The whole class can participate through visiting periodically, meeting physical needs, giving gifts, etc.
5. Teach Sunday School — again. Have one of your Sunday School teachers (perhaps one of your senior adult teachers) go by during the week and teach the Bible study lesson from the previous Sunday.
6. Present children’s or youth musicals. Every program could use another practice before show time. Think about taking your children’s choir or youth choir by an assisted-living facility to do a dress rehearsal. The residents will absolutely love it.
7. Provide a van service. Many residents are more than capable of getting out and going to church if they only had someone to take them.
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