By Mildred Haga
Mount Zion Baptist Church
Esther Sunday School class
In the Oct. 5 issue of The Alabama Baptist, you mentioned coverage related to helping with the transition to the retired season of life. I’d like to share what we have done in our Esther Sunday School class at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Huntsville to improve the social life for our retired seniors.
When we had a new member, Lynda Thornton, come to our Sunday School class, she stated she was having a difficult time finding any time to be with other adults. Her husband, Lee, had dementia and she could only be away from home when she hired a sitter to stay with him. One member in our class, Liz Cole, organized a domino game time and invited a few in our class to come so Lynda could be with friends. From that first game, our Sunday School class began meeting every Thursday at 1 p.m. at my house to play games.
One of our members, Cathy Overton, raises chickens, and she brings a dozen eggs to give away to the first winner each week, so we “play for eggs.”
One member is in charge of scheduling the refreshments for each week. We’ve learned new recipes from this special time. Each week, the giggling and laughter reminds one of the teenage years when we had spend-the-night parties.
Replication
We limited the group to just our class because of the space needed at the two tables and extra card table. When another friend wished to come, we invited her to come see the procedure that we used so she could duplicate the activity at her house for her class.
Our teacher, Pam Early, has helped us improve our prayer life by setting us all up on a group text so we can share updates and needs with each other as well as remind each other of the various upcoming activities.
Other ways we’ve improved the social life for our class members:
- We eat out together each Sunday after church.
- We celebrate birthdays every two months and pay for the birthday ladies’ meals with our class treasury.
- We have parties around various holidays and even had a watermelon seed-spitting contest one summer.
- Member Trudy Adams likes to read and often brings missions books for us to also read. Others share jigsaw puzzles and fresh vegetables.
- I keep the class directory up to date and include a picture and background information about each person.
- We send cards and make phone calls to our members and other church members.
- We encourage class members to be involved with church activities and ministries such as attending the Tuesday Bible study, participating in the senior adult trips, helping with the youth Wednesday night worship time, serving as substitute Sunday School teachers, participating in the churchwide exercise program, singing in the choir, visiting nursing homes or checking on the lonely, sick and hospitalized church members through the Home Touch ministry.
Missions projects
- Our class pools our money to purchase large items for missions projects.
- We encourage each other by sharing articles and photos.
- Two of the younger members of our class continually teach others about features on their cell phones.
Share with others: