----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 12:17
AM
Subject: RE: Mission by the aged
Heya Tom (et al)
I won't quote all of your previous two e-mails. If anyone is keen enough,
they will go back and look for themselves. But, just to set the tone, in your
first e-mail, you said (in part):
Is any one else intentionally
working on this in their congregations, or are there any authors on the
subject who may even be able to show some places that have had some wins
in this regard.
I could not claim to be intentionally working on this (that sounds far to
deliberate and well-organised, which I have never been) but my current
experience in a congregation that others would describe as geriatric caused me
to read your two e-mails with interest. You sounded so lonely in the second
one that you have moved me to add my two cents' worth.
You are right in so far as you say nobody seems to be grasping the
concept of ministry BY the aged. The sad thing from my point of view is that a
few too many people in my congregation (certainly not all of them, by any
means) and a great many people elsewhere have so accepted the normality of an
absence of ministry BY the aged, that, whenever anything needs to be done, the
cry is "but we are retired now!"
And yet, as I have already hinted, there are signs of real hope...
This is, by most standards, a tiny congregation. It has around 60
Confirmed Members in total and perhaps another 20-25 who are associated with
us. There are a couple of school-aged children (6 and 9) loosely attached to
us (their mother attends regularly) and then nobody else between there and
about 35. There are three people (including the aforesaid mother) in their 30s
and then nobody else until you get into the 50s. The bulk of our (small "m")
membership is 70 or older. We even have an impressive number in their 90s --
not a very promising prospect for mission, one might think.
In two weeks' time we are holding an election of Elders. One of the
Elders, whose term has just expired, is standing for re-election. She is 81!
She spends a great deal of her time each week "looking after the old people",
90% of whom are younger than her! She also plays the organ most Sundays. There
are three other candidates (nominations don't close for a few days yet) and
all of them are 70 or older. Even though I expect to retire in the next 3-4
years, only two members of the Church Council are younger than me.
The Congregation doesn't have a Sunday School (why would we?) or a youth
group (same comment) but has a solid record of meaningful interaction with the
local community. It also has a pretty good record of acting ecumenically
whenever it can persuade either of the other local denominations (Anglican and
Catholic) to work with it. Together, the three churches staged "The Sights
& Sounds of Christmas" (a dramatic presentation) three years running --
with around 1300 visitors -- and then, after a break of one Christmas, staged
the similarly-conceived "Sights & Sounds of Easter" just before Easter
last year.
This year the Congregation, after a great deal of research, staged a
genuine Passover meal, complete with authentic Jewish cuisine and heaps of
Jewish customs, right down to haggling over the purchase price for a
sacrificial lamb! Together we learned a great deal and our guests (mainly from
the community rather than from church folk) learned even more. [Keep your eyes
open for a book on the subject which we hope to publish soon.]
So far as worship is concerned, people from elsewhere would probably
describe it as "traditional" (and I have attended Tom's "traditional" worship
at Parkes -- it would be very similar, I think) and local people feel somewhat
out of their depth when they attend other Uniting Churches that feature
guitars, data projectors, amplifiers etc. We sing hymns from AHB and TIS and
we even have a choral group that feeds in a steady trickle of "new" hymns --
though still in the "traditional" genre. The prayers are fairly "normal" and
we follow the Revised Lectionary (UC version).
But my experience of the worship (even though I am the one who is out the
front for most of it) is that it is authentic, inspiring, warm and very
meaningful for those who are present. Visitors often comment on the
friendliness of the people, something that they pick up in the midst of
worship, not just in the cuppa afterwards.
These elderly people minister to me, I have no doubt on that point. I
hope it is mutual but suspect that God has sent me here to teach me a thing or
two! Several years back I was closely involved in the operation of one of the
Uniting Church retirement villages in Sydney and I learned there that the
elderly really do have a ministry all their own. They are able, almost without
any encouragement from well-meaning people like me, to minister effectively to
each other and, if we youngsters will let them, even to us.
People talk of the Uniting Church as a grey church and quote all those
NCLS figures with dismal groans. In this Congregation we don't see the lack of
a youth group or a Sunday School as diminishing in any way the particular
ministry to which God has called us. Old people are authentic members of the
People of God in every sense of the word.
Alright, I'll stop boasting now. :)
-- Tom (the other one).
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom
Pardy
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Coopernook
Web site:
<http://www.ozemail.com.au/~pardy>
AUSTRALIA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
