Page 19 - PT Winter 2021-2022

So what does this mean for churches? Well, older people
value facilities such as handrails they can cling to; they
prefer slopes to steps; toilets not too far away; non-slip
floors; and a place to put their sticks when sitting down and
a comfortable seat (ideally with a cushion!).
Churches will need to cater not just for more older
people, but in the years ahead more ‘older, older’ people.
There were 88,000 people 85 and over going to church
throughout England in 2010, but a decade later 140,000,
reflecting an increasing rate of 5% per year.

Adapting in old age?
And what does this mean for the older people themselves?
Book your place in your care home quickly if you need to!
Funerals will become more frequent; if you can’t attend,
watch on a laptop or smart phone, and if you don’t have
one, get a device and learn to use it as quickly as you can.
While many churches are claiming more people are ...as churchgoers become
watching their live-streamed services than used to attend
personally, it is also clear that live-streamed services are older, their feeling of
simply not the same as person-to-person meetings.
Live-streamed services have become a sort of another belonging to a church
Songs of Praise – to watch but not participate. While it may
be easy to ‘drop out,’ it is important for a person’s well- grows less.
being to continue being able to ‘connect-in’.
So what does all this mean for church leaders?
Helping people to retire – for some the loss of work,
companionship, compensation and routine may be difficult Believing – and still ‘belonging’?
to adjust to. Others will continue working; employers find However, as churchgoers become older, their feeling
them experienced, more reliable, more confident, with a of belonging to a church grows less, as is illustrated
stronger work ethic, better interpersonal skills and working in Figure 3.
better in teams. Fig 3: How having a sense of belonging to the church Photo Credit: istockphoto.com/PeopleImages
On the other hand, they may be less healthy, less varies with age
energetic, slower to learn, harder to train, less able to use
new technology, less creative, less co-operative and more
inflexible and resistant to change. Similar characteristics
might apply to older churchgoers in relation to their service
with the church.
Many older people went to Sunday school when they
were young. Figure 2 shows how that number varies with
current age. A person aged 90 in 2020 was born in 1930,
a person aged 70 was born in 1950, and a person aged 50
was born in 1970. That memory can still be an aid for
evangelism in today’s church work.

Fig 2: Percentage of people who went to Sunday school
when they were younger

The older a person gets, the less they feel they belong;
these figures coming from a detailed Methodist Homes
survey some years ago. Churches seek to mitigate this by
live-streaming services, arranging ‘Senior Teas,’ pastoral
visits etc., but such attempts do not really meet the
underlying hurt of feeling ‘superfluous,’ and sometimes
even ‘patronised’.
The challenge, therefore, is very real. Remaining
connected is not only good for a person’s social well-
being, but it is essential for a person’s spiritual well-being
too. Helping older people keeping any former links with
a church alive therefore becomes a crucial part of the
Church’s role as the ‘Body of Christ’.

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