The Anna Group
Author: Maria Bond
We’re delighted to share an article from Faith in Later Life Church Champion Maria Bond, about the Anna Group at Gold Hill Baptist Church, a group for widows built from Maria’s personal experience.
Where it all started.
There are often groups in churches for mothers and toddlers, and lunches for seniors. Many churches have ‘cafes’ for meeting the community but a few years after I was widowed, I started to think that it would be good if there was a group – some kind of meeting place – that was for widows. I was only 50 when I was widowed so I didn’t quite feel ready for the seniors lunch – and I had definitely outgrown the mother and toddler stage!
That thought stayed with me for a couple of years and eventually I got together with another widow in my church and we met, talked, prayed and finally we got our act together and had our first meeting – which was called ‘The Widows Group’. (No prizes for originality there!). Although that was a fairly self-explanatory name – it wasn’t exactly inspiring!!
There were 12 of us and at our first gathering we had lunch and we started to look at the Bible together to encourage each other as to what God might be saying to us as widows. We planned the next one for two months later………….but that didn’t happen because we all went into lockdown.
Over the course of the next two years we managed a couple of smaller meetings – remember the rule of six – and then in 2023 we all got together again on a sunny day in my garden. So it was a bit of a stop start experience but eventually we got into a routine and planned to meet every other month.
Our vision for the group was to start with widows in the church and then take the group as an opportunity to reach out to other widows in the community to offer friendship and support – and of course, take the opportunity to tell others about the difference having Jesus in our lives makes.


We started with 12, all from our church, we now have lunch in the church building because we are around 60 ladies – of which half are from church and the other half have no real Christian faith. Often, due to age, these ladies are de-churched rather than un-churched but we have seen at least six start to regularly attend on a Sunday, a couple have done the Alpha Course. One dear widow in particular came along for the first time a few years back – she was lonely, angry and clearly hurting – she has re-found her faith in God and is now attending church – and her demeanour has completely changed. Another lady said that ‘It had changed her life!’ God is so good!!
Losing a husband is tough. It leaves a massive void in our lives that I certainly could not have really imagined or understood, and so we made the decision to ONLY have widows at this meeting. (I was asked by a couple of divorced and a couple of single ladies if they could come, but I had to say no – that might sound harsh – but there is something quite powerful when everybody knows that everybody in the room has been through the same.)
Some of us have been widows for several decades – some only a matter of months – but we share together common experiences – listen to each other – cry – encourage each other – laugh together. It’s a lonely road as a widow – but we can walk that lonely road together.
Sometimes it can feel like everyone else is happily in a relationship and we are the only ones struggling with loneliness. And although we know in our heads that that is not the case – it can sometimes feel like it nonetheless. We can’t solve each other’s problems, we can’t wave a magic wand and make everything OK again – but we can all listen – and we can all empathise.
One of the things I found most overwhelming was all the practical things that my husband used to deal with – and suddenly I had to deal with. The garden, a broken tap, a faulty light switch, your computer doesn’t work or your television breaks………all manner of household things and so if any of our ladies have had a particularly good experience with an electrician or a plumber or a gardener or a car mechanic – we share their name on a list of trusted tradesmen.
And finally – why Anna? Why are we called the Anna Group?
In the Bible there are several widows mentioned by name:
There’s the ‘widow of Zarephath’ in 1 Kings 17 – no one would be able to pronounce that – let alone spell it!! And we don’t know her name. There’s the one called the ‘widow of Nain’ in Luke 7 – Jesus resurrected her son, but we don’t know her name either.
But the one who is called Anna inspired me. We don’t know very much about her and she is only mentioned in one of the gospels; a couple of verses in Luke. Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to the Temple as was required by the Jewish Law and first they meet a prophet named Simeon – who recognises Jesus for who He is. Not just another baby – but indeed the Saviour for whom
they had long awaited.
And then we read this (Luke 2:36-38):
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
That’s all we know.
She had been married for seven years. There’s no mention of any children or family so it is unlikely that there were any. So here was a woman, who in her youth, would have had all the normal expectations of life. Marriage, babies, grandchildren. She would have hoped to
have become a matriarch of her family – and in that culture that would have meant security and significance. A sense of purpose and meaning.
But – there seems to have been no children and then, early on, no husband either. That would have been deeply sorrowful and deeply disappointing. AND YET we are told she never left the Temple – but worshipped day and night. She didn’t turn away from God.
For us – we would have had expectations and hopes and dreams like Anna did. Now for some of us – some of those were fulfilled – we’ve had children and grandchildren – but there are also the dreams that will never be fulfilled now because we have lost our husbands.
My husband died just a month before our 24th wedding anniversary – so for me – in the next few years I was seeing many of my friends celebrate their silver wedding anniversary – and I realised that that would never happen for me. Couples my age enjoying retirement years together – that’s never going to be me.
But rather than linger on the disappointment of that I had to make myself – sometimes as an act of will rather than emotion – thank God for the almost 24 years that we did have together and remember all the fun and the good times.
I wasn’t ever angry with God. I know sometimes when life is difficult it can be easy to get angry at God and say ‘Why Me? Why us? Why did he have to die? Why didn’t you heal him?
Those questions very rarely get answered and so at that point we have to make a decision: Are we going to be angry at God for the rest of our lives, or are we going to accept what has happened and carry on looking to God for strength – rather than simply answers.
Anna stuck with God. She didn’t walk away from God in anger and bitterness, but she stuck with Him and served Him day and night. And so for me – that has been my aspiration – and my inspiration – to be like Anna.
I was reading a commentary on Anna which I found online and it said this: Her lifestyle evidently invigorates her, for she is mobile, articulate, alert, spiritually savvy and unselfish. And I thought ‘yes!’ That is how I want to be.
So – that is the story behind The Anna Group. God has blessed this ministry beyond anything we could have ever dreamed or imagined.
At Faith in Later Life we recognise that for many older people the loss of a loved one is often magnified by the unique circumstances that can accompany later life. We are therefore extremely grateful to Maria for sharing something of her personal story and the story of the Anna Group. If you have a story to share of how your church is making a difference to support older people, please get in touch by email.