Ideas and Stories

Churches, and individuals in churches, can reach, serve and empower older people in many ways: practical support at home, health and wellbeing, serving the community, transport, visiting and befriending, lunch and other meals, social groups, care at home or housing. There are resources on all of these in the Resource Hub.

Here are some ideas:

Share the Gospel
Run a bereavement course
Reach out to care homes
Run a holiday at home
Run a befriending scheme in the community

Email [email protected] for further details about how to become a Church Champion, or fill in the form at the bottom of this page.

Hymns We Love

Hymns We Love is a gentle evangelistic series which uses well-loved hymns to explore the Christian faith with seniors. Each session features a beautifully shot video set in a historic English church, and tells the story of the hymn and the gospel message behind it. The sample video linked to below will give you a flavour of what to expect.

All the Days of my Life

All the Days of my Life is a resource produced by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in partnership with Faith in Later Life. It offers a six session, light touch, evangelistic tool specifically designed for use with those in later life.

Walking participants through Psalm 23, it aims to bring to light an awareness of God’s presence throughout life as those who use it look back, then to gently facilitate a response of faith and trust in the Good Shepherd.

It may be used individually, one to one, or in a range of small group settings in a church, residential facility or private home.

The format of each session

Each session follows the same format:

  • Beginning with a verse(s) from Psalm 23
  • The introduction of a strong visual image to start conversation and bridge the gap between text and life
  • The offer of a question to open up various aspects of the participant's life story
  • A short piece of text which can be read with participants to raise awareness of some aspect of God's presence in different seasons of life with the aim of increasing recognition of him in retrospect, in the present or future
  • The introduction of Jesus as the Good Shepherd from a selection of sections in the New Testament
  • Concluding with a short prayer that can also act as personal response in the moment and/or build towards a full appreciation of what it means to profess faith in Christ.

David Thompson came to speak to us a few months ago about All the Days of my Life. To watch that event in full, click on the link below:

Stories

Here at Faith in Later Life, we are always inspired by the testimonies of God's work through local churches. Our Church Champions have shared some uplifting stories, shedding light on the profound impact and blessings these experiences bring to our community.

You can check out some of those stories below.

Serving in a Local Care Home

A Life Lived for Christ