How many candles?

Welcome to this month’s Faith in Later Life newsletter- it is a special one as we celebrate a year of Faith in Later Life! I wanted to start by thanking you for your interest and support, it is hugely appreciated. Please do pray that as Faith in Later Life continues to grow, more and more people and churches would be inspired and equipped by our work, and that God would be glorified.

Happy birthday to us!

This month Faith in Later Life celebrated its first birthday, following its launch at a function at the House of Lords on 10th October last year. It has been quite a journey since then, and we are thankful for God’s sovereignty and leading- it is exciting seeing the interest that continues to grow, in this movement. We have almost 1500 followers across our social media pages, giving a real sense of community, and a similar number using the website every month. The website continues to develop new features, and we now have a “book of the month”, as well as a separate Care Home directory, in addition to the broader Activities Directory. If there is anything you think is missing from the website, or content you would like to see added, do get in touch.

Launch of first loneliness strategy

This month has also seen the launch of the Government’s first loneliness strategy. Jeremy Sharpe, national co-ordinator of Christian charity “Linking Lives” was invited to the launch, as one of Linking Lives case studies was included in the strategy. Along with Linking Lives, Faith in Later Life is part of a group of national Christian charities, called Christians Together Against Loneliness (CTAL), working in the field of loneliness and isolation among older people, and sharing ideas and coordinating activity where possible. Following the launch of the government strategy, Jeremy was invited on to the UCB radio news to talk about this, and he mentions Faith in Later Life, which is encouraging, for a still relatively new initiative.

As you may know, the Faith in Later Life website hosts a national directory of church led activities, with the idea being that churches share what they are doing with us so we can build a national picture, and people interested in fellowship and community in their area can type in their postcode and see what is on near them. Many churches are doing excellent outreach work, if yours is but we don’t know about it, we would love you to go on the website and share what you are doing with us, so we can add it to the directory that others might benefit. https://faithinlaterlife.org/inspire/directory/

Are you a champion?

At Faith in Later Life, following a national awareness campaign in the Christian media, we have recently launched a “Church Champions” scheme, encouraging people to sign up to become Faith in Later Life Church Champions. The idea here is to provide support and encouragement, and build a network, of those involved with later life ministry or who are simply interested in this area of ministry- without necessarily expecting anything of the Champions. We simply want to encourage those with a heart for ministries with older people. Is this something you or someone in your church could be interested in? For more information do visit https://faithinlaterlife.org/get-involved/church-champions/

We would also love to hear from you if Faith in Later Life has already helped you or your church in any way, big or small- as we exist to encourage and resource you and your churches. Do get in touch! https://faithinlaterlife.org/feedback/

Latest News

This month I was privileged to be invited onto UCB1 radio to speak about Faith in Later Life, its purpose, and what services we provide. Being asked to contribute to a national Christian radio programme goes some way to measuring the raised profile that Faith in Later Life now has, and while there is much more we plan to do, God willing, this is very encouraging.

Yours in Christ,

Carl Knightly
Director, Faith in Later Life