Churches are making sure older people get a phone call

For those over 70 then it may be only in the most recent season of your life that people started sending texts and emails rather than picking up the phone. ‘Millennials’ are notoriously ‘allergic’ to making a phone call when social media or a text message could do the job. But when you are in self isolation a phone call may be your only human interaction that day.

Many churches in the last few days have set up a telephone buddying system, which can extend to those beyond the church community.

• One way to do this is to create a list of everyone over a certain age (which may be 70) and assign a person who will give them a call, have a chat, and make sure they know how often the calls will be from then on.

• Another way is to use a ‘phone tree’, so that everyone both makes and receives at least a couple of calls a day.

It can be helpful to have a central number so that if someone doesn’t answer it doesn’t have to become a cause of excessive worry or alarm, and can be followed up.

If we know we will receive a call, we are more likely to think about what we want to say, not just the requests for help, but also the encouragements, the words to make others smile.

Facetime, Google, Skype, Zoom and Whatsapp are some of the tools which can turn a conversation into face to face contact.

What is your church doing to ensure people receive a call? Let us know using the contact form.

Also read: What to say when you’re calling someone in self isolation