WHO BENEFITS FROM OUTREACH PROGRAMS?

I have read in THE LUTHERAN and in some church blogs about the importance of reaching out to the community and to other churches – to form partnerships, to find reciprocal resources, or just to have more enjoyable experiences in life.  I sometimes wonder if there are ever thoughts in the minds of those who write about outreach possibilities, to think of older adults as those who do the outreaching.  

Immanuel Lutheran in Webster, New York has about 500 members with about 200 attending on a Sunday.  There are well over 100 names of people who have been to WOW, and about 75% of the 55-60 people who come each week are very regular attendees. 

As I have noted before in this blog, WOW (Wellness on Wednesday program for older adults) meets once a week (on Wednesdays!).

What I have not emphasized yet, is that about half of the 55-60 attendees each week are from the sponsoring church, Immanuel Lutheran.  The other half are from local churches Catholic, Baptist, Methodist and a few more, and two women friends who are Messianic Jews.  The WOW program has welcomed all comers from the start. 

When considering the important emotional benefits resulting from WOW gatherings each week, this is really an amazing outreach effort.  This is a gift to the community that truly keeps on giving.

Importantly, however, all of the dozen or so volunteers that make everything work are from Immanuel.  These volunteers include the eight or so who work in the kitchen, the three program coordinators, the several who help set the table and greet people who attend, the nurse, and the exercise director.  Since these volunteers may well be getting even more out of this weekly event than the participants, this is an important understanding about the role of outreach (to others) when a church develops programming to enhance the life of older-adults.

My point is that it is not expecting too much for a church to ask for older adult volunteers to create and sustain an Older Adult Ministry.  Not only may there be ample volunteers, but the benefits of such a ministry will benefit the volunteers the most.

The lesson for us all to keep in mind is the important difference between church programs that are created by staff members for older adults to attend and enjoy vs. church programs that offer such enjoyment, but are created, developed and sustained by the older adults themselves – like WOW.   From the perspective of the long term health and well-being of older adults, there is a big difference

It isn’t always so easy to understand how to help make a positive difference in the lives of older adults.  Yet of all the possible means for this to happen, no organization has the wonderful ability to empower older adults and enhance our lives as much as do our own church communities.