Diverse Activities Interest Diverse People 

A congregation member who has been willing to share her congregational work me, Sharon Roos, has just sent me an update on what is happening for the women in her congregation.   There are several specifics to notice;  (1) the importance of meeting and greeting as goals, (2) the expectation that enhancing friendship is a part of what happens, (3) enthusiasm sometimes takes time, (4) there are endless, diverse possibilities for meaningful activities at church, noted here are painting classes, writing retreats, mother-daughter [grandmother-granddaughter?] groups, quilting projects, potlucks, scrap-booking, stamping, and making greeting cards, (5) keep costs low, (6) thank the helpers, and (7) being open to those from other churches is a plus.

And one caution.  Sharon is a master of encouraging women’s active engagements. She has worked with her church on these issues for a long time.  If you are just starting a new older adult ministry, it would certainly be important not to use Sharon’s success as your standard, at least at first.  It would be more appropriate to begin with a single focus (e.g. four or five focused activities planned by older adults for older adults during the first year).

Bruce

From Sharon:

The last women's day retreat was June 15 and was a structured one with my sister, Joan Mouritsen, from Hayward, WI teaching a water color painting class. There were 29 women + Joan.  Pastor Brenda even joined us for lunch. There were some talented artists as well as rank novices (I'm in this later category) present. The goals were: meet some people and maybe start a friendship, learn some tips about painting or start what is an inexpensive hobby, enjoy a day of fellowship with other women.

What's interesting is that one woman comes to mind; she came to the writing retreat and brought 2 friends, then came to the painting retreat, and commented to one of the people there that she "used to go to Mount Calvary" and has already signed up for future retreats! Another woman who came to the first quilting retreat was very reserved, still reserved at the second quilting retreat, then opened up at the writing retreat, and told me to put her down for every retreat from now on. 

When I mentioned what's interesting, it occurred to me there are so many things that are interesting about these women's day retreats. It's such an easy way to invite people into a church by inviting them to a retreat rather than a worship service, friendships are starting through these retreats (not the least of them being I'm making friends, which I hadn't expected), and one of the important pond ripples that I expect is that years from now someone will say they joined our church because a neighbor or co-worker mentioned what a friendly group of people she'd met at a women's retreat.

The cost, as usual was $5, which included coffee, snacks, a nice lunch (no one has asked me what other types of lunches we have, as I use an elderly aunt's phrase of "a nice lunch") and all the painting supplies they needed (not to take home but to use). Joan generously lent her supplies, and I bought a lot, keeping a budget in mind. I went $30 over the income taken in from this class but will make that up in the last 3 classes, which aren't structured ones. 

This class was the beginning of Chapter 2, in that a following painting session is scheduled on Sept. 14 from 9-12:30 (so now lunch in necessary) to just paint together. We already have 8 women signed up for that, which is enough even if we don't get any more. Interesting enough, this small class is a combination of active members, members who used to be active, to nonmembers who may become members. This small group will no doubt grow and meet regularly, whether monthly or quarterly it's too soon to tell, and include other church members.  Maybe call ourselves ARTISTS AT THE MOUNT. My sister is in a group of artists who meets every Monday morning all summer in Hayward, just to get together and paint; they do this at a church because there is available space and someone suggested that.

The mother/daughter group of middle school girls and their moms is off and running, having started with knitting and crocheting. The two volunteers teaching them are retired and part time teachers of middle school kids and terrific at that.

Taking a hint from the women's retreat on writing stories, I asked Ruth Rosen, a very active 90 year old to come to our May quilters' potluck and talk to us about her experiences as a nurse during WWII. That was very well received! Ruth was the first woman president of our congregation, I discovered later. Many of the women in our office area attended that potluck, as Ruth is a volunteer in the office. What was further surprising was 7 women from Our Savior's Lutheran Church (German Lutheran) quilting group down the highway stopped by to see our set up.  We invited them for lunch, not knowing if we'd have enough food, but our own members are good at waiting till the end and adjusting their appetites to what is available. Thank goodness we always have plenty of food.

At our last Chaska Quilt Guild meeting one of my customers from the Wayzata Covenant Church mentioned that she'd like to see our church quilting setup, and said that the Covenant Church quilting liaison in Excelsior would like to see our setup also, so it appears we'll have more guests at our next monthly potluck. It takes us 2 vehicles every month to deliver quilts to the metro shelters now. We had the display of quilts on the pews this last weekend (we do that every other month, as that is a lot of work in itself), and that makes the church so colorful and also reminds people of the homeless in our midst.

For the June potluck we invited our music director, a young man of 40-45, who had hinted that he'd like to be invited, as he'd heard so many comments about the delicious food. We also invited our janitor who sets up the quilting room for us, Jose, who is a native of Mexico. At one of our recent coffee breaks we talked about end of life planning, which followed a comment by one of our women that they had discussed with their children over Memorial Day weekend some of their end of life decisions, like who was the executor and who wanted what items. 

The next women's day retreat will be on "quilting and other handcrafts" which is the third of fourth of those this year. The email to women members and the signup board go up this week, and I've already sent out the first email to past retreat women so have 10 names to put on the signup board. That's kind of like sour dough starter, not having a blank signup board. Besides the fourth quilting retreat, we have a scheduled retreat on scrapbooking, stamping and making greeting cards. My thought was this would draw in younger women.

The cost will be a little more next year, so I can get the church cook to do the meals and get paid for it, which takes a big load off of me. My sister commented on how difficult she thought it was to figure out what kind of food and how much to prepare for this many people, but we've done a lot of entertaining, so guess we practiced on other people.

Next year (the last retreat is Oct. 26) will be the same 7 groups with probably an extra writing one thrown in. Not sure what we'll do for a structured painting retreat, as my sister said "never again" as it made her nervous. You couldn't tell that. She said she had no experience teaching, and I argued, "Of course, you did, you have 2 children and a husband, for crying out loud." She did a wonderful job and gave even the experienced artists a new tip or two!

So that's the latest news of fellowship and feeling important for senior citizens (or at least the women) at Mount Calvary in Excelsior. 

Sharon