Ministering to seniors...not the high school or college kind
I was talking with the other intern at the retirement center where I intern about how hard it is to get others to come and help us.
Here's the deal. We are students at a large seminary, which has 500 plus full time students and a total enrollment of over one thousand, so you think it would be easy to get another chaplain intern to come once a week or so.
Well, it's not and I told Brian why I thought this. I said, "It's not sexy like youth or college ministry." He agreed.
Now, I am not saying youth or college ministry are lesser than what I do, but they have lots of help, at least in St. Louis.
Some of the reasons I think are barriers to people wanting to enter senior ministry are as follows:
Dealing with sickness. This is tough because in my area, most of the people I counsel and visit are sick and will be sick for the rest of their lives. And it is hard "to have the right words", but they are not looking for that. They are looking for someone to just give a little.
Dealing with death. I know a few people who have died in just three months I have been there, and by the end of the year there will be more people whom I learn to love and know who will die. Death is painful to deal with and, again, is hard to confront, but there are those times where someone who is dying ends up blessing you more than you blessed them.
Dealing with bridges. It is hard to build bridges and relationships with people who are 50-70 years older than you. But there is a reward when you learn to listen, and speak loud enough for them to hear you. You get the wonderful opportunity to enter a world that you have never been to and are able to learn and find ways to share with one another.
I know it sounds lame, but I really think that younger folks like myself should at least make an attempt to reach out to the older generations, while they are still here. It may not be as hip and sexy as ministering to post-moderns and all their oddities, but it might make a difference in someone's life too.
Here's the deal. We are students at a large seminary, which has 500 plus full time students and a total enrollment of over one thousand, so you think it would be easy to get another chaplain intern to come once a week or so.
Well, it's not and I told Brian why I thought this. I said, "It's not sexy like youth or college ministry." He agreed.
Now, I am not saying youth or college ministry are lesser than what I do, but they have lots of help, at least in St. Louis.
Some of the reasons I think are barriers to people wanting to enter senior ministry are as follows:
Dealing with sickness. This is tough because in my area, most of the people I counsel and visit are sick and will be sick for the rest of their lives. And it is hard "to have the right words", but they are not looking for that. They are looking for someone to just give a little.
Dealing with death. I know a few people who have died in just three months I have been there, and by the end of the year there will be more people whom I learn to love and know who will die. Death is painful to deal with and, again, is hard to confront, but there are those times where someone who is dying ends up blessing you more than you blessed them.
Dealing with bridges. It is hard to build bridges and relationships with people who are 50-70 years older than you. But there is a reward when you learn to listen, and speak loud enough for them to hear you. You get the wonderful opportunity to enter a world that you have never been to and are able to learn and find ways to share with one another.
I know it sounds lame, but I really think that younger folks like myself should at least make an attempt to reach out to the older generations, while they are still here. It may not be as hip and sexy as ministering to post-moderns and all their oddities, but it might make a difference in someone's life too.
posted by Bobby's blog at 3:26 PM
1 Comments:
Bobby-- I agree completely. Two thoughts in response to your post:
First, Dr. Guthrie, Tasha Chapman, and a few others are very interested in multi-generational and inter-generational ministry, and have encouraged others to get involved in thinking about how it can work-- not just the doing of it, but being thoughtful and intentional about the process itself. You might talk to Guthrie about this; if you're inclined toward writing on it, I think he would be very supportive.
Second, I think you've hit on something about sexiness and ministry jobs. In addition to youth and college, Church Planting also falls into the "sexy" category, while things like solo pastorates and church revitalization are far too mundane. Since my interest is in both of these, I find myself-- like you-- among folks that I feel like can't understand me and my call to ministry.
I might follow up on this on my blog sometime.
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