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GA06067
Church Growth and Christian Education committee concludes Adopts sweeping report from older adult task force
by Erin S. Cox-Holmes
Commissioner Loretta Hazelwood from the Presbytery of Newark raises her hand during the Church Growth and Christian Education committee meeting. Photo by Danny Bolin BIRMINGHAM, June 18 * The Church Growth and Christian Education committee received sweeping recommendations from the Older Adult Task Force, which was charged by the 215th General Assembly (2003) to review older adult ministries, discern current needs and recommend a course for the future.
Demographics drive the urgency of the task force's mission. The baby-boomer generation will start turning 65 in 2011, and the number of older people will increase dramatically during the 2010 to 2030 period.
The report states, "The implications of the age wave are local and global, affecting every generation, every family, every community, and every system providing resources. It is in the community of faith that every human life has value, dignity, and purpose.
"As the numbers of older adults grow, their needs and circumstances will influence the direction of the church's evolving mission. Therefore, the church needs to prepare and inform its leaders, develop resources, advocate and communicate issues of aging at every level of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)."
Target areas include spirituality, leadership and vocation, social justice and education.
"For every one worshiper under the age of 25 in our churches, there are six over the age of 65," Michelle Schultz, a member of the task force, said during the public hearing. "Members and nonmembers are turning to congregations and presbyteries for help in dealing with issues related to aging. The average clergy will spend half their time in the church working with older adults."
In what was to become a theme throughout the work of the committee, the Older Adult Task Force's report was received with deep gratitude and without revision. The main question concerned the availability of money. The amendment most frequently passed by the committee throughout its work was "as funding becomes available."
The report initially proposed that staff positions be added for the Office of Older Adult Ministries. Even with the infusion of funds from the grassroots networks, significant cuts would have been necessary from elsewhere. The revised plan asks that "an appropriate connecting point (or points) be clearly identified within the Mission Work Plan structure that will relate to the needs and issues of the older adult ministry networks, and that these connecting points be identified within the existing GAC staff."
In other business, the committee approved a study of church growth, noting that frequent studies on church decline have failed to reverse the trend. The committee's hope is that focusing on the positive will result in new, creative solutions.
While trying to deal with the many funding challenges affecting ministry efforts, the committee heard a positive report from the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program (PILP), which offers ways for congregations to make their dreams of church growth become reality.
The committee also noted the prospects for church growth available in the new Loaves and Fishes Church Growth Fund, established with the landmark $150-million gift through the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts and Hands.
The committee approved calls to research obstacles to inclusiveness and to form a task force on urban church revitalization, both when funds are available. The Christmas Joy offering will continue to benefit Historically Presbyterian Racial Ethnic Institutions (HPREIs), while new guidelines and controls are developed for the offering. Establishing a special fund and case statement to help meet the needs of the HPREIs was recommended.
In addition, the committee approved a proposal to name certified Christian educators and certified associate Christian educators as mandated Reporters in Cases of Abuse of Minors or Adults Lacking Mental Capacity.
The committee also is sending an overture regarding the use of biblical and confessional teachings in the development of any future sexuality curricula. The committee amended the original overture to ask that any new materials continue to include information on reproductive health.
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