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CONTACT: Linda Green					  (10-71B){173}
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470	 March 24, 1998

Committee invites denomination 
to make 1999 year of older adults

	NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- The United Methodist delegation
charged with enhancing the lives of senior adults in the church and
beyond is encouraging annual conferences to make 1999 the year of older
persons.
	In a March 21 resolution, the Committee on Older Adult
Ministries is calling on the church to join with other religious bodies
and the United Nations in focusing on the needs of older people and
planning ministries for them.
	The 1999 International Year of Older Adult Persons is an
emphasis of the U.N. General Assembly. The year's overall objective is
the "promotion of the United Nations Principles for Older Persons,"
adopted by the General Assembly in 1991. Those guidelines address the
independence, participation, care, self-fulfillment and dignity of older
persons.
	Administratively related to the churchwide Board of
Discipleship, the 25-member Committee on Older Adult Ministries was
established to serve as a forum for information sharing and cooperative
planning, and to support ministries, by, with and for senior adults
throughout the denomination and society.
	The group noted that elderly people want to make significant
contributions to the life and work of the church. The current generation
of older people is the best educated, healthiest, most active and
financially secure in history, and its numbers will increase, the
committee said. Statistics indicate that by the year 2010, people over
age 60 will outnumber those under age 25 by a four-to-one ratio. 
	Therefore, members say, it is important that each congregation
recognize, encourage, support and ensure that older members be invited
to participate in all of the church's ministries. 
The Rev. Richard Gentzler, director of adult ministries for the Board of
Discipleship, said older adults need to:
*	find worth in one's being, not through having or doing;
		*	accept one's life journey and faith story,
confronting losses and acknowledging gains;
		*	experience a new or renewed relationship with
God through Jesus Christ; and
		*	serve the needs of others through ministry.
The resolution affirms God's call for all people to be in mission,
ministry and service. It also affirms older adults being called to
Christian discipleship. It urges congregations, districts and annual
conferences to lift up the concerns of older adults in 1999 and develop
ongoing ministries for them.
				# # #
EDITORS: A copy of the resolution follows.

Committee on Older Adult Ministries Resolution
1999 International Year of Older Persons
March 21, 1998

Whereas God calls persons of all ages to be in mission, ministry, and
service to others; and

Whereas older adults, no less than persons of all ages, are called by
God to be faithful Christian disciples; and

Whereas older adults are called to share their faith, wisdom, and
knowledge with persons of every age and stage in life, as it is written,
"wisdom is with the aged" (Job 12:12 RSV); and

Whereas older adults have much to teach and much to learn and are
interdependent upon persons of all ages; and

Whereas aging is a natural progression in life and is part of God's good
gift to life; and

Whereas there are more older adults now than at any other time in the
history of the world and in the membership of The United Methodist
Church; and

Whereas the United Methodist Committee on Older Adult Ministries affirms
this United Nations resolution as an opportunity for our church to focus
on older persons;

Therefore, be it resolved that the _______________Annual Conference of
the United Methodist Church adopts 1999 as the International Year of
Older Persons; and

Be it further resolved that local congregations, districts and the
annual conference lift up the needs and concerns of older adults in
1999, and develop ongoing, intentional older adult ministries.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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