I have long been interested in ministry for the elderly. So, I have done more ministry for the elderly than other churches. I participate as a member or director in the Gerontological Society, elderly mission organizations, local dementia prevention centers, and suicide prevention education for the elderly. Peace Church's ministry for the elderly proceeds in three directions.
First is the ministry for the elderly within the church. Dementia prevention, silver ministry, help for the bereaved, active senior activities, Bible study for the elderly, prayer ministry, visiting the elderly living alone, and supporting activities of elderly institutions.
Second is the Silver College for the community, senior center mission worship, and inviting the elderly to serve during church seasons.
Third is mission for nursing homes or nursing hospitals. And in the future, my dream is to create a "Senior Group Home" so that saints can spend their old age together. It is best to spend old age in one's own home in a familiar area, called 'Aging in Place', but inevitably everyone goes through 'Movement in Old Age'. At first, they live in an apartment or house.
Then, when their activity level drops and there is no family to help with caregiving, they go to a nursing facility. If lucky, they go to a nursing home with good scenery, good friends, and many support staff, but sometimes they spend their time lonely in a nursing facility getting injections. The third is moving to a geriatric ward in a university hospital or medium-sized hospital, or to an intensive care unit. It is the movement of old age to call family members to see their deathbed and pass away there when the time comes. Living in the local community is best in old age.
We must extend that period if possible. It is better to stay in a nursing facility for as short a time as possible. We should not go to the intensive care unit. It is possible if we receive the blessings of old age. I introduce <9 Blessings Needed in Old Age>. I recommend reading this to those who have reached old age. I also recommend reading it to those who have parents at home. Saints who are currently elderly must receive all the blessings of old age without exception. I hope that the saints of Peace Church, which I serve, will have blessings in their old age.
I hope that the elder elders and elder pastors who have served the denomination all their lives will have blessings in their old age. This book was written by collecting manuscripts thinking of the saints of Seongheung Church and the saints spending their old age in rural churches as I held a revival meeting at Seongheung Church in Buyeo, Chungnam in the fall. I pride myself on having more materials on old age than any other pastor in the denomination. Although they are mostly new materials, mainly in English, if you are interested in old age, please request them from me and I will provide them at any time (commission@naver.com).
1. Blessing of Health
Spending a healthy old age is everyone's dream. However, the reality of old age is that it is not as healthy as one wishes. The reality is that 9 out of 10 elderly people are sick. Life expectancy is 82.4 years, but healthy life expectancy is only 64.9 years. 73% of the elderly have 2 or more chronic diseases. 51% have 3 or more. Because they are sick, the elderly frequently visit hospitals.
In fact, 77.4% of the elderly used medical institutions such as clinics and hospitals for a month. The problem is that they start getting sick before they become elderly and have to go to the hospital for 20 or 30 years or more, and spend their old age in pain while taking medicine. There is a statistic that medical expenses per person per year were 4.59 million won in 2020, but will be 7.6 million won in 2030.
If you cannot come to church because of illness, and if you have a disability due to illness, you cannot handle the ministry. The increase in elderly medical expenses becomes a huge burden on the household economy in old age. In order to prevent rapid health deterioration due to aging, individual efforts are good, but you must receive the blessing of health, which is the most important among the blessings of old age. I pray that you will receive the blessing of good health like the blessing of the Apostle John. "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers" (3 John 1:2).
2. Blessing of Work
The elderly also need work. This is because it helps supplement income. However, jobs for the elderly are not just for economic reasons. It is necessary because it confirms social roles and values while spending old age. Through work, the elderly can confirm their existence and the meaning of life.
The health gained additionally while working is also something to be thankful for. Physical and mental health is improved. Human relationships improve through work, and depression improves. Taking charge of a corner of society through work rather than aging lonely without work is also a great help in maintaining the self-esteem of the elderly. Jobs for the elderly can reduce the economic and social burden of supporting the elderly for both families and the country. The Bible introduces many people who still work even when they are old. Moses was a shepherd on Mount Horeb even when he was 80.
Daniel served kings and nations as a prime minister even when he was over 80. Caleb was 85 years old, but he asked for a pioneer land saying he would fight. Zechariah was old and advanced in years, but he served in the temple as a priest and got a son, John the Baptist. In the future society, the elderly with various know-how will keep their positions and step forward for public interest work. In particular, if opportunities are provided, the elderly in the church will reduce the generation gap through service and work and become the protagonists of social integration.
3. Blessing of Family
Family plays a very important role in the life of the elderly. I introduced 'Aging in Place', where one stays continuously in the area where one lived even as one gets older, but the elderly feel comfort, independence, and familiarity at home more than in other places. Family contributes to the improvement of the overall quality of life for the elderly. For the elderly, home becomes a place that gives psychological stability and comfort beyond a place to eat and sleep.
The elderly can cherish memories related to home and maintain emotional well-being. For the elderly to have a family means that family bonds are strengthened and it becomes a place where family naturally gathers. The Bible introduces many exemplary families.
In the book, I introduced the family of Cornelius. The Bible introduces his family as a family that feared God completely, gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. It is surprising that a Roman feared God. Now, families are collapsing in Korean society. Divorced families are increasing, and problem families are increasing.
Dysfunctional families appear everywhere. In particular, single-person households living alone as they become elderly are increasing. Unless they are healthy and have economic leeway, most of the elderly living alone around the church are poor. Although there is a tendency to want to live independently even when they become elderly, households consisting only of the elderly inevitably have a high risk of social isolation if appropriate exchanges with the outside do not take place.
Family becomes a safe and peaceful fence for all generations, but it has a close influence on health and happiness, especially for the elderly. When the family is healthy, the elderly are also at peace. Therefore, the blessing of family is even more necessary in old age.
4. Blessing of Finances
Lack of economic resources for the elderly is one of the problems of the elderly. If the elderly do not have economic ability, it is difficult to receive health treatment or care. Alienation and isolation from the elderly and their surroundings can also deepen. However, the reality is that according to a survey of the elderly aged 65 and over, only 3 out of 10 are spending their old age economically independent and stable.
7 out of 10 elderly people live with chronic diseases. The health and financial status required to live satisfactorily in old age are not good. A person who says, "How much money would be needed in old age?" is a person who has failed to prepare for old age. The country's budget for the elderly is increasing exponentially every year. It is enough to worry about the future, relying only on the country is dangerous.
So naturally, finances are important in old age as well. Finances are needed not only for food, clothing, and shelter but also when maintaining social life. I also wrote a book called <Conditions of the Rich According to the Bible>. Like Barzillai who helped King David among them, beloved elderly saints must receive financial blessings and live abundantly.
Even if you become an old man, you need finances to relieve and serve. You can help people with words, but sometimes material things are essential. Above all, if you can maintain economic independence even when you become an old man, it protects the person's dignity and character. Elderly saints must pray for financial blessings.
5. Blessing of Faith
Having a religion in old age is a prerequisite for achieving 'successful aging'. Faith life strengthens subjective well-being. It lowers depression. It tends to reduce mortality or disease morbidity. It helps maintain and promote physical and mental health in old age.
Elderly people who live a life of faith feel much higher happiness and stability than those who do not. In old age, you must naturally live by faith. The elderly are likely to experience many perplexing life events such as deterioration of financial problems as well as decline in physical health and illness and death of relatives, children, and spouses.
The psychological shock that the elderly receive from these life events is inevitably more serious than people of any other age group. At this time, faith also mitigates the shock by interpreting the meaning of events experienced during life religiously.
According to Ministry Data Research, 59.8% of the elderly appeared to have a religion. By religion, Protestantism is the most with 24.3%, followed by Buddhism with 23.8% and Catholicism with 10.8%. For the elderly in the church, the fellowship relationship of fellowship while having faith is an essential element for spending a successful old age. We must receive the blessing of faith and solidify the fellowship network more.
6. Blessing of Friends
Evidence is increasing that social relationships are closely related to happiness. Elderly people who enjoy and feel satisfied in social relationships can spend a happier old age than those who do not. Having good friends increases happiness, reduces stress, and makes you feel good about yourself.
It helps to cope with trauma such as illness, divorce, or bereavement. Experts advise that adaptation becomes easier if there is social support during a period of life transition such as retirement. If you spend your old age with friends, loneliness and anxiety disappear and it is easy to think optimistically.
What kind of friends would be good friends for elderly people who have faith? Like Daniel's three friends, they are old friends. They are friends who share the same will. They are friends who pray together. They are friends who endure trials together.
7. Blessing of Dwelling
Where one stays is very important for the elderly. If one becomes an old man and the dwelling is unstable and there is no place to stay, it will be very miserable. As a dwelling for the elderly, it can be one's own house or a child's house. It would be grateful if it is a place with a senior community.
In the case of Korea, unlike Japan, Australia, or the UK, there are many elderly people who refuse communal facilities for the elderly. Nursing homes are also an option. There is no need to unconditionally refuse nursing facilities. Because sometimes there are more advantages than houses. In the booklet, I introduced Abraham's tent in Genesis 18. There are people coming and going.
Hospitality is practiced. There is a healthy table. There is a helper. Above all, the couple lives together in the tent as they grow old together. The angel asks Abraham. "Where is your wife Sarah?" Abraham answers. "She is in the tent."
8. Blessing of Wisdom
I emphasize to the saints whenever I have time that the wisdom of 'discernment' is needed. It is the ability to make clear judgments. There are many crimes targeting the elderly, and it is difficult to have a dignified old age when discernment disappears. In particular, senile dementia is an object of fear for many elderly people.
The blessing of wisdom is absolutely necessary in old age so that wisdom does not disappear and wisdom increases. Discernment is needed in situations encountered in life. It is a consumption society. To consume healthily, discernment and wisdom are needed. It is the information age, we must receive information rationally and correctly, not taking information indiscriminately. Discernment is even more necessary for the elderly. There are very many times when discernment is needed, such as when speaking, dealing with people, choosing a hospital, etc.
9. Blessing of Heaven
Finishing life is very important. I have been conducting <Death Preparation School> for a long time. Just as you prepare to move, you need to prepare to move to heaven. Everyone has the end of life. The place of death is also important. The elderly need the hope of heaven. I recommend reading <Heaven Curating> which I wrote. I explained heaven very easily. I want to say that Peace Church is working hard on ministry for the elderly. But there is something I always recommend when I meet the elderly.
I recommend going to heaven together. I always recommend it to the elderly who visit nursing hospitals, senior centers, and during seasons. Shouldn't we receive the blessing of heaven at the end of life? I recommend it to pastors who meet elderly saints every week. Testify to the blessings needed in old age.
Materials are overflowing. If you look at YouTube, you can learn as much as you want about elderly issues. The best thing a pastor can give to saints is blessing. Therefore, proclaim the 9 blessings of old age and pray powerfully for the blessings to come.