PHOTO BY SAM VERNON/THE HENLEY STANDARD Olive Morgan, a British Methodist, began keeping a blog (short for web log, or online journal) after she was already in her 80s.

By Amy Forbus
Staff Writer

Olive Morgan of Berkshire, England, has always enjoyed writing and getting to know people. 

So when she read Superintendent Minister Richard Hall’s comments in the British denominational newspaper, the Methodist Recorder, that if John Wesley were alive today he would keep a blog (an online journal) rather than a paper journal, she decided to follow suit and answered his appeal for more Methodist bloggers. 

“I had always done youth work, and missing such contact when I reached 80, I hoped that I could perhaps reach some of the young bloggers using this means of communication,” she said in a recent e-mail interview. 

And she did. “I found that young people would ask me for advice,” she said, noting that they didn’t always follow it, but “I hope it was helpful to them.” 

She used to blog on Modblog, a service that drew younger readers. “I found that young people would ask me for advice,” she said. “This gave me great joy.” 

But when that service shut down, she switched to Blogger.com, “a much more sedate and serious network—and I have to act more my age!” said the 87-year-old. Her current blog is octomusings.blogspot.com. 

“I continue to blog because I had come into contact with other Methodist [and other] bloggers,” Ms. Morgan said, “and it is still a very good way of keeping in touch with each other and also learning from others. It is an interest that I would greatly miss.”

Wide-ranging reasons

In May 2008, a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project showed that 70 percent of Americans ages 50 to 64 use the Internet, as do 35 percent of those age 65 and over. Those percentages will increase as Baby Boomers age and significantly more retirees will have experience with computers. 

The reasons for Internet use among these age groups are just as wide-ranging as in other generations, says Marcie Schwarz of SeniorNet, a nonprofit organization that provides older adults with education and access to computer technologies. 

Seniors e-mail, participate in discussion groups, read or write blogs and share photos online for a variety of reasons, Ms. Schwarz said, including “socializing, support, information sharing, learning and teaching, personal expression and creativity, and planning and volunteering together for specific projects.” 

The Rev. Guy Kent, a 66-year-old retired elder in the North Georgia Conference, was encouraged by his adult children to write more and began blogging in 2005 at QuestingParson.org. 

“I used to always write little stories for church newsletters, and I’ve written newspaper columns where I’ve been appointed,” he said. “So my kids said, ‘Hey, you ought to do this online.’” 

Since he began blogging, his site has drawn a peak of about 5,000 unique visitors a day, coming from more than a hundred countries. 

Questing Parson’s blog posts are based in reality, but Mr. Kent takes some creative license with storytelling. Some readers were chagrined to learn that “Ginger,” a composite character who appears regularly on the blog, would not one day grow up to become their pastor—because she doesn’t exist. 

“She is real in the sense that she is all the children that walk through my life,” said Mr. Kent. 

The relationships he’s developed drive him to continue blogging, he said. Even though few people actually post comments on his blog, Mr. Kent regularly receives e-mails from pastors who read his online posts. Some e-mail for advice on how to handle problems that come with serving in a local church. 

“It’s really turned into a ministry,” he said. 

Mr. Kent is expanding his Web presence, too; soon he’ll include video interviews on his blog. Online guests will include the pastor of a nondenominational church that worships in an Atlanta public park, a Seventh-Day Adventist chaplain, and a pastor of a small United Methodist Church in Tennessee with “a food ministry to the hungry that is just beyond belief,” he said. 

Both Ms. Morgan of England and Mr. Kent of Calhoun, Ga., are members of Methoblog.com, an online gathering place for bloggers who are part of any branch of Methodism.

Online community

But there’s plenty of room online for older Methodists who are non-bloggers, too. 

Eva Schulze, 71, is a member of Star UMC in the Southwest Texas Conference and is active in the online community of United Methodist Women at www.umwonline.org. 

Ms. Schulze first went online to keep in touch with people through e-mail. Because she lives in a rural area, she quickly became comfortable with shopping online, which often makes more sense than driving to the nearest town to buy something. 

She also likes to search the Internet for information about her hobbies, including gardening and planting. “I would really rather be outside working or in my sewing room sewing, but I find myself on the computer a lot,” she said. 

She is a member of the United Methodist Women’s online Reading Program and Environment communities, where she will weigh in on discussions about “What are you reading?” She set up her account to notify her by e-mail whenever something new is posted on either of the discussion boards she frequents, and she has participated in two chat sessions for a Reading Program book discussion.

Social networking

One of the more recent developments in online social networking is the growing popularity of Facebook.com. Though it began as a site for college students, Facebook has now extended to all ages. 

Seniors who were interviewed, however, were not particularly drawn to that aspect of the cyberspace community. 

Mr. Kent has a Facebook account, but doesn’t find it particularly enriching—and says it eats up a lot of time. “I’m on Facebook because my kids told me I needed to be on Facebook, but the real world is keeping me busy enough,” he said. 

The church where he is pastor has been spearheading the launch of a transitional housing ministry, so the real world of ministry demands his attention. 

He also wonders about the time investment in Web sites like GoodReads.com, which centers on keeping up with what you and your friends are reading: “How do you have time to write sermons if you’re reading all these books?” 

Ms. Morgan isn’t sure why, but she hasn’t had the urge to join Facebook. She says she has not studied it in detail. 

“I don’t fancy Facebook,” she said, “though I know that these days it’s the place to be.”

aforbus@umr.org 

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