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Commentary
AGING WELL: Our passion can change things Missy Buchanan, Jun 4, 2009
Missy Buchanan
By Missy Buchanan Special Contributor
A well-behaved Chihuahua dressed in an angel costume came to the worship service in a skilled nursing center. He curled up in the lap of an elderly woman who stroked him as she sang familiar hymns.
Just a few steps away, a 2-year-old sat in a stroller while her mother served communion to a widow whose hands trembled.
Following the benediction, the toddler got out of her stroller and began to entertain eager residents. The dog continued his own unique ministry, moving from lap to lap. All around, there were smiles.
Every month, the scene is repeated in 25 different senior care centers in the Kansas City area, though not always with a dog and a toddler. Twenty worship teams from Silver Link Ministries of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan., bring church to older adults who are unable to attend Sunday services.
For many elderly residents, the worship service is the only connection they have with a church. Some are members of Resurrection or have grown children who are members. Others are disconnected from their own churches or have no church affiliation.
All are invited to come and remember their faith.
Silver Link pastor Karla Woodward says that each service is shaped by the level of care required by the residents.
“Older adults in an independent living facility generally have different needs than those in assisted living or skilled nursing centers,” says Ms. Woodward, a former geriatric nurse. “We adjust the message and format accordingly to fit each group, even those with dementia.”
I think you’d have to be a bump on a log not to get excited about older-adult ministry when talking to Karla. Her passion, rooted in childhood, is unmistakable and contagious.
As a 13-year-old girl, she went with a church group to visit elderly residents in a small-town nursing home. That visit became the spark that would later flame into a multi-faceted ministry for frail older adults in one of the largest United Methodist churches in the U.S.
Even so, Ms. Woodward’s journey to Silver Link Ministries has not been without its challenges. As a staff member in another area of ministry at Resurrection, she had begun to experience burnout. The Rev. Karen Lampe, congregational care executive pastor, recalls that Ms. Woodward was about to quit. Ms. Lampe alerted the Rev. Adam Hamilton, the church’s senior pastor.
“Karla was too valuable to lose,” she says. “We just needed to re-align her position with her gifts and passion.”
Immediately, Mr. Hamilton invited Ms. Woodward to dream about a ministry to, for and with frail older adults. And dream she did. Not long after, Ms. Woodward stepped into a full-time staff position with Silver Link Ministries.
More recently, the Center for Ministry with the Frail was created, fulfilling another of her dreams. The Center offers resources to assist others who want to serve the frail. Today Ms. Woodward supervises two seminary interns, one retired pastor and more than 100 laypersons who serve on the Silver Link Ministries team.
Ms. Woodward and her team made over 30,000 contacts with people in 2008. Last year, she became a licensed local pastor, enabling her to administer the sacraments and participate in funerals for older adults she has served.
She is now attending seminary to become a deacon, even as the ministry continues to evolve and grow.
When Ms. Woodward realized that some older adults wanted to worship in a church setting but were uncomfortable with bustling Sunday morning crowds, Silver Link began hosting a Friday worship service in the church’s chapel. Now, area senior care centers bring older adults to the church once a month for the Special Worship Service, where Silver Link volunteers help them in getting off the buses and vans and into their seats.
Ms. Woodward also knew that as people become more frail, they struggle to find purpose. In response, she has found ways for older adults to minister to others.
Each week, the older adults are provided a large-print prayer letter with prayer requests from members of the congregation asking for prayers. If the older adults are unable to read the letter, a member of the Silver Link team will read it to them and lead them in prayer.
Ms. Woodward has also developed a monthly Order of Worship that is available for download at www.cor.org/cmf. There’s a daily devotion which older adults can hear by dialing toll free 866-702-1585.
With volunteers and a program in place, much of Ms. Woodward’s time is now spent helping family members navigate the uneven landscape of aging relatives.
Smaller congregations may be quick to rebut that Silver Link is successful because Resurrection is a large church with vast resources. But Ms. Woodward cautions them not to forget their frail members.
“It is not about church size,” she says. “If a good system is in place, churches of any size can do this ministry.”
So why does Ms. Woodward do it? “You have to believe these frail elderly are worth it, that their lives have value,” she says. “In your heart, you have to know that what you are doing matters.”
Ms. Woodward knows that what she’s doing matters a lot. She gets it. As the song goes, it only takes a spark.
Ms. Buchanan, a member of FUMC Rockwall, Texas, is the author of Living with Purpose in a Worn Out Body (Upper Room Books).
Missy Buchanan
As a 13-year-old girl, she went with a church group to visit elderly residents in a small-town nursing home. That visit became the spark that would later flame into a multi-faceted ministry for frail older adults in one of the largest United Methodist churches in the U.S. 
