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Commentary
AGING WELL: Church reaches older adults with live-streamed worship Missy Buchanan, May 19, 2010
Missy Buchanan
By Missy Buchanan Special Contributor
On Sunday mornings, about 50 residents of Tallgrass Creek Retirement Community in Overland Park, Kan., head to the clubhouse. These older adults are not going to art classes, the spa or fitness center. They are going to church via simulcast from the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan.
The idea for a livestreamed worship experience at the retirement community began in 2009 when Resurrection member and Tallgrass Creek resident Paula Dunmire was recouping from hip surgery. Unable to navigate the large church campus, Ms. Dunmire began watching Resurrection’s worship service on the computer in her apartment.
As the weeks passed, Ms. Dunmire began to think of other residents for whom mobility issues and weather often kept them from attending local churches. She wondered if there was a way to show Resurrection’s service on a large screen and invite the Tallgrass Creek community to attend.
Ms. Dunmire took the matter to Tallgrass Creek staff members who were quick to respond, working with Karla Woodward, pastor of Resurrection’s Silver Link ministry and the Rev. Andrew Conard, a Resurrection minister who now heads up Resurrection Online.
On Easter Sunday 2009, Tallgrass Creek celebrated their first official simulcast service. Before long, the loosely formed worship experience evolved as residents began to volunteer as weekly greeters.
Soon Tallgrass Creek upgraded their technology by adding a dedicated Internet line and pull-down screen. The residents began to pass the offering plate just as they do on screen.
Today they register their attendance, which is later transferred to Resurrection Online by a Tallgrass Creek staff member. They also use Resurrection’s weekly bulletin, a GPS guide (Grow, Pray, Study), which can be downloaded in large print from http://www.cor.org/.
Their prayer requests are gathered and included with those from Resurrection’s main campus. Each month they celebrate Holy Communion served by lay members of Resurrection’s Silver Link ministry team.
Ms. Dunmire knows that worshipping as the body of Christ is vital for the well-being of many older adults. The simulcast fills the need they have to feel a part of a group of believers who care about one another.
In an ecumenical spirit, denominational differences quickly fade as residents sing, pray and worship together. Ms. Dunmire says that in many ways the service has become a special source of comfort and encouragement for the physically challenged and newly widowed persons who have spent long months caring for an ill spouse.
John Harned, executive director of Tallgrass Creek, points to the culture of interfaith respect at the retirement community. About 30 percent of the 224 residents have moved to the area from other cities and states, leaving behind their own faith communities.
Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews and others co-exist respectfully and lovingly as is evidenced each year when residents of Jewish faith prepare and serve a Seder dinner for fellow residents who wish to celebrate the Passover meal.
Ms. Buchanan is a member of FUMC, Rockwall, Texas, and the author of Talking with God in Old Age: Meditations and Psalms (Upper Room). Visit her Facebook page, Aging and Faith.
Missy Buchanan
