Customer Reviews

Ministering to Older Adults: The Building Blocks

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This book is a great contribution to the field of Religious Gerontology and Older Adult Ministry. This book is a collection of articles that have been simultaneously published as the Journal of Religion, Spirituality, and Aging (Vol 17. 3/4 2005). To quickly summarize this book it is broken up into three parts. Part one provides the pastor or Older Adult Ministry leader the tools necessary to determine if their congregation is prepared to develop a wholistic Older Adult Ministry. If a congregation already has an Older Adult Ministry or Programs for Older Adults, Chapter four is especially helpful in that it provides tools to assess or evaluate an existing Older Adult Ministry program. The Assessment tools are field tested. These foundational chapters also provide concrete examples of what has worked and what hasn't worked in starting an Older Adult Ministry that reach beyond the antidotial in that they provide documented peer reviewed research to back up the claims made by the authors. The inclusion of current research as support for the practical application of ministry activities is one of the book's strengths.

What I found most helpful was the through explanation of the four steps necessary to begin a wholistic Older Adult Ministry or assessing an exiting program and how the second part of the book builds on these four steps to build/provide a solid program that will build upon the six basic spiritual needs of Older Adults as defined by the editor and contributors. The greatest strength of this book is that it does not ignore the spiritual needs of elders, in fact this book helps the pastor or Older Adult Leader see how many existing activity programs may meet psychological or social needs often miss the real spiritual needs of elders. The depth and breadth of spiritual needs that elders face are address and the authors provide concrete resources that will assist Older Adult Ministries at all levels to more effectively meet these needs. The editor and authors identify the following as the six basic spiritual needs of Older Adults (spiritual development, the need for continued learning, the need to serve, the need to be served, the need for quality pastoral care, and the need for community). These six needs have often not been clearly identified in previous literature in the field and the manner is which individual chapters explain and elaborate on these needs and how a wholistic Older Adult Ministry will meet these needs is a breath of fresh air to the literature in the field.

Part three provides the theoretical underpinnings and a practical planning grid tool that will allow existing Older Adult Ministry programs to examine their current program for their effectiveness in meeting the six spiritual needs of Older Adults. Part Three also summarizes the process and needs of an effective ministry that can be used to build a solid program from the ground up.

This book is easy to read and implement and is recommended as a useful tool for those wishing to evaluate their current Older Adult Ministry programs or for persons wishing to explore the development of an Older Adult Ministry in their congregation.