Alpha for Senior Citizens

by Carol Gillard

Biggin Hill Christian Fellowship, UK

The background – seeing the need
‘The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved!’ (Jer. 8:20)

For many years we have had a ‘drop-in’ for frail elderly folk. One week an old gentleman in his 90s, one of our regulars, was missing. When I asked his closest friend where he was she told me he had died. ‘We used to talk about death and that we wanted to die in our sleep. Now John has got his wish.’ I was shocked that I hadn’t spoken to him of what concerned him most. I gently explained to her that it’s not where we go to sleep that matters, it’s where we wake up. ‘Did you know that it’s possible to be absolutely sure that we will wake up in heaven?’ No one had ever told her of this absolute assurance of eternal life through a personal faith in Christ. I realised that for the very old, the prospect of death and what will happen afterwards is their underlying preoccupation.

And so, in 1997, we launched our weekly Monday Alpha Lunches for senior citizens.

Extra time – for harvest
‘Do you not say, four months and then the harvest? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest’ (John 4:35).
About this time I had a repeated dream. I saw crowds of frail old people, like a field of white heads, but as I drew close I saw they all had little children’s faces. God told me, ‘I have not forgotten the little children who loved to hear stories of Jesus and who sang and prayed to me. Go and tell them “I have not forgotten you!”‘

Those in their 80s and 90s have been given extra time. They began their lives when almost everyone believed the Bible and went to church. Now, often their only companion is the television, which relentlessly proclaims that God is a delusion and faith is folly!

Bringing in the harvest
We find that Alpha is acceptable to old people from every denominational church background and none. The format of building friendships over a meal, after-lunch talks, time for questions, discussion, prayer and worship has served us well. We use the large-print Gideon’s New Testament and Psalms which our guests often also take to read at home.
I make the core Alpha subjects a basis for teaching and take it at their pace. I intersperse these with studies of familiar Bible passages like the Lord’s Prayer or Psalm 23, or Bible words like Faith and Grace. But Alpha is just a tool – the important thing is to see the need, feel God’s heart and be led by the Spirit as to what means will work best.

For many, this becomes their ‘church’ where they have met with Jesus, learn to love and care for one another, and grow in their faith. When they are born again, some join our larger church family and become part of our team.
We’ve learnt much:

•  that only the living presence of the Holy Spirit can impart faith and reveal truth.

•  to encourage everyone to read or listen to the Bible for themselves and expect the power and authority of the Scripture to speak into their hearts.

•  not to be driven by the urgency or overwhelmed with the enormous need.
 
•  that old age, poor sight, hearing, memory or mental ability are no barriers to the power of the gospel to save.

•  that it’s never too late for anyone.

•  that ‘people will not care what we know until they know that we care’.

We’ve seen God rescue many ‘in the nick of time’, equipping them to face death with joyful anticipation. We’ve baptised men and women in their 80s and 90s, by immersion if possible or by thorough soaking.

Many more labourers
‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Ask therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest field’ (Luke 10:2).

At a recent ‘think-tank’ of the national Senior Alpha (www.uk.alpha.org/seniors) I was able to share my experiences and answer practical questions. I was also challenged that there is a new demographic profile of our nation; the 60-80 age group are becoming the carers for the 80-100-year-olds.

I am praying that God will raise up a work-force of older folk in our churches who will become the labourers to bring in this ripe harvest of the very elderly; that He will raise up men and women to tend the elderly new babies; that younger people too will invite those who live alone to come and enjoy the love of God’s people and hear the good news.

I am also praying that He will send more labourers to the millions who now live in nursing and residential homes, to tell them that God loves them, that Christ died for them and that they can be born again and have assurance of eternal life – a future and a hope.

A 91-year-old cheerful little cockney sparrow, George, had a quick enquiring mind. Once I asked him whether he knew he would go to heaven when he died. He explained that, having been baptised as a Catholic, after the last rites he would be going to purgatory – ‘for quite a while’ in view of the life he’d led. ‘George, do you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins?’ ‘Of course I do!’ he said. I drew an imaginary cross on the table. ‘Did Jesus bleed and die on the cross to pay the price for ALL your sins or did he leave some sins for you to pay for?’ George gave me a hard, thoughtful look. ‘I’ve got to go now but we must talk some more about this.’
 
George joined our first Alpha Lunch and was soon born again into his new family. On his first Sunday he looked in wonder at the many rejoicing people and asked loudly, ‘Does the Pope know about this? Someone ought to write to the newspapers!’ He was baptised at 92 and was still learning and growing until his death in a nursing home at 95! When I visited him he would always pray for me, thanking God for his ‘sister’! He taught us so much.

PATRICIA is single, in her 70s. A brain injury caused by a riding accident left her with severe loss of memory. She was put off men, God and Christianity as a child, and gave her whole life to horses. She used to say she was totally alone on the planet. She was won for the Lord over several years through prayer and friendship. She first gave her horse to Jesus – then her heart! She says, ‘Since I was baptised, I never feel alone.’

MAY was very frail and had trouble eating. She never went out except to the lunches and enjoyed hearing God’s word. She blossomed as she began to believe in Jesus. In July last year she was baptised in water and the Holy Spirit. The change in her life was obvious – she was so full of joy. Within a few weeks she was admitted to hospital and went to be with the Lord in January.