Senior adults (age 65 and over) represent the fastest growing segment of America’s population. In Florida alone, a popular location for retirement, some county profiles show senior adults composing 24.5 percent of the residents. According to a recent formula by the National Academy of Science (NAS), the poverty level among senior Americans may be nearly twice as high as previously thought under the still-used government formula from 1955. The old formula had measurements showing 10 percent of senior adults at the poverty level; the NAS measurement puts 18.6 percent of seniors at the poverty level. Is the Church in general, as an institution, caring for its elderly population, or do we look at our senior members as “the nice old people who used to do all the work around here”? Moreover, are we concerned for the elderly in the area surrounding our church, even if they don’t attend? Seniors May Hide Their Poverty- Even from Family and Church Two years after my mother’s husband died, my sister and I discovered she was broke. The car had been repossessed, she’d been scammed by a magazine and book club for hundreds of dollars and her monthly expenses cost more than her social security checks. She was living on frozen and canned foods. They had resided in a different state, and although we went for visits, she’d kept this situation from us. She didn’t want to relocate. Shocked into reality, I began researching and found that mom’s situation was typical. To make matters worse, if one must plan for the possibility of a Medicaid-approved nursing home which takes the person’s social security check as full monthly payment, many states require that a senior citizen has less than $2,000 to their name and be considered “destitute.” They must turn all other possessions over to family longer than three years before applying for a home of this type. Otherwise, they won’t qualify and will need to face an average monthly nursing or assisted living cost of $4,000-6,000 per month. Some families don’t save the gifted money to help with this expense. Sabrina, a local hairdresser, tells of an elderly widowed client: “Her property taxes had gone so high; she had to sell her home of forty years because it was taking two months’ worth of her social security.” A senior couple whom I’ll call “Pete” and “Mary” finally admitted their plight to our church, asking: “Can the church help us pay some bills and give us some food? We are living on baloney sandwiches. It’s too expensive to eat healthy.” Fortunately, the church had a food closet. But there were barely enough funds to pay the church’s monthly bills, let alone help its members. Why are churches short on funds to help senior members, or senior adults in their neighborhoods? Author Arthur C. Brooks, in his book “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservativism,” discovered that churchgoers give more to charities than non-churchgoers. But these charities are mostly outside their churches. A 2008 Barna poll on tithing shows the percentage of Christian adults who “tithe”–giving 10 percent or more of their earnings regularly to their church–averaged only 5 percent in 2007 (9 percent among those considering themselves “born again”). From 2000 to 2008, Barna reported the average overall percentage of churchgoers giving within their churches to be only 5 to 7 percent. Here are some possible reasons: -Tithing isn’t being taught as good stewardship, part of Christian discipleship growth, or as a way to show your faithfulness to God. It has become an inconvenience. -Misuse of church funds that hits national news makes people distrustful of their churches, so they give elsewhere. The majority of churches in America are still small churches, and most small churches have depleted funds. They are often unable to help with anything but a food closet, which they must depend on parishioners to keep stocked. And many small church parishioners are elderly. It’s a vicious circle. As Christians, we rely on Old Testament prophecies to prove who Jesus is; we still believe the stories of Moses, Abraham, David, Esther and Ruth; we still learn the lineage of kings. So how can we throw the Old Testament verses on tithing away? Especially Malachi 3:8-10 (NIV): “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. The blessings in return may not be monetary, but there will be blessings. Or would we prefer to give everything like the Christians of Acts 2:42-47 in the New Testament? How many of us wouldn’t hesitate before bringing everything we own to be shared by a whole congregation? James 1:27 says religion is simply taking care of orphans and widows in distress and keeping ourselves clean from the corruption of the world. Widows, widowers, elderly left alone – the Church must consider taking better care and being alert to the needs of the senior adults in our congregations. Don’t wait to be asked. Do something nice for a senior citizen today. |
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