A missed Opportunity in Sunday School
Senior adults in the church can be an enormous blessing, particularly in Sunday school. An elderly man was heard to say, “I have retired from church work” after being called for to assist on a committee for his church.
A few elderly adults because of physical or additional restrictions are not competent to serve. The Scripture's have a lot of good examples of people serving well into their later years - Abraham, Moses, Gideon, David and Paul to acknowledge a few.
The Holy Scripture states a good deal about serving the Lord well and our fellow man. Psalm 100:2 - “serve the Lord with gladness” and Galatians 5:13 “serve one another.”
The biggest grownup population in almost all churches are the fifty-five plus age bracket. These folks possess a wealth of gifts, particular abilities and life experience that they could bring to Sunday school as leaders and instructors of young people and kids. Even so in most cases these valuable resources are left out!
The reasons for elderly adults not becoming involved in are broad and varied. Let’s analyse a few of them forthwith, with a view to assisting Sunday schools apply these useful resources.
· Elderly members are loath to volunteer, even if they would like to be involved. They could feel they ought to step aside for younger people.
· A few question their own abilities, are their techniques of teaching “obsolete”
· A few doubt their ability to connect to a younger generation.
· Reluctance by Sunday school leadership to involve those that have given extensive time in the past. They maybe feel they have done their bit and don’t like to bother them.
It's conceivable for elderly members to feel alone and insignificant and so as a church we owe it to them and ourselves to regard them in the function of Sunday school. A few of the significant qualities that church leadership can neglect are:
· Retired people could frequently have a lot more time to organise lessons and acquire an involvement in younger members.
· Elderly members broadly speaking have “life experiences” that could be shared with younger people.
· In today’s society where the family unit could be fragmented, kids and young people might not become exposured to an older generation. Therefore it is encouraging for them to see the Christian life from a different position.
Sunday school work extends to the senior members a chance to serve the Lord, as long as they're capable, and the reward of sharing their religious belief with younger members.
It is important for Sunday school leadership to prompt and encourage senior adults of their gifts and abilities that could be expended for divine service. Not forgetting to assure them how much they are appreciated. Senior workers are one of the biggest resources accessible to our Sunday schools today. Applying their skills and talents, to the glory of God, ought to be a continuing goal of every Sunday school.
