Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 2:02am
Seniors make potent volunteer force
An invaluable amount of manpower, experience, insight and maturity would be absent from volunteer missions in the United States and around the world if senior adults were removed from the equation, two mission board officials say.
"Right now in Southern Baptist disaster relief and even much of volunteerism, senior adults are major players. We see them in virtually every venue we go to," Jim Burton, senior director of partnership mobilization at the North American Mission Board, told Baptist Press. "In disaster relief, senior adults have embraced the task and are serving at all levels of leadership as well as service."
The eldest generation brings a valuable work ethic to volunteerism, Burton said, and given their life experiences they possess a level of maturity that helps them be more effective on the field, Baptist Press reported Thursday.
"We believe that volunteerism is the answer to the question of significance that a lot of people ask in life," he said. "Volunteer missions fills a real gap in the lives of many senior adults, particularly early retirees who have spent an entire career in some field of service from business to education or whatever and God has laid something on their heart that just won't let go."
Wendy Norvelle, associate vice president for mobilization at the International Mission Board, said many senior adults are involved in a variety of missions tasks through the IMB overseas, including working alongside board personnel or alongside national believers and church leaders.
"These kind of projects last anywhere from a week or 10 days to several weeks. Volunteers go and pay their own way and as they are doing a particular responsibility they also find ways to share the Gospel," Norvelle told BP. "Many times it's senior adults who have the financial resources as well as the time available to go on volunteer mission trips or be involved in projects and partnerships overseas."
Seniors, Burton said, are at a point in life where they have more control of their time and finances and volunteer missions becomes a great outlet. Having worked with volunteers for more than two decades, he has heard senior adults say repeatedly that time spent in volunteer missions turned out to be the most significant and fulfilling years of their lives.
Burton's hope is that more Southern Baptists, particularly those who have recently retired, will understand how significant they can be in the completion of the missions task because they bring so much to the table.
"Many times through the years I've talked with seniors who will tell me that they felt the call to missions as a teenager and then life happened — maybe they fell in love, they got married and maybe the spouse didn't share that commitment, maybe kids came a little quicker than they expected or whatever — and they didn't quite get there but the call of God stayed on their life and they couldn't let go of that," Burton said. "And so now suddenly they see these last stages of life and the opportunity to finally come face to face with that calling and to submit to that purpose for their life."
One of the most common ways for senior adults to participate in volunteer mission work in the United States is disaster relief, which is organized through Baptist state conventions in the wake of hurricanes, floods, tornados and other natural disasters.
"They play a major role and are often among the first responders," Burton said of seniors. "They're often the ones that are able to stay the longest period of time."
Many senior adults also are involved in Baptist Builders, a construction ministry that assists local congregations. Burton recalled a fond memory from 1986 when he traveled to Tacoma, Wash., for a project that connected young men across the nation with senior adults to help build a Korean church that is now the largest church in the northwest.
World Changers is a popular construction ministry primarily aimed at high school students, but Burton said NAMB always needs a host of crew chiefs, construction coordinators and supervisors that many times are senior adults.
Campers on Mission is another ministry available to senior adults, and in fact, Burton said it is mostly made up of seniors in recreational vehicles.
"These are people that have chosen a very mobile lifestyle, and they want to travel for the purpose of missions. It's not unusual for them to be gone six to nine months at a time, going from mission project to mission project to mission project," Burton said. "Obviously that's very encouraging to us. There are a number of initiatives out there that count on Campers on Mission year-round to come and be a part of what they're doing."
Seniors who want to be involved on a longer-term basis with the IMB can apply for the Masters Program designed for people 50 and over for two or three-year assignments. After an in-depth application process, participants are given a specific assignment for which they receive financial support from the IMB.
"In many cultures around the world, maturity is honored and doors can be opened because someone may have lived more years than someone else," Norvelle said. "Particularly in those cultures, someone who has a good deal of wisdom and years of experience can often make some progress in sharing the Gospel or getting a project completed that someone else might not be able to."
On the personal side, young missionaries with families often find that seniors on the field are able to fulfill a familiar role such as a surrogate grandparent to their children, Norvelle said, and such relationships are a tremendous asset in mission work.
Some senior adults may have reservations about tackling a mission project because they believe they lack the physical endurance necessary for the task — something they believe someone younger could provide more easily. But Norvelle said all types of people are needed, and seniors may be better suited for some situations than younger people who thrive on the fast-paced environment of the 21st century.
"Right now in Southern Baptist disaster relief and even much of volunteerism, senior adults are major players. We see them in virtually every venue we go to," Jim Burton, senior director of partnership mobilization at the North American Mission Board, told Baptist Press. "In disaster relief, senior adults have embraced the task and are serving at all levels of leadership as well as service."
The eldest generation brings a valuable work ethic to volunteerism, Burton said, and given their life experiences they possess a level of maturity that helps them be more effective on the field, Baptist Press reported Thursday.
"We believe that volunteerism is the answer to the question of significance that a lot of people ask in life," he said. "Volunteer missions fills a real gap in the lives of many senior adults, particularly early retirees who have spent an entire career in some field of service from business to education or whatever and God has laid something on their heart that just won't let go."
Wendy Norvelle, associate vice president for mobilization at the International Mission Board, said many senior adults are involved in a variety of missions tasks through the IMB overseas, including working alongside board personnel or alongside national believers and church leaders.
"These kind of projects last anywhere from a week or 10 days to several weeks. Volunteers go and pay their own way and as they are doing a particular responsibility they also find ways to share the Gospel," Norvelle told BP. "Many times it's senior adults who have the financial resources as well as the time available to go on volunteer mission trips or be involved in projects and partnerships overseas."
Seniors, Burton said, are at a point in life where they have more control of their time and finances and volunteer missions becomes a great outlet. Having worked with volunteers for more than two decades, he has heard senior adults say repeatedly that time spent in volunteer missions turned out to be the most significant and fulfilling years of their lives.
Burton's hope is that more Southern Baptists, particularly those who have recently retired, will understand how significant they can be in the completion of the missions task because they bring so much to the table.
"Many times through the years I've talked with seniors who will tell me that they felt the call to missions as a teenager and then life happened — maybe they fell in love, they got married and maybe the spouse didn't share that commitment, maybe kids came a little quicker than they expected or whatever — and they didn't quite get there but the call of God stayed on their life and they couldn't let go of that," Burton said. "And so now suddenly they see these last stages of life and the opportunity to finally come face to face with that calling and to submit to that purpose for their life."
One of the most common ways for senior adults to participate in volunteer mission work in the United States is disaster relief, which is organized through Baptist state conventions in the wake of hurricanes, floods, tornados and other natural disasters.
"They play a major role and are often among the first responders," Burton said of seniors. "They're often the ones that are able to stay the longest period of time."
Many senior adults also are involved in Baptist Builders, a construction ministry that assists local congregations. Burton recalled a fond memory from 1986 when he traveled to Tacoma, Wash., for a project that connected young men across the nation with senior adults to help build a Korean church that is now the largest church in the northwest.
World Changers is a popular construction ministry primarily aimed at high school students, but Burton said NAMB always needs a host of crew chiefs, construction coordinators and supervisors that many times are senior adults.
Campers on Mission is another ministry available to senior adults, and in fact, Burton said it is mostly made up of seniors in recreational vehicles.
"These are people that have chosen a very mobile lifestyle, and they want to travel for the purpose of missions. It's not unusual for them to be gone six to nine months at a time, going from mission project to mission project to mission project," Burton said. "Obviously that's very encouraging to us. There are a number of initiatives out there that count on Campers on Mission year-round to come and be a part of what they're doing."
Seniors who want to be involved on a longer-term basis with the IMB can apply for the Masters Program designed for people 50 and over for two or three-year assignments. After an in-depth application process, participants are given a specific assignment for which they receive financial support from the IMB.
"In many cultures around the world, maturity is honored and doors can be opened because someone may have lived more years than someone else," Norvelle said. "Particularly in those cultures, someone who has a good deal of wisdom and years of experience can often make some progress in sharing the Gospel or getting a project completed that someone else might not be able to."
On the personal side, young missionaries with families often find that seniors on the field are able to fulfill a familiar role such as a surrogate grandparent to their children, Norvelle said, and such relationships are a tremendous asset in mission work.
Some senior adults may have reservations about tackling a mission project because they believe they lack the physical endurance necessary for the task — something they believe someone younger could provide more easily. But Norvelle said all types of people are needed, and seniors may be better suited for some situations than younger people who thrive on the fast-paced environment of the 21st century.