A Baptist People is the monthly message of Jonathan Edwards, the General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. Click on the month to see Archive messages.
LOOKING AT OLD AGE WITH NEW EYES! - July 2007
I was having a chat last week with my next door neighbour whilst he was standing on his roof. He was celebrating the fact that he had just completed putting in double glazing in his lovely large house. I need to add that my next door neighbour will be 79 later this year! Then there was the little item on television news recently which highlighted a man of 100 who had decided that he should stop working as a gardener. It wasn't that he was giving up gardening, but that he felt that he was too slow these days to charge for his gardening services!!
These are wonderful stories and clearly they could be multiplied. Many older people do not enjoy such good health but there is no doubt that, generally speaking, people are living longer. I am told that when Lloyd George brought in the national state pension people lived, on average, four years after reaching retirement age. People now live in retirement for about 20 years. This is wonderful news in many respects but clearly imposes a massive burden on all those who provide pensions. Within our Baptist family the situation is under continual review but I am delighted that the Baptist Ministers' Pension Scheme continues to be able to offer the security of a final salary scheme. Long may that continue!
I am concerned that, as a Baptist community, we don't miss the special opportunities and challenges that are posed by the increasing number of retired people in our society. As a Gospel people we are committed to the business of breaking down barriers. Everyone is special. Everyone is made in the image of God and precious to God. The challenge, therefore, is to ensure that our worship and all our activities are open to people of all social backgrounds, all nations . and all ages. This is easy to say and tough to do because people have such different needs and expectations. But that's our calling. That's what it means to be the church.
With retired people becoming an ever increasing proportion of the population we need to look at the whole range of our church life and reflect on whether it is truly inclusive of older people. This needs to affect our style and content of worship, but also the way in which we reach out with the Good News of Jesus. It is a huge challenge and it will demand as much creativity and commitment as any other aspect of our work together. I am delighted to see our Baptist Union Mission department and many of our Associations and churches taking up this exciting and important challenge.
If you would like to learn more then why not contact Terry Jones one of our Mission Advisers based at Didcot? He would love to hear from you on 01235 517712 or by e-mail at tjones@baptist.org.uk
Previous articles...
To assemble or not to assemble?! (June 2007)
Freedom - The Search Goes On! (May 2007)
LOOKING AT OLD AGE WITH NEW EYES! - July 2007
I was having a chat last week with my next door neighbour whilst he was standing on his roof. He was celebrating the fact that he had just completed putting in double glazing in his lovely large house. I need to add that my next door neighbour will be 79 later this year! Then there was the little item on television news recently which highlighted a man of 100 who had decided that he should stop working as a gardener. It wasn't that he was giving up gardening, but that he felt that he was too slow these days to charge for his gardening services!!
These are wonderful stories and clearly they could be multiplied. Many older people do not enjoy such good health but there is no doubt that, generally speaking, people are living longer. I am told that when Lloyd George brought in the national state pension people lived, on average, four years after reaching retirement age. People now live in retirement for about 20 years. This is wonderful news in many respects but clearly imposes a massive burden on all those who provide pensions. Within our Baptist family the situation is under continual review but I am delighted that the Baptist Ministers' Pension Scheme continues to be able to offer the security of a final salary scheme. Long may that continue!
I am concerned that, as a Baptist community, we don't miss the special opportunities and challenges that are posed by the increasing number of retired people in our society. As a Gospel people we are committed to the business of breaking down barriers. Everyone is special. Everyone is made in the image of God and precious to God. The challenge, therefore, is to ensure that our worship and all our activities are open to people of all social backgrounds, all nations . and all ages. This is easy to say and tough to do because people have such different needs and expectations. But that's our calling. That's what it means to be the church.
With retired people becoming an ever increasing proportion of the population we need to look at the whole range of our church life and reflect on whether it is truly inclusive of older people. This needs to affect our style and content of worship, but also the way in which we reach out with the Good News of Jesus. It is a huge challenge and it will demand as much creativity and commitment as any other aspect of our work together. I am delighted to see our Baptist Union Mission department and many of our Associations and churches taking up this exciting and important challenge.
If you would like to learn more then why not contact Terry Jones one of our Mission Advisers based at Didcot? He would love to hear from you on 01235 517712 or by e-mail at tjones@baptist.org.uk
Previous articles...
To assemble or not to assemble?! (June 2007)
Freedom - The Search Goes On! (May 2007)