Reaching out to people given the ‘gift of years’

Just because an older person can no longer physically get to church it doesn’t mean they’ve left, says Elim’s original Anna Chaplain Karen Grimshaw. 

“If I live long enough to reach my 90s I want to be like Jean,” says Karen Grimshaw. Karen is an Anna Chaplain and regularly visits and prays with Plymouth Christian Centre member Jean, who lives in a local care home. “There is something so special about people like Jean who’ve lived to their 80s and 90s,” she says.

“They have striking characters and amazing life stories, and their faith in God and knowledge of the Bible is often gobsmacking. I always come away feeling blessed after visiting Jean.”

Karen is an enthusiastic advocate of ministry for older people. It’s something she began doing through home visits, but developed when she decided to train as an Anna Chaplain in 2021.

“I didn’t need to become an Anna Chaplain to do the work I do, but there is something about being part of a national network that really helps and gives a voice and a platform on which to base my ministry,” she explains.

Church base
“I hadn’t been at Plymouth Christian Centre very long when I started my training, but they were really keen for me to develop the role as an Anna Chaplain and the ‘Gift of Years’ ministry, which is their ministry to older people and part of the wider plan for the pastoral care of the church.”

Through the training she received from Anna Chaplaincy, Karen learned more about the spiritual needs of older people. This includes remembering and respecting their faith journeys, the value and blessing older people bring to a church fellowship and the need to recognise the challenges of life in later years.

“It’s that yearning to hold on to your identity even though, when you look in the mirror, you don’t look anything like who you used to be. Your cognition might not be what it was either – yet you are essentially the same person.

“It can also be the spirituality of living on your own; how your faith and spirituality can turn loneliness into a contented solitude. It’s understanding how you can develop your relationship with God when you have a different body, a different mind and a different life to before.”

Gift of Years
As part of the Gift of Years team at Plymouth Christian Centre – which focuses on the spiritual and pastoral needs of older church members or older folk who are known to the church – Karen regularly contacts or visits older people and those living in care homes or assisted living accommodation. The ministry has also put on special events for older church members, including cream tea afternoons and a harvest lunch.

These activities dovetail with Karen’s role as an Anna Chaplain too. One of the requirements of Anna Chaplaincy commissioning is that chaplains have the support of their churches, in order that the work they do is done as part of the church’s wider ministries. Pastoral care of older people has long been a core part of Plymouth Christian Centre’s ministry, and one of the things Karen loves about her role in care homes is how it helps ensure these members stay connected to church.

“Really, this ministry is serving people who can no longer get to church,” she says.

“It’s important for them to feel the church still includes them, even if they can’t get there any more – people haven’t necessarily left the church just because they can’t get there.”

This is the case with Jean. Before she became too frail, she attended Plymouth Christian Centre every Sunday. Her husband, Gordon, who has since passed away, was a pastor there, and together the couple once led the Community Group that now sometimes visits her in her care home.

“It’s important to encourage people to keep remembering and including them. It matters to Jean that she continues to feel part of the church and of her Community Group.

“Some people from her house group visited her for her birthday and I keep her up to date with church news, even down to what we’re studying, to keep her in the loop.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.