Why care home ministry matters for churches

We live in a nation where old people largely live alone until they can’t manage anymore and then are wheeled into care homes, where they are often forgotten by the community. Some may enter a care home and only live for a few months, with very few visitors before they die. If we, as pastors and churches, do not visit care homes, we are depriving older people of fellowship and the power of the gospel. 

At Ark Church in York, I have witnessed the powerful impact connecting with local care homes can have. I run a regular service in our local care home once a month, as well as special services for occasions such as Remembrance Day, Harvest Festival, Christmas and Easter.

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One weekend I was praying over my choice of message and felt drawn to Psalm 23 in The Message. A lady, let’s call her Sarah, came up to me and asked which translation I had been using and I told her. A month later, she told me how she had been so enthused with The Message that she couldn’t put it down; she said Jesus had spoken to her through it. I was greatly encouraged that she had a real spark of life about her. Every time I went in, she would encourage other people to talk to me and to attend services. We became friends. 

Four years later, she died and her son asked me to conduct the funeral, which I did. I spoke enthusiastically about her long walk with Jesus and afterwards her son (who was a Baptist minister from another part of the UK) told me that I had got it wrong about her. The week she arrived in the care home she was a hardened atheist. Her son had offered her a Bible but she had rejected it. A week later she rang him and asked that he buy her a Message Bible. When he delivered it to her, he found he had a new mum; she had been born again! So, at her wake, I realised that she had in fact received Christ in her first week at the care home.

Residents, and sometimes their families, have become part of my wider congregation because they find Jesus towards the end of their lives. One of the most moving moments I have had so far was a guy, let’s call him Mike, who was in the secure unit (usually this is for people who have advanced dementia). For our services, we have a small repertoire of songs from yesteryear, because my hope is that the residents might recognise them. Normally one member of staff will stay with us, in case there is a ​‘disturbance’ among the residents. So, our group were at the front with a guitar, and I introduced ​‘And can it be that I should gain’.

Mike, who had been sitting sprawled in a chair, completely unengaged with the service, suddenly stood bolt upright and sang the whole hymn, word perfect and in tune. The member of staff ran around the building, getting as many staff as she could, and we just kept singing. When we finished the service, I noticed a tear running down Mike’s face. The staff member came up to me and asked, ​“Do you realise what just happened?” Apparently, in the 18 months that Mike had been in the care home, he had not verbally interacted with anyone. She wanted as many witnesses as she could because she was convinced that no one would believe her. I believe God met with Mike that day. There was no record in his notes about any religious past, but I think that his last weeks were Christian ones.

If you are thinking about starting or revitalising a ministry in a local care home, there are lots of resources and people who can help, including Attend, a national charity I am involved in which supports volunteering in care homes, hospitals and social care settings.

I know that there is a lot to do in life and ministry, but care homes are a big pond to fish in. Who knows, you might be able to introduce the living Christ to someone who is feeling forgotten this week.