NASHVILLE, TENN. — “I’m part of the irrelevance.”
Those words, from an older adult at the Harpeth Hills Church of Christ, stopped Robyn Arab in her tracks.
As director of the church’s Resource Center on Aging, Arab had spent years promoting resources and working alongside seniors. But it surprised her that a church member with a lifetime of faith and service could believe they no longer mattered.
Robyn Arab speaks to the helpers of the Sunny Day Club before members arrive.
With 57 million baby boomers in the U.S. as of 2024, churches are facing a new challenge: how to keep older adults active and valued in God’s work.
“The spirit of God is just as actively at work in someone who’s 80 years old as someone who’s eight years old,” said Jason Thompson, executive minister for the Harpeth Hills church.
Across Nashville, churches are rethinking senior ministry by expanding beyond traditional care. Instead of viewing seniors solely as recipients, congregations are creating programs that enable seniors to serve others, build relationships and rediscover God’s purpose in their lives.
‘They’re just as needed as the youth’
At Harpeth Hills, the Resource Center for Aging has developed programs designed to meet seniors and their families where they are. The center originated in 2007, when former minister James Vandiver wanted to provide a space for seniors that was more meaningful than “loading up the van and seeing the leaves.”
Vandiver brought Arab on board as a contractor in 2011, and 12 years later, Arab took over the center. Today, the program offers a range of unique services, including education, family counseling, frozen meals and respite care. The organization partners with Churches of Christ and some denominational churches in Nashville, including Brentwood Baptist and Bellevue Presbyterian.
Members and “helpers” of the Sunny Day Club play a pass-the-beanbag game.
Among the most attended programs is the Sunny Day Club, a weekly three-hour gathering designed for seniors experiencing the early stages of memory loss, including Alzheimer’s disease and various forms of dementia.
Each Thursday morning, volunteers arrive at the church around 10:30 a.m. for an overview of the day’s activities before participants’ arrival. The schedule includes many activities tailored for people managing memory loss, balancing faith-based elements with physical activities like a ring toss game.
As seniors and their caregivers walk through the door, volunteers greet them with smiles and hugs, reminding them they are not forgotten.
“I see God opening those doors. He is helping more people find a purpose and letting them know they’re just as needed as the youth.”
“I see God opening those doors,” Arab told The Christian Chronicle. “He is helping more people find a purpose and letting them know they’re just as needed as the youth.”
The caregivers who drop off attendees also receive something rare when caring for a loved one — time.
Helper and retired nurse Inez Stubblefield poses for a picture.
For families, the impact of the Sunny Day Cub extends far beyond the handful of hours their loved ones spend at Harpeth Hills. Helper and retired nurse Inez Stubblefield recalled one family member who returned to the gym after months away because of the time the program freed up.
“You can’t imagine what three hours of free time means to their loved ones,” she said.
The church members serving at the Sunny Day Club are often the same people the ministry supports. Through leading devotions or being a “helper” who offers companionship, these volunteers are finding purpose by serving others.
“It’s very rewarding,” said Stubblefield. “The volunteers that continue to show up — it’s in their heart.”
Helper and retired nurse Inez Stubblefield hands a plastic heart to Volunteer Helen Huffines.
For Harpeth Hills, the ministry reflects a broader belief that older adults are not simply people to minister to. They are members of the church family who still have gifts to give.
“It’s a genius of a ministry because it’s a win, win, win,” Thompson said. “The volunteers win. The recipients win. The caregivers win.”
‘There’s something for everybody to do’
At churches across Nashville, senior ministry is becoming about more than meeting basic needs. It is about helping older adults discover that God still has work for them.
Terry Booker
Just 15 minutes from Harpeth Hills, Brentwood Hills Church of Christ has embraced an older-adult ministry of its own. Senior adult minister Terry Booker believes that God’s purpose for someone is often rediscovered through service to others, both inside and outside the church
“Some older adults have always helped others,” he said. “They’re not willing to be helped. When you ask them to serve you, you’re encouraging them.”
Booker said the goal of the senior ministry isn’t just to keep people busy, but to help them recognize that God is still calling them to serve.
“What we’re trying to find is not what you want your purpose to be,” he said. “But, what God wants your purpose to be.”
A person’s sense of purpose can become increasingly important, especially later in life. In a 2024 University of Michigan study of Americans aged 50 to 80, 1 in 3 seniors reported feeling lonely.
Volunteer Helen Huffines asks a member of the Sunny Day Club what her favorite food is during the bean-bag-toss game.
Churches hope that meaningful opportunities to serve and build community within the church can help counter that isolation while reminding older adults that they remain a key part of the church’s mission alongside the next generation.
“There’s something for everybody to do,” Arab said. “You can hold a baby, you can serve food, you can direct kids here and there.”
‘Church is a family’
As more congregations look to expand senior ministries, Christian leaders among numerous denominations in Nashville are looking beyond their own walls for fresh ideas.
One example that has spurred conversations among various churches in Music City is the Intentional Older Adult Ministry, a group of Christian leaders who meet monthly to discuss challenges facing senior ministries in the area.
The meetings, which Arab used to lead, provide church leaders with a forum to discuss new program ideas and bring in experts to share information that can inform others.
Members of the Sunny Day Club and their helpers listen to the devotional to begin the morning.
“So people hear the information and can then take it to their congregation as needed. Presbyterians typically attend, Baptist people are there, Methodists,” Booker said. “We do have some government people from here attend, on occasion, and both profit and nonprofit organizations.”
These exchanges of ideas and information have also allowed churches to see how ideas developed in one congregation can inspire new ministry in another.
Ben Davis
At Brentwood Baptist Church, Ben Davis is adapting one of the church’s most familiar ministries for everyone, from the youngest to the oldest: Adult Vacation Bible School.
“We’re just taking a concept that’s made for kids, and now we’re going to have it for senior adults,” Davis said. “It’s still Vacation Bible School. It’s just Vacation Bible School for seniors.”
With all of the hallmarks of the summer staple, including snacks, songs of praise and fun activities, efforts like a VBS for adults continue to bear fruit for church leaders across Nashville.
The success of programs within Middle Tennessee reflects a belief that older adults remain a generation called to serve God.
“I believe church is a family,” Booker said. “The church believes that we are a family, so we need to step up and help them.”
EPHRAIM RODENBACH, a sports journalism major at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., is a Christian Chronicle intern. Contact ephraim@christianchronicle.org.
