Do you have one hour of time per week to spend at a local care facility?
Would you like to have the opportunity to bless the lives of many senior
residents with the Word of God?
Can you spend an hour or two preparing for a one hour visit?
If you can answer yes to the above questions, then here is how to get started quickly with minimum expense.
Contact the Activities Director at a local facility explaining your
interest to do a one hour weekly non-denomination Bible Study. Discuss that
residents from all religious backgrounds are welcome.
Review the activities schedule for the current month and identify a one
hour slot available for your weekly meeting.
Select a room for your study that is not too large and would permit
sitting around a table or in a circle. This permits good eye contact with the
group.
Try to recruit some help from your Church or friends. If you are thinking
of a class during the day, maybe someone from your Senior's Group at Church
might be available.
Use the Subject Index to locate others that would be applicable to your group.
Read the suggested Passages from the devotion.
Read the devotional itself.
Lead a discussion about the devotional and the scriptures read.
Sing 2-3 more hymns.
Pray a prayer based on the study and include any individual prayer
concerns from the group.
Close with the Lord's Prayer either spoken or sung. You may want to join
hands during the prayer times.
Allow enough time for personal sharing by the residents if they choose
to do so.
You might want to use adhesive name tags for each member.
Evaluate the group to see who might want to assist in reading, singing, and possible musical accompaniment.
Check back on the Faithful Friends Website for additional ideas. Check our Resources Page first!
Some additional study suggestions would include The 23rd Psalm,
The Sermon on the Mount, I Corinthians 13, Romans 12, and The Lord's Prayer. Use our
Search Page to find additional subjects and Bible Study Tools.
Always remember three important things:
Show Up, Show Up, Show Up!
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!
The quality of your program should be similar to a Bible Study at your
church but the content and pace will be different!
Note: Some ideas for this page were taken from "Nursing Home Ministry, A
Manual by Tom McCormick which is now available on our site. This book has
been redone in cooperation with Chaplain Bill Goodrich of
God Cares Ministry, and is titled "Nursing
Home Ministry - Where Hidden Treasures Are Found". You can obtain a copy by directly
contacting "God Cares Ministry" at the information provided at their web site.
