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Churches Participate in Pilot Program for Aging Adults Ministry

Churches Participate in Pilot Program for Aging
Adults Ministry

May 15, 2009

The recently established North Carolina Baptist Aging Ministry (NCBAM) announced its first pilot program. The Liberty Baptist Association in Thomasville and its area churches will work with NCBAM to implement “Pilot One,” a three-month test program for the new statewide ministry for aging adults.

NCBAM is operated by Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina in Thomasville. NCBAM aids aging adults across the state to maintain their independence and a quality life. The ministry focuses on providing information and referrals, on connecting the aging and their families with resources to meet needs, and on coordinating practical ministries. This includes aiding North Carolina Baptist churches and North Carolina Baptist associations.

Partnering with the Liberty Baptist Association and its churches for Pilot One marks NCBAM’s first efforts in working directly with an association. The participating churches are located in the Thomasville and Lexington area.

“Pilot One is a means of testing the concept and goals of NCBAM before expanding the services across the state,” said NCBAM Director Sandy Gregory. “We are excited to partner with the Liberty Association and its churches. There are tremendous needs in our local aging population. This is a great place to begin.”

The goals of the pilot program are to create awareness for the needs of aging adults through local churches and civic organizations, identify beneficial resources, establish partnerships with existing services to the aging, and identify a number of aging adults to be a part of Pilot One.

Gregory presented a $5,000 check on May 14 to Mike Ester, Liberty Baptist Association Director of Missions and a representative of the NCBAM advisory committee for the association. The funds will assist the committee with the goals of the program.

“Working with NCBAM is a unique opportunity for us as North Carolina Baptists to help the aging in our state,” Ester said. “As our population grows older we need to be more effective in providing services as well as developing services we are not even aware of yet.”

NCBAM’s leadership will work in tandem with the association’s advisory committee during the three-month program. The committee is comprised of members from participating churches. Gregory said the program positions NCBAM to begin providing resources and services for the area’s aging adults as well as establishing plans for the ministry’s future development.

“Once Pilot One is finished we should have strong measurable outcomes to help NCBAM determine the specific needs of our local aging adults and the ways we can best address those needs,” Gregory explained. “The results will certainly help us proceed in taking the next step to create a statewide network of outreach.”

The North Carolina Baptist Aging Ministry (www.ncbam.org) is operated by Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina (BCH) and totally funded by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. BCH oversees this non-residential ministry to the aging in addition to its statewide residential care services for children and developmentally disabled adults.

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