Heritage Mission: Helping Churches Reach Care Facilities
Lynette had rarely spoken a word in the last 18 months as she sat in her memory care facility in Frisco, Texas. But things changed when volunteers from Redemption Anglican Church in Frisco decided to start a worship service in Lynette’s facility. As those volunteers began leading the prayer book liturgy, Lynette began to open up—verbally responding to the liturgy and repeating the words of the ensuing sermon. Through the power of Christian worship, Lynette began to vividly engage with others and with God. In the ensuing weeks, she even became a scripture reader for this small worship service.
It did not require some great herculean effort for Redemption to start this incredible ministry that has changed Lynette’s life. Fr. Alex Wilgus reached out to me at Heritage Mission, a ministry initiative that helps to bring the church to care facilities. I worked with Fr. Alex to gather and train a small team of volunteers to start a worship service in a nearby care facility. A lay leader, Whitney Siddons, had visited her mother in a memory care unit nearby and worked with Fr. Alex to pioneer this new effort.
Sponsored
Lynette and her fellow residents can now regularly worship and experience the transforming love of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The service has also provided a fountainhead for evangelism and ministry to families and staff. A few people, a Bible, and a Prayer Book are all it took. God can take our very ordinary efforts and turn them into something extraordinary. Redemption brought the water, and Christ turned it into wine.
The Need for Care Facility Missions
Seven out of ten Americans will spend a portion of their lives in a nursing home or assisted living facility and a majority of them will not receive a single visitor while they are there. Moreover, most of these facilities do not have chaplains or consistent Christian activities for residents. Many Christians lose all contact with the church when they transition into a care facility, and non-Christians often have no opportunities to hear the Gospel at the precise moment they need it the most.
Care facilities are places of incredible need, but they also present a rich opportunity for the Church. To meet this need, I established Heritage Mission, which helps churches start simple worship services in care facilities. Our initial goal is to start 20 of these worship services in three years, and we have already started 8 in our first year. I have worked with faithful churches of various denominations over the past year. I believe that we, as Anglicans, are uniquely positioned to bring the church into the care facility.
Anglicans Uniquely Positioned to Help
The Anglican Prayer Book tradition is uniquely positioned to help concerned Christians reach the lost and lonely in care facilities. The Morning Prayer service has long been used to help lay persons (those not ordained) lead Christian worship with small groups of people. The Prayer of St. John Chrysostom at the end of this service reminds us that the church is present even when two or three are gathering in the name of Jesus. This Morning Prayer service allows us to start worship services in care facilities simply and effectively. With just a handful of volunteers, churches can start these worship services in facilities right down the street. These services can become a fountainhead for Christian worship, enabling residents who have been completely cut off from the church to worship Christ once again.
Furthermore, Prayer Book services for ministering to the sick and dying exist to instill in Anglicans a desire to minister alongside Christians through the end of life. Becoming infirm, entering a nursing home, or suffering from dementia does not cut one off from the church! When we bring the church into care facilities, we remind people like Lynette that God has not forgotten them and that they are still fully a part of the body of Christ.
Why Your Church Should Reach Out
Right now, there is most likely a nursing home or assisted living facility within five miles of your church with little to no Christian activities for residents. There are dozens of Christian residents sitting there without a church home, and there are dozens of others who don’t know Christ and are desperate for the Gospel in the final years of their lives. Your church can reach these residents by starting a simple morning prayer service within these facilities. My vocation with Heritage Mission is to help your church do this simply and effectively. We provide volunteer training and resources such as sermons, songs, and bulletin templates. All it takes is a few people willing to volunteer a few hours a month to make it happen. Your church should urgently consider starting a worship service. These services are:
A simple way to grow your church.
As many pastors know, it can take a lot of time and money to grow a church, even by just a handful of people. And if we’re honest, a lot of this growth can come from people transferring in from a different church rather than gathering people from outside of the church. It costs almost nothing to start a service in a nursing home, and when you start one, you can reach 20-30 new people overnight. What’s more, all of the people you reach will be people who have been without a church home for decades.
A great way to revitalize your church for mission.
Many churches have difficulty finding outlets to truly reach the lost. Several small Anglican churches have worked with Heritage Mission to reach out to a local nursing home and have found it a rich ground for their members to live out the Great Commission. Many of these churches have doubled in size overnight!
A profound way to grow in your faith.
Volunteers who serve alongside residents will be challenged and encouraged in their own walks with Jesus Christ. The people I meet in these facilities and the ways God works in these places when the church is present have inspired and elated me. I have seen miraculous healings, unexpected conversions, and restored hopes in the resurrection. Likewise, Those who volunteer have opportunities to draw closer to Christ as Christ draws close to residents.
An Urgent Need
There are thousands of people right now sitting in care facilities with no opportunities to hear the Gospel and worship Christ. Thousands are open to turning to Christ as they die, but no one is there to proclaim the Gospel. Thousands are dying without receiving a reminder that their eternal hope rests in Christ’s resurrection. Our Anglican heritage makes us well-suited to meet this need, but we must act now.
If you or your church are interested in potentially ministering to a nearby care facility, please contact us at heritagemissioncare@gmail.com. I’d love to start a conversation and see how we might help you reach the lost and lonely.
Photo by EyeCrave from Getty Images, courtesy of Canva.
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