A 50+ ministry of Salem First Baptist Church
Many
of us look forward to the age of 65 when we can retire, take it easy
and enjoy what we’ve worked for in prior years. It’s not the age that
we want, it’s the benefits. From an early age we are encouraged to
prepare for and put aside for retirement as if that magic experience is
the fulfillment of our lives. It used to be that this was the
“beginning of the end”. Now, however, we would like to see it as “a
whole new beginning”. George Burns once said “I still had pimples at
65”.
The generation called “Boomers” began in 1946 with a huge
growth in post-war birth rates and wraps up generally around 1964, with
ages 50 to 68 or 69 years. Every day in the USA there are 8,000 people
turning 65, that is 330 people per hour! There are approximately 78
million “Boomers” in the US today. The American Church has, generally,
ministries for pre-school & children, youth and college, young
adults or newly married and senior adults. But, what do we have for
those who are mature adults but not yet seniors?
A new ministry of Salem First Baptist kicks off on Friday night, May 9. ENCORE presents the Finishing Strong dessert
with John Coulombe, InterGenerational Pastor at Evangelican Free Church
in Fullerton, CA, where he and his wife, Jacque, have ministered for
the past 26 years. His focus this evening will be “Living Sensibly in
the Coming Age.” ENCORE is a ministry to
assist the post-retirement generation to utilize their past experience,
knowledge and love of the Lord in order to Finish Strong. Few
will remember our life for what we did in the first fifteen years.
However, the final fifteen (or thirty, or forty) years of our life will be the years that our family, friends and church will remember.
Paul gives us a Scriptural foundation for such a ministry: “
I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to
what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the
heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us”.
Phil. 3:13, 14
The name of the ministry, Encore, is defined: “A second achievement especially that surpasses the first.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). This seems fitting to our purpose. The ENCORE mission is “Making the Rest of our life the Best of our life. It is not only a ministry to the Boomer generation, but a ministry by the Boomer generation that has such a great potential in today’s church.
For more information, or to RSVP for the Finishing Strong Dessert contact: Gene & Pat Taylor derraldgene@gmail.com or Pastor Edwards eedwards@fbcsalem.org. (503) 364-2285
First Baptist website: www.fbcsalem.org
