Seeing aged-care residents who were once withdrawn and desperately sad, start to participate in activities and greet people with a big smile, is extremely rewarding for retired Pastor Peter Los and his team of volunteers from Seniors Hope, which started out of Lilydale Baptist Church. Over the past three years, the trained volunteers have offered friendship to more than 30 seniors at two nearby aged-care centres.
Peter would love to see more connections established between churches and aged-care centres around Victoria, and he has been developing resources to support churches that are beginning to work in this much-needed area of ministry. “A Monash University study in 2024 found that about 60% of people in aged care suffer extreme levels of loneliness and depression, and I imagine that’s no different across the state. God is raising up many creative initiatives in ministering to these people. Aged-care centres have a mandate to provide for the spiritual needs of their residents, but staff have limited time to spend one-on-one with them, so there are many opportunities for churches to support residents in this way.”
The program runs on a model of weekly one-on-one visits between volunteers and residents. “The Activities Directors often say that the impact of our Seniors Hope visits is amazing. Sometimes the volunteers think they’re not doing much, but little things mean a lot. The residents enjoy spending time with our volunteers and it brings meaningful friendship and greater quality of life. We have numerous stories of residents who have been affected by grief or withdrawn and lonely, come out of their shell because of our weekly visits and the investment in relationship from our volunteers.
The spiritual impact of volunteers varies from resident to resident – the aim is to be gentle, be guided by both the Holy Spirit and the resident. Most aged-care residents have been to a church or Sunday School earlier in life, so they understand a certain amount. “At the last service we ran, we had 15 residents attend who were so hungry for the word of God but can’t get to a church. Some of these are not Christians but are still interested and many have shown more interest in spiritual aspects as they get closer to the end of their lives. After residents enter palliative care, the volunteers are not able to see them, and some residents want more spiritual conversations and prayer as they get closer to that stage.”
Most volunteer-resident relationships now have a prayer factor because no resident has ever refused an offer of prayer. Prayer underpins every aspect of Seniors Hope – each volunteer has a prayer partner to share praise points and challenges with, who prays for them during their weekly visits. “We depend on prayer. It’s important that we allow God to guide us, to listen to the Holy Spirit and to listen to our resident.”
One of the great joys of Seniors Hope is that congregation members of all ages can participate. “Older folk in churches sometimes think their time for ministry is over. They may not be able to run a Sunday School, but they can visit an aged-care resident. Our oldest volunteer is in her 80s.”
Peter spreads the vision for aged-care ministries by speaking at churches and conventions, and through the Seniors Hope website. “Some churches have taken up the vision in their own way and that’s great – I don’t mind how it happens, but I’m happy to resource churches with our training manual, information and newsletters. We’ve learned a lot about how to respect and collaborate well with aged-care centres.” Peter is keen to hear from churches that would like to set up a ministry to residents in aged care – email pietlos@gmail.com For Seniors Hope information and resources, visit www.seniorshope.org