To continue to worship our whole lives

I loved my grandparents and spending time with people like them, and I enjoyed being involved with the elderly in church work. At the same time, I had a burden for mission and evangelism. When I was in seminary, I visited elderly people in their homes during my free time.

The evangelistic work of talking to people with dementia about the Bible and giving them an “invitation” each time was one of my joys during my seminary years. However, after 10 years in the pastoral field in Japan, I realized that I was not doing much work with elderly people, despite the burden I had felt for it.

There is so much to do in the church. After 10 years of doing this and that, I decided to take a one-year sabbatical to stop for a while and do “what I wanted to do.” I traveled abroad and I was able to see the ministry to the elderly in churches in Japan from an outsider’s perspective.

I was inspired when I saw that in other places there are residential spaces for the elderly near churches and churches that hold weekly meetings for the elderly. I began to wish to devote my time and energy to continuing the worship service for everyone, at all times, and in all places, whether they are elderly, disabled, or have additional physical limitations that make it difficult for them to go out.

My father became ill during my sabbatical and his strength was failing. During that time I invited him to church. One thing I realized was that the chairs in the church were unbearable for him as he was losing strength and suffering from back pain. The traditional worship program and time had become painful for him. This made him think, “I am not welcomed. I shouldn’t go.” The church invites everyone to worship, but in reality, I wonder if the church is causing a “barrier” that wouldn’t be felt if one was healthy, but that might cause people to shy away.

I also thought about other issues due to the challenges of getting older, such as people losing their means of transportation to go to church (people who can no longer ride bicycles or no longer have their car licence). All these issues can create “worship refugees.”¹

When I returned to the pastorate, I was given the opportunity to serve in a home for the elderly in Gifu in addition to my church work. It is a small fellowship, and we have prayer meetings and worship services with five or six people. A small fellowship can be tailored to those who attend. I could explain the worship program as I went along, get closer to people who were hard of hearing and speak louder, and for those who had back pain, I could let them sit in a chair that they were used to. In this way, various problems, including back problems, which had been a concern, could be overcome.

So, I wondered, is there no other way but to build facilities to overcome the problems? Can’t we do it in existing churches? I am still exploring this. We need to think about it, but we can’t spend all of our time on this one issue.

Right now, I don’t have all the answers, but I want to create a fellowship where everyone can continue to rejoice in their fellowship with the Lord without fear of growing older! “Please, Lord!” is my prayer.

1. 礼拝難民 (reihai nanmin) is phrase used by the author, literally “worship refugee.” 難民 is used in Japanese to describe a group of people who have nowhere to go. For example, カフェ難民 (café nanmin) refers to people who wander from one cafe to another, simply trying to find a table or seat during peak hours in a large city like Tokyo. ネットカフェ難民 (netto café nanmin) is used for homeless people who spend nights in internet cafés. 礼拝難民 means people who, for various reasons, have difficulties in attending a worship service.
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