Having just completed a verse-by-verse study of John’s Gospel, I announced to the group that the next week we would start a new study in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Tom asked, “What page?”

Tom was brand-new to Bible study, and learning all the time. His excitement about the Scriptures has invigorated this group, which meets every Saturday morning at our retirement community.

It’s a learning experience for me too. Though I’ve been heavily involved in churches and Bible studies through eight of the nearly nine decades of my life, I had never led a group exclusively for senior citizens of such an advanced age (those in our group are in their eighties and nineties). But about seven years ago, soon after I moved into this facility, I met Bob, a retired aeronautics engineer who had been praying for someone to help him start a men’s Bible study group. He considered me the answer to his prayer.

Slow Going

So we launched the group, and it was slow going at first. By the end of the first year we had four students, all Catholics, plus Bob and myself, the two Protestant leaders. But attendance began to grow, thanks to new members like Tom.

The week after Tom’s first visit, he invited a friend to join him. The friend responded with a blue streak of cuss words, saying that the last time he had opened a Bible was when he was 16 years old. He had read two chapters of Leviticus, then slammed the Bible shut, never to open it again until Tom invited him to this men’s Bible study 80 years later. Despite his colorful language, he came to the group that next Saturday and was a regular until his death, at 98, two years later. His daughter relayed his last words to me: “Tell Bill I’ll see him in heaven.”

Today we have about 14 or 15 regulars coming, with ties to ten or eleven denominations, and some with no religious background at all. There are two retired ministers and one fellow who laughingly said, “I don’t know what I am, but my wife is a Methodist and she is sure I’m going to hell.” Our group includes a radiologist, a semi-retired rancher, a hardware manufacturer, a school principal, a sportswriter, and a champion handball player. And yet this diverse group has become an extended family. No one seems to care what level of education or wealth was attained prior to moving here. We are all known by our first names.

Why Men?

Like many retirement communities, ours has independent and dependent living sections, with women outnumbering the men almost two to one. Our facility has about 15 men and 30 women residing in our independent living section.

So, why limit the Bible study to men? That’s what the administrators asked. “Women are more interested in religion, you know.”

We and I both hoped to get men to see the Bible as something for them, and not just a book their wives read. Only then would they let it have significant impact on their lives, we felt. And that’s what has happened.

Each week I prepare a two-page background paper as a handout to the class. I try to make it different and unusual, relating the men’s current interests to the biblical text. For instance, how large are modern cruise ships compared to Noah’s ark? Or how far did the apostle Paul walk on his second missionary journey (and what’s the farthest you have ever walked in a day)?

Then we read the Scripture paragraph by paragraph around the table, and I inject questions to get them thinking. Some in the group know nothing at all about the Bible, but the retired ministers sometimes refer to the Greek and Hebrew text. Yet all of them display an openness to the truth of Scripture. They are encountering God in the Word.

What You Can Do

During the past century, church-growth experts have been urging us to follow the mushrooming populations of different age groups. In the 1950s, we were advised to develop our Sunday schools; in the 1960s our teen programs; in the 1980s and 1990s we catered to the baby boomers. Now it’s time for the seniors.

According to one poll, in the year 2000, 14 percent of Americans were over 65 years old, and soon that will increase to 25 percent. Before long, America may have 100 million citizens over 65 years old. That is a mission field at our doorstep.

So how can you promote Bible engagement among this growing group in your community? Here are some thoughts to keep in mind.

Seniors are facing ultimate questions. Even if they spent decades ignoring their own mortality, they’re probably thinking about it now. Month by month they grieve the passing of more of their friends. They may be ready to respond to the biblical message in a new way.

This isn’t the only game in town. Retirement homes like mine have a lot going on. Activity directors plan a full slate of events. A Bible study group will have lots of competition.

Seniors like to contribute. Don’t bring a religious program for their consumption. Work with them to create a Bible study that involves them and their friends. As a group grows, use the resources you find there—social connections, leadership experience, Bible knowledge. Even those who can’t contribute themselves will appreciate the involvement of their friends.

Seniors are hurting. Physically, they are facing their limitations each day. They have had to sell their homes and retire from their jobs. Some feel their church has changed; it no longer wants them or needs them. In many cases their adult children have moved away or are busy with their own families. Frankly, they need love; they need to feel they belong. And they need to know that God hasn’t forgotten them.