Review by Mary Moffett of a publication from Church Army & The Leveson Centre
The subtitle of “Practical suggestions for Local Churches” says it all really! It is in fact that – an intensely practical guide, put together by some of the most knowledgeable people in the field – Michael Collyer, Claire Dalpra, Alison Johnson, James Woodward under the print umbrella of the Church Army & the Leveson Centre.
In part one there are excellent training modules to help interested groups or congregations shaped up their ideas on ageism, engaging with older and practical ideals for evangelism with older people. These are workshop outlines and are full of good ideas and material to work with.
Part two covers the practical application and has excellent guidelines and examples such as a service suitable to care home settings, how to run a “holiday at home” event, insights into “living with loss and pain” and one I particularly like on “holding a special service celebrating age”.
Perhaps now is the moment to plan ahead to have an element of celebrating the fruits of age for harvest time – get the book and get planning.
I can thoroughly recommend this publication as a really useful handbook on the topic, as does John Sentamu in the foreword.
The publication costs only £10 including postage and packing. Orders enclosing a cheque payable to The Foundation of Lady Katherine Leveson should be sent to the address below: Alternatively copies can be ordered on line using a credit card on the Leveson Centre website www.levesoncentre.org.uk
or send an email to: leveson.centre@virgin.net
The Leveson Centre, Temple Balsall, Knowle, Solihull B93 0AL
Tel: 01564 778022 Fax: 01564 778432
Quotes…. M Goldsmith
We need to “shift the attention from us to God… it is not what we do, it is not what we believe which is important, it is what God does! What God does is that he remembers us and the fact that he remembers us means that we are of immense worth. Our spiritual life does not depend on our remembering, it does not even depend on our believing, it depends on God’s love and mercy alone.”
& from Scott Peck … “one of the characteristics of a genuine Christian community is that a group of diverse individuals or subgroups learn to transcend what makes each of them different.”
