March 31, 1999
Defining 'old' depends upon your age
___By Dan Martin
___Texas Baptist Communications
___CORPUS CHRISTI--How you define "old" may depend upon how old you are, according to the editor of Mature Living magazine.
___"When we were kids, we defined 'old' as our grandparents. I thought my grandfather was ancient," said Al Shackleford, editor of the magazine for older adults published by Lifeway Christian Resources in Nashville.
___"Now I am older than he was then, and I don't think of myself as old. We are reluctant to define ourselves as old, and when we look in the mirror, we don't see an old person,but someone who is younger."
AL SHACKLEFORD (right), editor of Mature Living magazine, discusses problems of aging with Chris Walker, a member of First Baptist Church in Orange Grove. (Photo by Dan Martin)
___Shackleford was one of the leaders at a series of Senior Adult Workshops held across Texas in mid-March.
___The various ways in which old formerly was defined are no longer applicable as the population of the United States is rapidly aging, Shackleford said. He noted "old" has been defined as age 65, or retirement or being grandparents, none of which really apply anymore.
___"In 1933, when Social Security was enacted, less than 1 percent of the population was 65 or older. Now we are approa-ching 20 percent," he said, ad-ding that 65 cannot be defined as old "because I know people who are 55 who are ancient and people who are 85 who are vigorous and active."
___Retirement also is not a good way to look at it, he said, noting that many retired people are not old, and many people over age 65 still are employed.
___"Being a grandparent doesn't work. I was 63 when I became a grandparent, and it kind of perked me up," he said.
___Shackleford offered this as a possible definition of "old": "That time when you lose control of your life ... loss of mobility ... loss of decision-making ability ... loss of friends. That is when you become old."
___There are many stages in aging, he noted, and churches need to learn to minister to the various areas.
___In response to a question from his audience as to why churches call youth ministers to serve 20 young people but leave 60 senior adults to fend for themselves, Shackleford re-sponded that there are not a lot of people trained to be ministers to senior adults or who feel cal-led to that ministry. Also, he said, "seniors generally do not push for services in the same way younger adults--boomers, busters and Xers--do."
___But he noted that churches should be more sensitive to the needs of senior adults who soon will make up a majority of the congregations of most churches.
___"We have got to have different kinds of organizations to serve a widely diverse group of people," he said, adding that to have one senior adult organization attempting to serve people from their 50s to their 80s "is like having one Sunday school department serving people from birth to age 28."
___There are many needs and many opportunities facing chur-ches as they minister to senior adults, he added.
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