As we live in a world where Twitter has restricted information to 140 characters, we thought it would be interesting to apply this format to a list of ‘Ultimate Spiritual Goals’

We would like to make an anonymous list of these ‘tweets’ to show the variety of our goals in our walk of faith. The list may be published.

Please finish the sentence “My ultimate spiritual goal is …”

Use a maximum of 140 characters … not including the first 5 words!

This is a way of looking at your life that may be useful to you. There are no ‘correct’ answers.

You may like to do the exercise in a small group and share your goals.

If you would like to share in our larger group please email your goal to Eddie James (eddie.james @ cvm.org.uk) by 17 May. You can also tweet it to us @cvm50plus or post it on our new CVM 50 Plus Facebook page.

Many thanks for taking part in this venture.

I was born in 1940, by 1955 I was in a skiffle group playing the tea chest! Then along came the ‘Boomers’, those born 1944-64. They developed our musical ideas and invented rock and roll along with the pill, computers, hydraulic excavators and even digital drum kits!!

Those post-war-bulge babies are now retiring, they have plenty of money, energy, ideas, imagination, management experience, social skills … they certainly don`t think they are ‘old’, they just embarrass their kids, as we always have!

The ‘Boomers’ are the last generation who went to Sunday School and Crusaders in large numbers, they know a little about the life and ministry of Jesus, they know that Easter is more than eggs. They drifted away from church for a variety of reasons, it was not relevant, their gifts were not being used, it was boring.

How do we re-engage those who have a residual Christian faith but have left church? Many have a nostalgia for their past, they have explored alternative spiritualities and found them empty. They are talented and experienced and are looking for a challenge and adventure. They are looking for a lot more than an invitation to a ‘guest service’, this is far too passive for most.

But they might well respond to a partnership in social or development projects, to work alongside the church community to the benefit of our localities. If you make disciples, you’ll always get the church. But if you make the church, you rarely get disciples.

One definition of ‘Civilisation’ is ‘how a society cares for the vulnerable … the sick, the old, the homeless and the weak.’

There are 376,000 older people living in 10,000 care homes in England. Many do not have access to a geriatrician, who could significantly improve their quality of life by taking an overview of their complex age-related health problems. Of those that do have access, some have to wait as long as 18 weeks to receive treatment. The average life expectancy of an older person entering a care home is 18 months!

A recent pilot study for a national care group on the ‘Spirituality of Older Men’, highlighted the importance of men from the local church befriending men in care homes and taking them out. Men in care homes are outnumbered significantly by women so the culture is inevitably feminised leaving men marginalised. Their spiritual and social needs are very varied: one to one Bible discussion, invitation to a men’s breakfast, a pint down the pub, a trip to a football match or a car ride to a good beach.

The majority of local churches are not involved with visiting the men in care homes. Such visits require a dedicated team who are flexible and imaginative. Advocacy skills within the team will be important to enable any dissatisfaction or frustration to be brought to the management’s attention. Residents often feel unable to complain on their own behalf. It will take time to build up relationships and trust with both the staff and residents. Remember also that about 40% of residents have dementia … just one more thing to embrace!

In Biblical times there were no social security plans or retirement savings schemes, the same applies today in many countries of the world. This is why the Bible commands us to have special concern for widows, orphans and the weak and needy. (Ps 82:3-4)

When I ‘retired’ from my last full time paid vocation as a university lecturer in Civil Engineering and Rural Development in Africa and Asia, the thing I missed the most was the social aspect not the technical. I missed the buzz of learning from an African peasant how to motivate and animate a village community. Teaching together in the same room a group of Jewish, Arab, French and English students. Knocking on a stranger’s door in the middle of the Congo and asking for B&B … the hospitality of strangers who became close friends.

The golf course and growing my own veg was not as exciting and certainly not as fulfilling as my paid job! But I kept listening to God, He knew my heart better than I did! Then three interesting and fulfilling mission- centred part- time jobs came along, one of them being with CVM.

We should not drift into ‘retirement’, God has a plan for each one of us, and how we prepare for this phase of our lives is as important as how we prepared for our first job. Each one of us has a unique set of contacts and skills. I have always been a tentmaker missionary, working outside the established church, so my present calling has followed on from my activities as a civil engineer quite naturally.

May I give you a practical suggestion? Start a prayer triplet, or connect 3 with a couple of guys you trust and ask God to open up ways of discipling for all of you. Remember we are all commanded to make disciples and God will build his church. He has a plan for you, even if you haven’t yet!

But let’s always remember Psalm 82

The winner of the Yorkie Bar prize for naming the CVM ’50 plus group’ was Keith Harper from the Netherlands … he wisely suggested that we keep it as it is – 50 Plus -

“it does exactly what
it says on the tin”

Our thanks to Roger Leitch, Mike Stenbrook, David Entrican and Oliver Street who gave some good ideas and encouragement.

The message that I keep hearing from lots of guys who want to reach the ’50 plus’ is what Jesus said, “… go and make disciples …”, this means both being discipled and making disciples: we are talking about small groups of 3 or 4 men meeting up regularly to encourage each other and gradually develop their gifts. This is a command of Jesus and not an option.

If you would like to share your experience on this theme, please contact me on eddie.james@ cvm.org.uk or make comments on the blog.

God bless you, Eddie

Who are these guys? 50 plus … that is ancient! I suppose it depends on how big the plus is! We are a group who meet twice a year to chat and pray together to encourage the churches to reach every man in our age group. Our next meeting is in London on 14 March 2012. We also ‘skype’ conference six times a year and post on the CVM Blog every two weeks so you are welcome to join us. This is the first blog.

At our first meeting in York in October we discussed how to encourage more social projects by working in small teams of all ages, to encourage groups of guys to do DIY, gardening and garden clearance for folk in our community who may be ill or in great need … for details see the Besom website.

We reminded ourselves of Jesus’ command to ‘make disciples’. How could we help this become a core activity of the local church? Again to be done across all age groups and by every member. We felt that by testimony and stories we could encourage discipling on this blog.

The 50 plus group is not a fringe activity, it is at the core of CVM. We are sure that you could think of a better name for the group, so to win your prize of a Yorkie bar please submit your brilliant ideas to me by next week at eddie.james@cvm.org.uk

God bless you – Eddie