Residential care: the end or the beginning?

It wasn't the easiest conversation I've had this week. An elderly friend is coming to terms with an unpleasant realisation: she is getting old.

She doesn't feel it. Well, she feels it in her arthritis-riddled bones. But she doesn't feel it in her heart and in her mind. She still thinks of herself as the motorbike-riding, hill-walking, party-loving woman that she has always been. So it seems wrong, so wrong to be considering going into a care home. "They're for old people" she exclaimed. I probably could have been more subtle in the way I pointed out that 88 years and several strokes on, she is no spring chicken any more.

For many, there's something depressing about the thought of care homes. No matter how lovely the environment, the staff and the bedrooms, there's a little voice in the back of people's heads that says "well, this is the last bed you'll ever sleep in - it's all downhill from here on in". And, of course, there is a certain inevitability about the passage of time. Unless Jesus returns, all of us will get that little bit stiffer, that bit slower, that bit frailer year by year.

But there is one message that is all too often ignored. Amid the important discussions on how much care homes will cost; the debate over how close to the rest of the family the elderly person should move; the talk of safety and medical expertise and the most emotive consideration of what will become of the precious pets, there is another factor to be pondered. There's a spiritual element that frequently gets buried. Going into a care home opens up a whole new mission field for children of God who have gifts to use.

Different people will be in different physical states but many retain rational thought and an ability to communicate in some form when they enter a residential home. Such people - indwelt by the Holy Spirit - are in an awesomely privileged position to point others to the great news of the gospel. Be that through individual conversations, praying for the staff and residents, asking volunteers to read Scripture out loud to them, instigating Bible studies in the recreation room or seeing if it's possible to invite a local minister in to take a communion service from time to time, there are many opportunities to share Jesus' awesome work on the cross with people who may have never heard God's invitation articulated before.

Moving from own home to care home will never be entirely easy. It will always involve a certain degree of loss. But the next time we're talking with an elderly believing relative or friend about the possibility of a move, let's not forget that the transition isn't just about winding down, it's about gearing up for the next phase of ministry. It's about continuing to be faithful to Jesus in a new context. It's about sharing the message of eternal life. And that's a prospect that can warm even the most fragile of hearts.