The Norma T. Allers
Academy of Older Adult Ministries

Purpose:

To provide training, mentoring, and confirmation for the validity of ministry to, for, by, and with older adults.

The Norman T. Allers Academy is not a substitute for basic training, seminary, or higher education. It is intended to complement all existing training, courses of study, and special training for ministry with older adults. The Academy for Older Adult Ministries offers specialized training and enrichment for persons involved in leadership in older adult ministries.

While the Academy is rooted in the Wesleyan tradition, it is open to all denominations. The Academy combines rigorous intellectual challenge with networking opportunities, skill development, validation of call, and spiritual formation. The design of the Academy invites dialogue and reciprocal teaching and learning of best practices for the 2lst Century.    

Program:

The program is comprised of three 20 contact hour residential seminars. Each seminar earns 2 Continuing Education Units (CEU’s). Each session begins the evening of Day One and concludes at noon on Day Four. Students may begin in any year of the cycle. Successful completion of the program requires completion of all three seminars in no more than five years. Upon successful completion of the program, the student will become a Fellow of the Academy of Older Adult Ministries for an initial period of four years. Continuing membership in the Academy will be based upon further education and contributions to the field.

Content:

The last third of life is rich and complex. Our curriculum respects this in three fundamental ways:

     1.We see the last third of life as having at least three stable periods and three periods of
transition.
     a.   First Stable Period: A time after retirement when, apart from paid employment,
           life goes on as it did
     b.   Second Transition: A time of disruption caused by personal illness, the death of a
           spouse, or relocation
     c.   Second Stable Period: A time to pick up losses and build a new life, but on new terms.
     d.   Second Transition: A time marked by the onset of frailty, as one becomes increasingly
           unable to manage daily life
     e.   Third Stable Period: A time of dependence when, with help, one continues to live life.
     f.   Third Transition: The time of dying and death.

2. Our curriculum respects the richness and complexity of the last third of life by its attention
    to the impact of life-context, or gender, of socio-economic status, and of year of birth.

                    3. We model our attention to difference in the diversity of our faculty and student body,
and in our approaches to teaching/learning.

Three Seminars:

Aging as a Spiritual Journey

Corporate expressions of the spiritual journey
Liturgical including rites and ritual
Informal, including life review, story-telling, and ways of creating a sense of inclusion in creation
Books of order or discipline (i.e. Wesley’s Means of Grace) that provide patterns for life, traditions of church

Individual expressions of the spiritual journey
Prayer and meditation
Exercises of the devout life
Pathways to a healthy sense of self

Understanding Aging

This seminar considers physical, psychological, and social aspects of aging as well as appropriate responses and responsibilities on the part of the church.

Physical:
Health, fitness, wellness
Vision, hearing
Dementia, mental frailty
Safe home environments

Psychological:
Possibility of wisdom, discovery of gifts and graces
Loss (including role reversal), depression
Changing patterns of relationships

Social:
Change of status
Ageism
Economics
Public policy and social programs
Programs (i.e. Shepherd Centers, Senior Citizen Center, AARP)

Programming for Creative Ministries

Empowerment:
Identifying needs and gifts of the local church/community (perhaps by
selected case histories, shown in video clips.)
Development of programs: model and innovative
Implementation and feedback
Working with volunteers
Attention to church year and to secular celebrations

Church Ministries:
Unique programs that only the church can provide
Designed to involve older adults

Community-Linked:
Using and supporting community ministries

History

The Academy is an outgrowth of the Southeast Jurisdiction Association of Older Adults (SEJAOA) of the United Methodist Church’s response to a recognized need for validation of older adult ministry. SE]AOA appointed a special task force in 1997 to study its feasibility and to explore the same with the General Board of Discipleship and Higher Education. A successful study was concluded in memory of Norman T. Allers, the third president of SE]AOA. Special grants and numerous special gifts have been received by the Association to help promote its development. The SE] office of Discipleship Ministries at Lake Junaluska will help maintain the records, certify the CEU’s and provide administrative support during this phase of the Academy’s development.

The Board of Directors of the SE] Association of Older Adults will elect the Board of Directors of six persons to staggered terms of three years each, beginning in August 2000. Board members may serve two successive terms before a break of at least one year. The Academy has been developed as a model for certification in older adult ministries through the United Methodist Church and ultimately for all persons regardless of religious conviction or persuasion.

P0 Box 237* Lake Junaluska, NC 28745* 888-525-3586
Chughes@sejumc.org *Fax: 828-452-1956

The Next Session of the Academy is:
To be Announced.

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