Disciple: Silver Angels

St. Ambrose ministry focuses on vibrant seniors

By Christine McTaggart

Mission Statement: Provide the older adults (age 60 and over) of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church and the surrounding community with activities which promote Spirituality, Education, Nutrition/Fitness, Involvement, Outreach/Mission, Recreation, and Service opportunities.

- Mission statement of the Silver Angels

The senior members of any congregation are often venerated for their wisdom and experience. Churches large and small may have ministries dedicated to this age group, ranging from health-related issues, finances, food and necessities.

But what about a ministry for seniors that focuses on their vitality? What about a ministry for those who remain vibrant and seek to enjoy every day?

The Silver Angels Senior Ministry of St. Ambrose, Raleigh, is just such a ministry. As its mission statement makes clear, it is a ministry that “seeks to provide an opportunity for the older adults of St. Ambrose and our community to gather for food, fun and fellowship.” The gatherings also include social and educational experiences, focusing on topics of interest to the members.

[Image: Silver Angels enjoy learning about various arts and crafts at a monthly gathering. Photo by Karen Stroud]

INFORMATIVE AND FUN

The ministry is one that came to be organically. St. Ambrose offers a noonday Healing Mass each Wednesday. Before the start of Silver Angels, those who attended, many of whom were among the senior members of the congregation, would often stay after the service. Sometimes people brought food, sometimes not. Nothing was formally organized, but it was always enjoyed. Karen Stroud knew about the post-service gatherings, and they gave her an idea. She approached Pat Johnson with the question of whether a more intentional gathering could be created, one with food and speakers to offer presentations and start discussions around topics important to that demographic.

“I approached Pat, who is a dear, dear person and the heartbeat for the senior citizens [at St. Ambrose],” said Stroud. “And she said, that sounds great, Karen. We could make that work.” Johnson took the idea to the Rev. Jemonde Taylor, rector of St. Ambrose, who fully endorsed it. Stroud and Johnson then discussed it further, and came up with a name and a mission statement.

“We didn’t see any activity that was mainly focused on our elders,” said Johnson. “We wanted to do something that would be informative and fun.”

“I guess rightfully so, [in churches] there’s a lot of emphasis on young people and young families with children,” added Stroud. “Sometimes our seniors can get left behind or feel left behind, and we just wanted to do something [for] the seniors in our church,” Stroud added.

Taylor recounted a time during the 1950s and 1960s when a group of mostly retired women led by Mrs. Carter started meeting in homes for prayer and a simple lunch of soup and sandwiches. The then-rector, the Rev. Arthur J. Calloway, invited the group to meet for lunch following the Wednesday Eucharist. During lunch, the women talked about the needs of the community. This was the beginning of the Absalom Jones Prayer Guild that met for prayer, assisted in funerals, sent cards to bereaved families, visited the homebound and distributed food baskets. “In some respects, the Silver Angels Ministry is a continuation of efforts nearly 60 years ago when seniors gathered together to pray and dine,” commented Taylor.

The first official meeting of the Silver Angels was a Christmas party in 2017, an annual tradition that has continued every year since. Each gathering centers around lunch and a speaker presentation. Topics range from gardening to fire safety, learning about working and therapy dogs, to how to avoid scams. At first, topics were chosen by Stroud and Johnson, but as the group took hold, they began asking for input from the group’s members.

Johnson credits Stroud with consistently finding experts to speak on the variety of topics. “Karen [knows] how to get in contact with different resources and people who are willing to come and present without a fee,” said Johnson. “She knows a lot of influential people and resources in the Raleigh area, and she brought that important piece to the table. People have a hard time saying no to her winning personality.”

Stroud is modest in her assessment. “Google is my friend in terms of finding presenters for our gatherings,” she laughed. “We’ve been very fortunate. We also have several members who have presented. We had a person who went to the Holy Land who came and talked about her trip. Someone in our group did an arts and crafts presentation on cardmaking that people loved. Another member led a wine tasting. So, we get outside people, too, but we’re getting more and more of the members sharing their talents.”

For the first two years, Stroud and Johnson did it all—inviting the members, finding the speakers and providing the luncheon. Members recognized they couldn’t do it all themselves indefinitely and encouraged the founders to speak with the vestry. Stroud and Johnson prepared a presentation and did just that, the vestry agreed to funding, and the Silver Angels became an official ministry of the church.

THE EXTENDED INVITATION

The ministry began at St. Ambrose, and for the first few years, those attending Silver Angels gatherings primarily were parishioners. Johnson already had a long history of staying in touch with St. Ambrose seniors, whether reaching out by phone to check in, or delivering Forward Movement’s Day-by-Day booklet to those she thought might enjoy it. As Silver Angels gatherings continued, she extended invitations to attend via email and by phone, each time encouraging the invitee to bring a friend.

Then came Sacred Ground, the film- and readings-based dialogue series on race from The Episcopal Church. Johnson was taking part in a group led by the Rev. Joyce Corbin Allen, who had formerly served at St. Ambrose and was, at the time, serving at Good Shepherd, Raleigh. Allen encouraged Johnson to share with the group the Silver Angels ministry; Johnson did and invited everyone to join them at the next gathering.

“And some of the people from Good Shepherd started coming,” said Johnson. “We’ve built a connection, we’re like family.”

Like family, the members from Good Shepherd contribute as much as they’re able. “Sometimes they help with hosting,” said Johnson, “and we let them take the wheel. But we never have a time when we don’t have someone volunteering to help with cleaning up afterward and getting things back in shape.”

As word of mouth spread, so did the list of churches attendees call home. Members of local Baptist churches and an AME church have dropped in as well as members of the surrounding community. Some folks attend every month, while some attend sporadically or as their schedule allows. One thing is true no matter what: There is always room for more friends.

ALL ABOUT THEM

Eight years strong, the gatherings average about 20-30 people each time, though the number can fluctuate depending on the presentation topic. But Silver Angels has become much more than an entertaining and informative afternoon once a month—it has become a community with ever-deepening relationships, its vibrant members enjoying true connection.

“Sometime when you get older, you’re kind of put on the back burner,” said Johnson. “[Silver Angels] is a chance when it’s all about you. It’s not about your children or your grandchildren, or something that people in the 40 to 55 age group are interested in. It’s something that revolves around the interests of people in our age group. We have a lot of similar life experiences. We can talk about things that a younger demographic wouldn’t know anything about or be interested in. And I think that makes it a place of comfort and safety. We can reminisce about the good old days—or what we thought were the good old days—or at least understand each other’s cultural references!”

“I think it’s so important, too, because a lot of seniors live alone,” said Stroud. “Some have families and family connections and support, and some don’t. Connection is so important for seniors because it’s so easy for them to get isolated—or feel isolated—and [slip] into an unhealthy state.

"Silver Angels is really an outlet for them where they know once a month, they’re going to come and have fellowship and fun and learn some things. They’re going to have a couple of hours where they’re with like people who have like interests, and they can just enjoy themselves.”

We count on our seniors to impart their wisdom, to guide the generations coming after and teach them what they know of how to navigate life. But many of those seniors still have a lot of living to do themselves, and with the Silver Angels, they do just that.

Christine McTaggart is the communications director for the Diocese of North Carolina.

YOU ARE INVITED

Silver Angels meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 12:45 p.m. at St. Ambrose. If you’re interested in attending a Silver Angels gathering, contact Karen Stroud and Patricia Johnson via the diocesan communications department.

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