What’s Really Going On With Your Older Adults When It Comes to Faith and Church?

Would you like to know what’s really going on with the older adults in your church? What they’re thinking and feeling? What they’re experiencing in church and the rest of life?

If so, then you’ll be interested in the results of the De Pree Center’s new research on the faith, life, and church experiences of folks in the third third of life.

But before we can process our findings and publish our results, we need to do the research, and this is where you can help. For our research to have validity, we need hundreds and hundreds of adults 55 and over to take a short online survey. And for this to happen, we need to get out the word.

Do you have a group of older adults in your church who might be willing to take our survey? Or, if you have many third thirders in your church, perhaps you could add a brief request to your weekly bulletin or newsletter. The blurb is short and sweet:

Our friends at the Max De Pree Center for Leadership  at Fuller Seminary are conducting a research study to better understand the experiences of Christians who are in or around retirement age. The results of this survey-based study will help churches do a better job serving their “third third” members. If you’re a Christian age 55+, please complete their online survey. It will take about 12-15 minutes and is completely anonymous. 

https://fuller.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0vPYdEB6pYbntBA

Of course, if you’re 55+, we’d love to get your input too!

The De Pree Center is committed to helping churches, pastors, and other church leaders do a great job serving and discipling their third third congregants. Our new study will help us do this work even more effectively. Thanks for any help you’re able to give.

If you have any questions about this or anything else related to ministry with older adults, I’d be glad to hear from you: markroberts@fuller.edu.

Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a Senior Strategist for Fuller’s Max De Pree Center for Leadership, where he focuses on the spiritual development and thriving of leaders. He is the principal writer of the daily devotional, Life for Leaders, and the founder of the De Pree Center’s Flourishing in the Third Third of Life Initiative.

Previously, Mark was the Executive Director of the De Pree Center, the lead pastor of a church in Southern California, and the Senior Director of Laity Lodge in Texas. He has written eight books, dozens of articles, and over 2,500 devotions that help people discover the difference God makes in their daily life and leadership.

With a Ph.D. in New Testament from Harvard, Mark teaches at Fuller Seminary, most recently in his D.Min. cohort on “Faith, Work, Economics, and Vocation.” Mark is married to Linda, a marriage and family counselor, spiritual director, and executive coach. Their two grown children are educators on the high school and college level.