HOW MANY DISABLED PEOPLE ARE IN YOUR CHURCH?
Notice how the likelihood of disability increases with age, as shown in this graphic. How Many Disabled People Attend Your Church? How does your church compare to society at large? Does your church welcome and accommodate people with disabilities, or are there psychological and architectural barriers? How can we more effectively minister to these people in our church and society at large?
The 75 million "Baby Boomers" born in the twenty years from 1946 through 1965 are now retiring, and nearly half of them need serious health care. They've worked and saved for 50 years during the "boom" years of the U.S. economy, and now they're spending those 18.8 trillion dollars they've saved up: 75,000,000 people x $250,000 of average savings. But that average includes the wealthy who may have millions in retirement funds: the median (mid-point) of retirees have less than $50,000 - little or nothing - saved up. Will you have enough in savings to move to an Assisted Living center or Nursing Home at $3,000 to $8,000 per month? Don't count on Social Security and Medicare - they're going broke: there will be too many retired and disabled people, and not enough younger people paying into the system.
As this photo shows, 45% of these retired "Baby Boomers" are disabled. And statistics tell us about 70% of us will spend two or three years on average (some longer!) needing care by others before we pass on. 70% of 75,000,000 Baby-Boomers = over Fifty Million disabled elderly people! For a married couple, it's over 90% probability that one or the other will be disabled. (70% for one, plus 70% of the remaining 30% for the other = 91%.) You may hope that you go quickly via a sudden heart attack or stroke, but more often than not, those events or a bad back, bad hips, bad knees, foot amputations due to diabetes, etc. all bring on long-term disability rather than sudden death.
Be honest with yourself: are you going to hand over your retirement savings to a secular nursing home, or will you use it "to minister to the building up of the Body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12) and at the same time provide a home for yourself where you can eventually age-in-place? Our planned Agape Restoration Communities will be wheelchair-accessible for Independent Living and have a community room/chapel, 1-bedroom & 2-bedroom "accessible living units." This is not a medical facility that requires a nursing staff on-site 24/7, but if people need... [read more...]
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Here's our next free online course: (click →) Intro: "Ministry to Handicapped and Poor" – deadline to enroll: 3 Sept. 2023 (← click) So enroll today, before you forget!
If 5% of the people who see this would give $5 per month (just 17¢ per day!) – two cups of coffee with your favorite friend at your favorite coffee shop – we could cover our operating expenses and do much more in spreading the word, serving and providing accessible housing for the disabled. My wife and I left our careers 30 years ago to serve in Russia as missionaries: we're now "semi-retired" – we've put on a new set of semi tires and keep on trucking! We live on our retirement income and volunteer our time: we receive no financial support from Agape Restoration Society. Our websites and ministry are funded by us and just a few friends. ...thanks in advance!
(10 Aug.) A baby was surrendered last week in a Safe Haven Baby Box in Carmel, Indiana, marking the fourth time the particular box has been used in the last 16 months.
(9 Aug.) In 1950, 8% of the American population was 65 years old and over. In 2023, that figure is about 17%. By 2050, it is estimated that it will rise to 22%. Who will give medical care to the ageing population? Geriatricians, most people would say. But that is far from certain. According to a viewpoint article in JAMA, “the profession of geriatric medicine has fallen into decline”. Dr Jerry H. Gurwitz writes that:
(2 Aug.) A Catholic church has been raided and two nuns fined for reading the Bible at Mass, following which the Catholic Church was threatened with being banned. Two foreigners at a registered Protestant church were also fined. A Hare Krishna wedding rehearsal was also raided, the host fined, and Indian students present had their visas revoked. The Interior Ministry, police "Departments for the Struggle against Extremism and Illegal Migration," the SCRA, and the NSC secret police refuse to explain why they violate legally-binding international human rights obligations.
(4 Aug.) BELLINGHAM, Wash. – For years, students with disabilities spent their school days in classrooms separate from the rest of their peers. At Sehome High School, this barrier does not exist.
(7 Aug.) The war in Ukraine has demonstrated the critical importance of religious freedom in safeguarding national identity and state sovereignty. In a direct sense, the war in Ukraine is a war for freedom, primarily religious freedom. Ukraine showcases a consistent commitment to freedom intertwined with peaceful religious diversity, and they are willing to sacrifice to defend this way of life.
(8 Aug.) The IBSA World Games are the largest high-level international event for athletes with visual impairments, with more than 1000 competitors from more than 70 nations. The Inner Vision Orchestra was founded in 2012 and is the world's only professional ensemble of blind and visually impaired musicians. They have been brought together from around the world by Indian multi-instrumentalist and composer Baluji Shrivastav OBE.
Experience the Fullness
Here's a photo of the glassed-in patio of our "new" condo peeking through the trees.In just about one month, Cheryl and I will be moving! Having had two knee replacements and a broken femur, Cheryl has difficulty going up and down the eleven stairs here, so we need a ground-floor home with no stairs. We put our condo on the market and got an offer for our list price in 3 days, then we made an offer on a first-floor condo about one mile from our present home, it was rejected, so we made another offer and it was accepted at $17K below list price.