Senior Adult Department

Definition and Meaning

The senior adult department is one of the age-based departments into which a church is organized, and it serves older members. Its members are usually retired or around sixty-five years of age, though the age threshold varies from church to church. Like the Sunday school or the young adult department, it often oversees both worship and education. Churches give it various names, such as the senior adult department, the elders' honor department (gyeongnobu), the silver department, the senior department, or the evergreen department (sangnokbu). The department's work as a whole is sometimes called "silver ministry."

Biblical and Historical Background

Scripture teaches respect for the elderly. Leviticus 19:32 commands, "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man." Proverbs 16:31 calls the hoary head "a crown of glory," and Psalm 92:14 declares that the righteous "shall still bring forth fruit in old age." In the New Testament, Simeon and Anna, who welcomed the infant Jesus in the temple, are frequently cited as examples of faith in old age. Titus 2:2–3 contains exhortations addressed to older men and women in the church.

In Korean churches, the proportion of elderly members has risen as Korean society has aged. As a result, a growing number of churches are reported to have established separate senior adult departments or to have opened senior colleges (also called elders' colleges).

Practice in Korean Churches

The senior adult department is not so much a body mandated by denominational constitutions as a department that each church establishes as needed. Consequently, practice varies more with church size and region than with denomination, whether Presbyterian, Methodist, Holiness, Baptist, Full Gospel, or other. Large churches may appoint a pastor or evangelist dedicated to the senior adult department, while in small churches the department is often run by church officers such as kwonsa (senior deaconesses) and elders serving as volunteers.

Its principal activities include the following:

• A Sunday senior adult worship service, or a gathering and shared meal following the main worship service
• A weekday senior college offering praise singing, health exercises, instruction in Korean literacy and smartphone use, hobby activities, and the like
• Pastoral visitation and worship services for members with limited mobility and for members living in nursing facilities
• Education that helps members prepare for death and funerals, along with support for deathbed services and funeral services
• Intercessory prayer groups and church service in which elderly members take part

Senior colleges are often open to local residents who are not church members, so they also serve as a channel for community service and evangelism. Korean churches commonly hold events to honor and encourage elderly members on Parents' Sunday in May. Some churches also set aside a separate Seniors' Sunday.