Leadership: A word from Mennonite Church USA leaders

Frederick Mennonite Retirement Community in Pennsylvania is the oldest Mennonite-affiliated institution for older adults, tracing its roots to 1896. Others soon followed, including Mennonite Home in Pennsylvania and Bethesda Home in Kansas. Why did Mennonites commit themselves to serving older adults? Why do we continue these services? What does the future hold?

The long short response is this: There was and is need. Uniquely, Mennonites never developed these facilities exclusively for members of the denomination. Although a strong mutual aid impulse grew out of a collective we-care-for-our-own attitude, Frederick, Mennonite Home and the Rittman Home in Ohio (which later moved to Illinois and became The Communities of Maple Lawn) began with the motive to care for others beyond the Mennonite family. This inclusive approach to service has been consistent and strong.

The development of church-related retirement communities exploded between 1960 and 1980. Examples include Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, OrrVilla Retirement Community in Ohio and Sierra View Homes in California. These new organizations were inspired by a strong commitment to mission but were also fueled by three dynamic marketplace factors:

• rising real estate values, enabling seniors to sell their homes and move to a retirement campus;

• the emergence of Social Security, providing a steady income baseline; and

• expanding government programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and government-subsidized housing.

Challenges today: Today MHS Alliance links more than 45 church-related aging service ministries. Each is located in a dynamic marketplace and employs a diverse work force.

These ministries face many challenges. The three underlying sources of stability and support for aging services have changed during the past few decades. The real estate market has eroded. Social Security is not guaranteed into the future. Baby Boomers, the next generation of retirement community residents, have far fewer resources than their parents and face an uncertain future. And the amount of government funding flowing into social services will likely not increase. So as the percentage of older adults within the overall U.S. population grows, funding sources are decreasing. Thus, a daunting challenge lies before our ministries to stay faithful to their mission and to maintain operational viability.

What about the future? The mission remains clear. Research bears out that older adults live longer, better and more meaningful lives in community. Mennonite-affiliated aging service pro­viders will offer older adults a supportive environment.

Mennonites’ shared convictions about creating community and seeking peace, justice and healing have always shaped our retirement communities. However, the forms of service will change continually as we move into the future, owing in part to the ongoing development of new technologies.

In the future, new kinds of partnerships will develop between congregations and providers of senior services. They will make mutually supportive covenants with each other, with nearby congregations and with neighboring communities. Tel Hai in Pennsylvania, Hope Village in Oregon and Schowalter Villa in Kansas are exploring possibilities with their supporting congregations.

Provider organizations will increasingly work together in cooperation—not competition—to create new alliances and sometimes organizational consolidations. The Anabaptist Providers Group (a Pennsylvania organization), Greencroft Communities in Indiana and Ohio, and Living Branches in Pennsylvania illustrate an increasing commitment to collaboration.

Finally, our member organizations will expand their missions to serve a broader range of needs. They will offer new programs that support individuals in their homes while also maximizing technology in new ways. Landis Homes and Rockhill Mennonite Community in Pennsylvania and Mennonite Home in Albany, Ore., are experimenting with new applications of technology.

A projection: Fifty years from now, we as a community of faith will rejoice that we kept our focus on serving older adults in these ministries. We will have renewed our faith again and again by staying committed to God’s work of healing and hope in Jesus Christ. In doing so, the church will have helped fulfill Jesus’ second great commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Rick Stiffney is president/CEO of Mennonite Health Services Alliance of Mennonite Church USA.