The congregational survey in 2019 found the top priority for our congregation to be “ministry during times of transition.” To see if people were interested in connecting during this big life transition, we had a kick-off meeting in January 2020. 35 people came together to dream about what an empty nester ministry could look like. There was great enthusiasm (& lots of laughter) as we saw new and familiar faces. A variety of ideas were discussed with some of the top votes being service projects, game nights, pre-retirement topics, travel, hiking, cooking classes, brewery tours, wineries, and local festivals.
A steering team of 17 people met in March 2020 to begin planning. They discovered that the interests of this age group fell into three categories: service, learn, and fellowship. A schedule was identified for 2020 and the group was hopeful that this new ministry would begin strong.
With the start of the pandemic shortly after, we weren’t able to do the first events as planned. Instead, we had four events during the summer:
- 1 service (preparing food at Open Arms in Minneapolis)
- 2 learn (Zoom discussions on Rob Bell videos)
- 1 fellowship (hiking together at Whitetail Woods Regional Park)
It was fun to see others from SOTV, both in-person and online!
The steering team met again in August, and is planning some low-risk options during fall 2020: a winery visit, a pre-retirement seminar, and a service event. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.
You can visit the Empty Nesters webpage to see details on upcoming events and join the Empty Nester Realm group.
Questions? Email Julie Opheim or Kari Slotten.
