Seasoned evangelist John Chapman says he feels "cared for wonderfully" as an older member of his congregation at Hurstville Grove.
However he admits resources for telling the gospel to his generation are thin on the ground.
This realisation led him to pen his latest book, Making the Most of the Rest of your Life.
"I simply needed a book like it to give to people around me " there wasn't anything else around to give to people," he says.
The book encourages over-55s to consider how they will spend their eternal future, as well as their retirement years.
This un-tapped area has also led Evangelism Ministries to put together a package due for release later this year to help churches put on outreach events aimed at seniors.
“The need to evangelise that age group has never been properly addressed,” says CEO Jim Ramsay.
Mr Chapman suggests the need to maintain and grow ministries to the elderly will become greater over time.
"As the population ages, there's going to be more and more of these people available for ministry," he says.
So what are Sydney Anglicans doing to address this need?
Relaxing the norm
When Anglican Retirement Villages Castle Hill chaplain Patsy Dahl and some keen residents were planning an outreach service to "nominal' Christians, a traditional 8am service was not the outcome.
Their answer was Cafechurch, which is held in one of the villages' main function centres, set up with tables and chairs .
"We wanted it to be an opportunity to invite people who don't normally go to church, who might be more comfortable with a more relaxed atmosphere," she says.
These monthly services start with afternoon tea, and then move on to Bible reading, informal prayer, some favourite old hymns and choruses and some more contemporary songs, all at tables and chairs.
These combine with the individual efforts of residents like Doug and Rosemary Buckley, who started a Simply Christianity course in their home when their neighbour asked how she could join the church.
Mr and Mrs Buckley feel that the Cafechurch environment provides a good balance of comfort and confrontation with the gospel.
"ARV has a proper emphasis on comforting people, but all of us need to be "discomforted' in various ways and at various times, and Cafechurch can be part of that " Caféchurch brings Christian care and challenge at Castle Hill," says Mr Buckley.
Draw on good memories
Canon Alan Langdon insists local church ministry is crucial in reaching what he calls the "once-were-churched".
"If your parish's ministry to seniors is limited to visits to nursing homes, valuable and essential as they are, note that statistics show that over 90 per cent of seniors are not to be found there!" he writes in his latest book, Ministry with Seniors.
Mr Langdon believes the older section of society are a viable mission field because many of them had an association with a church in their youth.
While the world's pressures and distractions may have closed in on them as they grew older, Mr Langdon says this generation is still open to the idea of church.
"In many cases there is a reservoir of positive experiences and good relationships waiting to be tapped," he writes.
"For many, in the absence of a genuine Christian commitment or parental example, it was not a matter of conscious rejection as much as neglect in the face of attractive alternatives."
Too early for the elderly?
Is the traditional 8am service the best way for parishes to "do church to the elderly' on Sundays?
The 8am time-slot may be too early for seniors to cope with physically, says Mr Langdon.
"If 8am is the only time on offer, it disenfranchises many elderly people who cannot be up and dressed by that hour - 8am is not the best time for many ageing bladders!"
Elderly people who have to take public transport or rely on lifts from friends or relatives could also be disadvantaged by such an early service, Mr Langdon adds.
Here is one way churches can make life easier for their seniors, he says, by matching lists of people willing and able to provide transport with those who need it.
"Such people and potential elderly newcomers will rarely take the initiative in asking for a lift as, quite understandably, they feel they are being a nuisance."
However some aspects of these traditional services are suitable and considerate of the background many seniors have, says Mr Langdon.
For example, as many seniors pre-date the "listening era' of walkmans and ipods, "participatory' services are attractive to a generation used to singing songs around the piano or hymns at fellowship meetings.
Mr Langdon adds that seniors will ultimately be the best equipped to plan ministries to their own age group.
"Any evangelistic outreach to this potential harvest field of seniors must be planned and conducted by seniors and be sufficiently "traditional' in form, style, music and noise level for invited seniors to feel welcome and "at home'."
