“It reminds me that God loves me”
Gaye Hailstone, an Anna Chaplain with Yare Valley Churches, tells us about the chaplaincy for older people
Even to your old age and grey hairs, I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you, I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Isaiah 46:4
I felt called to this ministry after my mother, a regular church goer all her life, had to move to a residential care home. She received no spiritual support and my initial reaction was: “Why wasn’t this happening when mum needed it,” followed by: “Might this be something I’m being called to do and might I have something to offer?”
Anna Chaplaincy began in Hampshire in 2010 and arrived in the Diocese of Norwich in 2020. I was commissioned the following year. Today we have Anna Chaplains and Anna Friends (who are also volunteers supporting older people) in parishes from Lowestoft to King’s Lynn.
We offer spiritual care in later life, ministering to older people and those on the dementia pathway, and those who look after them.
We take worship into homes, run cafes and craft groups, and celebrate the church festivals. We are currently busy organising Christmas services and making cards and small gifts to share with people.
Anna Chaplains are motivated by love. Sharing God’s love with people who can no longer make the journey to church and who often feel forgotten by God and the church, is humbling and rewarding. As the lady pictured with me said: “I love singing the old hymns I used to sing in Sunday School – it brings back lovely memories, and it reminds me that God loves me”