Seniors and Youngsters Stay Active in Harnett County Churches
Dozens and dozens of senior citizens attend church each week at Gospel Tabernacle in Dunn. In addition, many of them are involved in other activities that Gospel Tabernacle offers.
More than 70 seniors also participate in a program called LIFE, an acronym for Living in Full Effectiveness. The program welcomes all senior congregation members ages 60 and older.
“Our LIFE group has two meetings a month. One is a meal fellowship, and the other is a trip that might be to a local attraction or a site that could be quite a distance away,” says Ken Milliken, senior pastor at Gospel Tabernacle. “The group has traveled as far away as New York and Florida. They have a good time.”
Special ministries are commonplace at churches in Harnett County. Spring Branch Baptist also schedules a number of extracurricular programs for senior citizens, while Abundant Life has a motorcycle ministry that features parishioners taking several out-of-town motorcycle road trips.
For younger congregation members, Crossroads Church has a ministry specifically aimed at young children, while Central Baptist Church offers a teen ministry that is housed in a new on-site teen building.
“We also have a teen meeting group at Gospel Tabernacle called The Lighthouse, and a fellowship for middle-school kids that is called Junior Lighthouse,” Milliken says. “There is also a discipleship ministry called The Missionettes that allows young girls to get involved with crafts and other related projects.”
Milliken adds that Gospel Tabernacle also has a program called The Rural Rangers for boys.
“That group is like a Christian Boy Scouts, with camping and adventure trips along with spiritual lessons,” he says. “In addition, our church has a program called The Cross Trainers for disadvantaged youth. We do a lot of ministry work here, as do several of the other churches in Harnett County.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
