Mission Yearbook: Social worker explores dementia’s spiritual journey at POAMN conference

Kay Adams, a longtime social worker who counsels and coaches families of dementia patients, recently delivered a talk on “The Spiritual Journey of Dementia” during the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network conference that centered several patients with whom she worked.

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Kay Adams speaks Thursday to the annual conference of the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network. (Photo by Mike Ferguson)

One, whom Adams calls Edna in her book “Bedside Witness: Stories of Hope, Healing and Humanity,” had suffered a stroke and had a hard time making herself understood. Still, “Edna was full of joy all the time.” After her meal, she’d often say, “up, up” to Adams, who assumed Edna wanted to return to her second-story room. One day, Edna looked downcast. “I asked how she was feeling and she gave me a sad, kind of pleading look and said, ‘up, up,’” Adams said. She was pointing out the window at the sky. Adams asked, “Do you mean heaven?”

“She smiled and said, ‘go now, up, up. Home. Heaven,” Adams said. “I told her I understood she was telling me she was ready to die. She reached to my face and wiped my tears.”

Adams told Edna how much she meant to her and that “I was in full support of her going ‘up, up’ as comfortably as possible. I took her back to her apartment blissfully unaware it would be the last time I ever did that.”

“Five days later she slipped out of her body to the Pearly Gates. Obviously God had no problem deciphering her language.”

Adams peppered her talk with insights about dementia and caregiving. Two-thirds of Alzheimer’s patients are women. It’s the seventh-leading cause of death in people 65 and older. One in three seniors dies of Alzheimer’s or a related dementia.

By 2031, we’ll need an additional 1 million health care workers to care for people living with dementia.

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Photo by Robina Weermeijer via Unsplash

Adams asked attendees to pretend they’re wearing a scuba mask. That’s the peripheral vision a dementia patient may experience. She did the same with looking through binoculars as the disease progresses.

She noted caregivers can face guilt and remorse when saying things like, “Don’t ask me that question again!”

“We beat ourselves up for the next few days and feel guilty we can’t be constantly compassionate and kind,” she said. “I don’t know a more isolated group on the planet than dementia caregivers.”

She then told the story of a patient she called Nick, who worked for decades as a crane operator. When he was in his 80s, Nick was always thinking he was late for work. “He would walk up and down the halls of memory care looking for his car,” Adams said.

One day, with Nick seated alongside Adams on a bench, “the clouds parted” for him. “I don’t have a car anymore, do I?” he told her. She told him, “you’re not late for work. You live here now.” The next moment, he returned to, “have you seen my car?”

“I got to see Nick for 30 seconds,” she said. “His soul and his essence were still there.”

“We need to learn about a person’s history,” Adams said, “to understand who they were before dementia entered the picture and treat them accordingly.”

We can create “kind spaces” for people living with dementia, with signage that’s clear and designate calm areas where they can retreat to if needed, creating “a friendly and forgiving environment where people living with dementia can celebrate their spirituality in community — even if they can’t always remember the social norms and rituals and prayers, or when they’re supposed to talk or not,” Adams said.

Adams offered a handful of helpful hints:

People living with dementia are doing the best they can.

Join their reality, and don’t force them into yours.

Establish a relationship based on history, compassion and respect. Remember who the person was.

Learn about dementia so you can support people living with dementia and their families.

“Learning how to remove the accoutrements with which culture dresses us, we may be able to encounter each other’s souls, including those of people living with dementia,” Adams said. “It’s within the present moment where such encounters can take place.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Tara Brannigan, Financial Administrative Assistant, Stony Point Center, Interim Unified Agency
Kendra Bright, Operations and Accounting Associate, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

Let us pray:

God of mercy, in tender compassion bring your peace to all. Make whole those who are broken, and use us as your Spirit’s instruments of healing, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

New Resources and Old Favorites for One Great Hour of Sharing 2026

Free One Great Hour of Sharing Resources for Your Congregation These resources add depth to your Lenten season and expand on the One Great Hour of Sharing theme, Do Justice. Explore Micah 6:8 further using the various options below. Intergenerational Curriculum Introducing our first Intergenerational session featuring One Great Hour of Sharing. Use this as a one-time event during Lent or as a Sunday School opportunity. Ideal for small congregations or congregations of any size with a mix of ages. Download Intergenerational Curriculum Session Worship Resource This themed worship service on Micah 6:8 makes a meaningful worship experience on doing justice. Liturgy for Call to worship, prayers, and communion are included along with hymn suggestions and more. Simply copy and paste this information to create a bulletin for an upcoming Sunday this Lenten season, or use it for an easy-prep Sunday after Easter. Download Worship Resource PowerPoint We have PowerPoint slides you can use to share information about One Great Hour of Sharing during worship, at a meeting or event. Customize the slides so that information specific to your congregation is available.  Download PowerPoint Sharing Calendar This calendar is an annual favorite, with prayers and reflections for Lent. Great for families or to use in an intergenerational situation with your congregation.  Download Sharing Calendar Thank you for generously supporting the Churchwide Special offerings.  If you have any questions, reply to this email or call us at (800) 728-7228, Ext. 5047.

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Mission Yearbook: PC(USA) grant supports refugees in Egypt

Egypt faces a mounting refugee crisis, driven by escalating regional conflicts and compounded by reductions in U.S. humanitarian funding. Egypt is currently home to more than 1 million registered refugees and asylum seekers, with projections estimating that number could reach 1.3 million by the end of 2025. Two-thirds are Sudanese, with women and children comprising nearly three-quarters of the refugee population. Many more refugees remain unregistered, especially in southern regions like Aswan, and face increasing barriers to legal protection, education, health care and employment.

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Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel via Unsplash

In response to these challenges, the American Mission Fund of the PC(USA) is partnering with a local refugee-led organization and has awarded it a grant of $10,000. The organization offers education, legal aid, psychosocial services and community development to all nationalities, regardless of religion or registration status.

In December 2024, Egypt enacted its first national asylum law, shifting refugee registration from the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) to a state-controlled system. U.N. agencies have condemned the law for lacking non-refoulement protections and criminalizing humanitarian aid. Refugees now face mass detentions, xenophobic rhetoric and restricted access to basic services. Residency permits are nearly impossible to obtain, with appointments scheduled as far away as June 2028. Without a valid residency permit, refugees are cut off from public services and face an increased risk of detention or deportation.

“The model of refugee leadership works but it needs partners and support,” said Christine Samuel, a representative of Refugees Thrive International, a U.S.-based nonprofit that partners with refugee-led organizations in the region. “The PC(USA)’s support is a powerful act of solidarity.”

The $10,000 grant from the American Mission Fund will help refugee-led organizations sustain core programming at a time of acute financial strain following the suspension of U.S. foreign aid in early 2025. That decision triggered sweeping cuts across the humanitarian sector, and Cairo was no exception. UNHCR’s medical partner in Egypt lost nearly 70% of its budget overnight, leading to the closure or downsizing of essential medical services.

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Luciano Kovacs

By supporting a wide range of programs — including education, legal aid, health care, mental health and advocacy — refugee-led organizations participate in a network of aid that complements the work of larger partners such as UNHCR and Save the Children. These organizations provide invaluable complementary support, offering services in the local area in the relevant language and at a fraction of the cost. Organizations such as Refugees Thrive International support refugees in the region through funding and advocacy underscoring the vital contributions of ecumenical and secular partners in addressing the regional refugee crisis.

“Presbyterians have a long history of standing with the vulnerable,” said Luciano Kovacs, the PC(USA)’s global ecumenical liaison for the Middle East and Europe, in support of the American Mission Fund grant awarded in 2025. “This grant is a tangible expression of our commitment to justice, dignity and the leadership of displaced communities.”

The organization’s work is especially critical for unaccompanied and separated children, whose numbers have surged by 65% in the past year. With public education increasingly restricted and community schools forcibly closed, many refugee children are left without access to learning, making them vulnerable to exploitation.

As the protection space in Egypt continues to shrink, refugee-led organizations remain one of the few safe havens for displaced people to find support, community, and hope. The PC(USA)’s American Mission Fund grant helps ensure that this vital work can continue.

Learn more about refugee-led organizations in Egypt here.

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Terri Bowman, Customer Service Lead, Hubbard Press, Administrative Services Group
Dan Braden, Managing Editor, Publishing, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

Let us pray:

Gracious God, we thank you for providing us gifts to share and the strength to serve you faithfully. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: End-of-life care is subject of POAMN conference talk

Two women with decades of experience in helping people who are near death — one as a physician, the other as a pastor and palliative care chaplain — led a helpful and from-the-heart dialogue recently as part of the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network’s annual conference, “Bridging Generations.” About 100 people from 24 states were in attendance.

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The Rev. Dr. Lorraine Leist and Dr. Jean Abbott lead their dialogue workshop Wednesday at the annual conference of the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network. (Photo by Mike Ferguson)

Dr. Jean Abbott, a retired physician and educator in Boulder, and the Rev. Dr. Lorraine Leist, associate pastor for congregational care and older adults at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church in Denver, called their presentation “Is Dying More Than a Medical Event?”

We have different trajectories of dying, as a handout explained. About 10% die abruptly, with the rest falling into three roughly even categories: a terminal illness, organ failure or a frailty trajectory.

The two presenters went over three case studies. Abbott started by discussing a friend, a 79-year-old man who’d always been a vigorous traveler and distance runner who found out he had a leaky aortic valve. He underwent surgery and rehab, but his path going forward is unclear. “His great joys have always been travel and being outdoors,” Abbott said. Now he relies on his wife to keep track of his medications and to go to the hospital with him.

“This is clearly a medical situation, but it’s spiritual and existential as well,” Leist said. Questions including “why me?” and “why now?” often come up. “Someone of faith may ask, ‘where is God now? I started by getting tired and now I have this condition that could kill me.’”

Another aspect, Leist said, is the search for meaning. “What is the meaning of my life now? My life had been defined by things of my own choosing. Now [this man is] facing fear, grief and reconfiguration of family life. As a chaplain, I have been present with people struggling to adapt.”

The second case study was on Leist’s father, “and his clarity about end-of-life wishes,” Leist said. Her father got sick and died two weeks later at age 82. “What was significant is he was very clear his entire life that he wanted nothing to do with the medical system, which is a challenge for many who have medical conditions,” she said.

“When he got sick, we were clear we didn’t want him to have to go to the hospital. We involved hospice,” she said. “We were able to honor his wishes and allow him to die peacefully at home.”

“It’s interesting he avoided the rabbit hole of going down the medical pathway,” Abbott said. “Medicine always has something to treat, but there’s rarely a discussion of the big picture.”

“My father was fortunate enough to have a chaplain for a daughter,” Leist said. Family members “talked about the importance of making his wishes known” early in his disease process, about seven years before he died.

Abbott noted that some people “change their mind near the end” about the kind of care they’re receiving. “Wait a minute! I have some unfinished business,” they might say. But Leist’s father “was very clear and had a strong family who could push back at the medical system.

“We are sharing stories with you because you travel with people on this journey,” Abbott told those in attendance. “It’s important to support them and understand when their choices might change.”

The third case involved an 86-year-old woman with progressive dementia. Family members were concerned for her husband’s caregiving capacity.

“We listen and make space for the grief,” Leist said. “The promises made to care for someone for a lifetime — those are serious promises we make. Giving space and time allows people to grieve the loss of the capability to fulfill those promises.”

What, then, makes dying more than a medical event?

“We need to make space for lament,” Leist said. “We have this process of being able to cry out to God in anger and grief to create an avenue or opening to reconnect with our faith.”

We can also, of course, “provide pragmatic support — meals, driving, respite. It’s our call to love our neighbors, and it’s all over Scripture,” Leist said, “asking us to take care of each other in practical and pragmatic ways.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service, Communications (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Margaret Boone, Project Manager, Special Offerings, Administrative Services Group
Shonita Bossier, VP, Operations, Presbyterian Foundation   

Let us pray:

Gracious Lord, please open our eyes to the opportunities that exist all around us. Help us to move when you call us and enable us to engage our communities so that together we might accomplish the tasks you have put before us. Amen.

Fish Box Specific Resources New for this Year!

Everything You Need for Fish Boxes It’s time to hand out fish boxes to the children in your congregation we have some free resources that make that process even easier than ever before. Fish Box Liturgy (handing out and receiving) We have liturgy you can use when handing out fish boxes and dedicating them when they return. Make sure you download your copy or find it in your leader’s guide on page eleven. Download Fish Box Liturgy Fish Box Sticker Template We are excited to offer fish box stickers! Add these to your water bottle, computer and more. Print off your own on sticker paper using our free download. Download Fish Box Stickers Gracie Story Every year Certified Christian Educator Dr. Kathy Dawson of Colombia Theological Seminary writes a story about our One Great Hour of Sharing mascot a fish named Gracie. Download and read this year’s story with the children in your congregation. Download Gracie Story Thank you for generously supporting One Great Hour of Sharing, the single largest way Presbyterians come together to make a difference in the world. If you have any questions, reply to this email or call us at (800) 728-7228 Ext. 5047.

If this email was forwarded to you, sign up for our list.  Copyright © 2026 Special Offerings, All rights reserved.

Mission Yearbook: Pastor emphasizes ‘presence over performance’ at POAMN conference

As part of the Bridging Generations conference recently offered by the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network, the Rev. Denise Shannon, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Thornton, Colorado, a POAMN co-moderator and spiritual director and, before that, a registered nurse for 30 years, led a thoughtful talk on “Spirituality and the Older Adult: Supporting Soul Care in the Later Seasons of Life.”

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The Rev. Denise Shannon

“I’ve spent my whole life with adults who are older, and I have an affinity and a love for them,” Shannon said. “The stories they tell are amazing, and I love listening to stories. There is something you can find in everybody’s story that gives meaning and purpose to their life.”

Shannon differentiated between religion — organized structure that brings together beliefs, practices and rituals that people find comforting — and spirituality, that sense of connection to something or someone greater.

Spirituality matters in older age in at least four ways, she said:

• Making sense of our life’s story and legacy
• Coping with losses and transitions
• Seeking reconciliation and forgiveness
• Nurturing hope and preparing for the end of life.

“It can ease a lot of anxiety. I say that from a history of sitting with people who are dying,” she said. “Those who have some sense of faith and spirituality have less anxiety at that time than people who don’t. … They seem to be less anxious and are able to be more accepting at the end of life.”

Spiritual challenges “show up when grief abounds,” Shannon said. “Some of us do grief really well and some do not. … You can have the best faith in the world, and when those losses happen, it can all go out the window.”

People with cognitive decline or dementia see their lives, memory and faith practices impacted. They may ask, “am I still valuable? Am I broken because I can’t do what I used to do and I can’t remember anymore?” Shannon said. “They feel forgotten by family, friends and God.”

A hospice chaplain who’s worked with a number of patients over 100 said they sometimes ask, “why won’t God take me now?” “It’s quite a question, and I don’t have the answer,” the chaplain said.

Shannon had a 97-year-old patient who decided to go home from the hospital to die on hospice care rather than face difficult surgery and recovery. She asked Shannon, “Why won’t God take me? I don’t want to live like this.”

“I asked her, ‘why do you think you’re still here?’” Shannon said. “If you sit and wait and listen, they’ll think through it.” The woman told Shannon, “maybe I’m not done yet. I have a new grandson, and I think I’m supposed to teach him something before I go.”

Later, the woman told Shannon she hadn’t spoken to her son in 40 years. She decided to call him. They talked, and he came to visit her before she died.

“Be willing to let the question lie. Let people noodle on it,” Shannon advised. “Sometimes we aren’t given opportunity to reflect or be listened to without judgment.”

The most important thing people in ministry can do for older adults is “to offer this act of listening,” Shannon said. “We can do nothing more important than be present, willing to listen and just sit with people” because “we all like to be heard. We like to know that what we have to say and share is important.”

Affirm people’s life experiences, “even if they’re yucky,” she suggested. “It may not feel good to hear those stories, but it’s who they are. Even in the bad experiences, they might find that one joyful thing. Their life has not been wasted just because of who they are. It’s presence over performance.”

Shannon said in the past two months or so, she’s discovered that older adult ministry need not be separate from other ministry. “We are already doing this ministry in many different ways,” she said. “We might have to adapt the things we’ve already doing for these people.”

“Maybe we need to listen before we act,” she said. Older adults “have incredible richness to give us and can inform us what they need.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Ricky Blade, Customer Service Representative, Constituent Ministry, Interim Unified Agency
Vivian Blade, Program Manager, Unification Management Office, Interim Unified Agency

Let us pray:

Lord God, help us to discern your guidance for all that we think, say, and do and strengthen us to walk in the paths that you have set before us. Amen.