I bring you sincere greetings from Bishop Samuel J Quite, Jr and Mother Richlain K. Quire, Board of Advisors, Senior Citizens, Caregivers, Coordinators, and Staff of the Ministry to the Aging of the Liberia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. On the 23rd October 2022, a Special Honoring activities will be held throughout the conference for senior citizens who invested their lives, time, and resources in bringing to being the United Methodist Church in Liberia.
I take this time to extend my profound thanks and appreciation to our partners at home and abroad, especially those who are contributing to the Ministry to the Aging of the Liberia Annual Conference through the Advance Asking of the United Methodist Church. Your contributions over the years both moral and financial have sustained the ministry and made life worth living, especially for our home bound senior citizens. Your support is also bringing people to Christ, saving lives, healing, giving hope to the hopeless, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and making the Seniors to regain their integrity.
Your kind gesture reminds me of John 21:17, that says ‘Peter feed my sheep’. Brothers and sisters, I am calling on you to help take care of our senior citizens who have contributed immensely to the church and state. Some of them never work in government or in other institutions, they never had bank account, some depend on their children as their bread winners or as social security. Those that don’t have people to take care of them have become beggars, they don’t have means of taking care of themselves. The United Methodist Church in Liberia and its global connections are the children that some of them never had. That is why, the Ministry to the Aging of the United Methodist Church in Liberia is asking for your support as we celebrate this Seniors’ Month (October 2022).
Let us take care of the senior citizens, they deserve respect, justice, etc. Let us not discriminate against them, they are precious in God’s sight. When people grow older, they become less physically vital, sometimes they are not vitality alert, at this point, they become dependent, relationship takes on a new trend, roles become to change. It is at this point now to take them like the time they took care of us when we were young.
Remember that Old Age starts at conception. It is not a curse or a burden, it is a blessing.
We are growing old every day; Liberia is now 175 years old, so too is the United Methodist Church in Liberia. Let us invest in the Ministry to the Aging, so, growing old in the church does not become scaring, but embraced by our senior citizens.
Let me conclude by letting you all know that as abating as Coronavirus may seem, it is still as deadly as it was when it first started. I am appealing to all caregivers and senior citizens to observe all of the health tips associated with this pandemic; social distancing, wash your hands, wear your mask, no hugging, no shaking of hands and don’t go to places that are crowded. These may lack relevant to you right now, observing them is lifesaving.
We love you, we want you to be healthy and live long to enjoy your old age!
Thanks,
Reverend Anna S Kpaan
Directress, Ministry to the Aging
Liberia Annual Conference /United Methodist Church
