FAQ - The History of Church Resources

Founded in 1997, the historical perspective of Church Resources' ministry development can be divided into four administrative segments:

January 1997 - April 1998

Church Resources was founded in April 1997 as a California non-profit [501(c)(3)] corporation of Church Resources, Inc. The initial focus of Church Resources was to help congregations prepare for the effects of mass aging in our society by training eldercare ombudsmen to help members of congregations who were facing senior needs.

This 16-month education phase had both a positive and negative affect. On the positive side, Church Resources was able to observe directly the growing arenas of senior need in congregations, and the sense of call from the Holy Spirit grew in board members and staff alike. Negatively, Church Resources was not able to identify a critical mass of interest at the congregational level which was necessary if we were going to continue in the direction we were heading.

After placing our joys and concerns before our Lord in prayer, one member of our Board of Reference, Dr. Merton Strommen, suggested that Church Resources should turn ourselves to the task of research and allow the data from our research to act as an alarm clock to wake-up both congregations and synods to the growing need for senior ministry. Church Resources received this Board counsel as direction from our Lord. We shut-down our educational programs and began to develop our research strategy.

May 1998 - August 1999

During this second 16-month period, Church Resources conducted a systematic research of the national market to determine what was actually happening at the congregation level in Senior Ministries. After all, there was no sense to reinvent the wheel, we didn't want to recreate research products that were already in existence.

A careful analysis of the market (in Lutheran and non-Lutheran churches) provided our ministry with an assessment of both general and specific needs, and an awareness of the various professional groups that were currently working in this field.

September 1999 - March 2001

This 19-month period was devoted to product development. During this time Church Resources worked with volunteer groups (focus groups) across our country to prepare the Senior Ministry Inventory. The Senior Ministry Inventory was developed as a response to our market analysis. Through our market analysis it was determined that congregations and judicatories did not have an objective way to determine existing senior need or to project future need as the baby-boom generation reaches retirement age beginning in 2011. The Senior Ministry Inventory was developed to provide an objective source to understand these congregation and community needs.

April 2001 - Present

Beginning in April, 2001 Church Resources began implementing the Senior Ministry Inventory in congregations. Because of our careful market research and product development there has been an overwhelming positive acceptance of the Senior Ministry Inventory by both congregations and judicatories. In the first year during which the Inventory has been available, Church Resources has received a positive acceptance from more than 80 judicatories and thousands of congregations nationwide.

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