Elderly the target of evangelistic outreach in the U-S

USA (MNN) — With the senior citizen population increasing in the United States, the number elderly in retirement, assisted living and rest homes is increasing. That means many lonely people sitting around doing almost nothing because of either disabilities, poor eye sight, and more.

That’s why Talking Bibles International is targeting them with the Gospel message. A Talking Bible is a tape machine that plays The New Testament for people who can’t read. In this case, many elderly can’t see. Talking Bibles Paul Hoeksta says, “During the past year we’ve distributed here in North America nearly 40,000 units and a lot of them are going into nursing homes.”

Hoekstra says these machines are having an impact. “A woman who was, I think, 85 years old somewhere in Pennsylvania, we received a letter from her saying that she had gotten a talking Bible and how she had used it to reach out to someone else and they had accepted Christ as her Lord.”

This type of ministry is especially good for this demographic, Hoekstra says, “A lot of time when people get older it becomes increasingly difficult to read. And they have larger periods of time where they’re alone and, having a voice reading the Bible to them. The Lord works through that and brings comfort and peace to them as they listen.”

The Talking Bible enables people to be involved in evangelistic outreach, when they never would have considered it. Hoekstra suggests, “get one or two of these Talking Bibles and place them with a person they know that’s in a nursing home and then go and visit that person and gives them an opportunity to pray with that person, to bring fresh batteries, to talk about what they’ve been listening to.”

You can purchase The Talking Bible for $50 each, or $40 if you use them in ministry. Call (760) 745-8105. They’re also available in more than 39 other languages.