At St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sarver, visits to nursing homes for ministry, hand delivering recorded copies of sermons to those physically unable to attend services and home visits to those who are sick or shut in are all part of the norm.

"It's just routine ministry for St. Paul's," said the Rev. Emery Barnett, pastor. "And it's always been a historical trend of the congregation."

While varying factors may prevent some senior citizens from attending regular church services, churches such as St. Paul's have found ways to keep these individuals connected to a church.

At St. Paul's, Barnett said, congregation members feel it is important to make sure seniors stay connected for three reasons.

"First, because they served the Lord through the congregation and now it's time for us to serve them," Barnett said.

"Second, because they still have a deep need to feel a belonging and a sense of importance, and third, because they still need to know there are things they can do to be productive even if they are home bound."

At Fellowship Baptist Church in Emlenton, pastor Mark Carpenter and his congregation also participate in a variety of activities to keep senior church members actively engaged in the church.

These activities range from holding a monthly Sunday service at Highland Oaks Retirement Home in Shippenville after the church's morning service and sending out CD copies of each week's sermon to shut-ins and having a group of people visit the sick and shut-ins on a bi-weekly basis.

In addition, the church is involved in publishing a quarterly publication called "Higher Ground" that reaches 6,000 homes. It also puts MP3 copies of some sermons on the church Web site as part of its podcast, a Web-based audio broadcast.

"We want to stay connected (to seniors)," Carpenter said. "We want them to have consistent access to hearing God preach and have access to our sermons."

For those senior citizens in nursing homes or assisted living facilities, places such as Autumn Grove Care Center in Harrisville also offer their residents the opportunity to take part in religious practices.

Tammy Cubbison, a certified nurse assistant at Autumn Grove, said as long as she can remember there has been a pastor visitation at least twice per week and two church services each week.

"Of the 103 residents, about 75 percent of them get to the services," Cubbison said. "And for the 25 percent that can't, the pastors go around to their rooms."

At Sunrise Assisted Living inMars, religion is of such importance to the residents that it has become a standard to offer a certain number of religious activities each week, said Mary Ellen Pifer, an activities assistant.

For those residents who are physically able, the assisted living facility has a bus that takes about 10 residents out for Sunday morning services at Mars Methodist Church.

The facility also has a 1 p.m. in-house church service on Sundays, devotions on Tuesdays, Catholic Communion by St. Killian Roman Catholic Church in Mars on Wednesdays and a variety of visits by congregation members and clergy each week.

"I think the residents really appreciate it because there are opportunities for people of all different religions," Pifer said. "There is something for everyone."

Evergreen Nursing Center in Harmony offers similar activities for its residents, having different church groups come in on Sundays. Members of the Harmony-Zelienople Ministerium conduct services each week, with Bible study on Tuesday mornings, weekly visits by ministers and memorial services once a month in remembrance of residents who have died.

"Although we have always had religious services, I've seen them increase over the past couple of years to try to accommodate each religion," said Linda O'Connor, the activities director at Evergreen.

Seeing between 25 to 30 residents at each service, nearly one-quarter of the total 114 residents, O'Connor said Evergreen is "definitely faith oriented."

Working together, nursing homes and facilities and churches have been able to meet the religious needs of a number of seniors, she said.

"I have never had any pastors give us any problems," O'Connor said. "They are always willing to help us and work with us."

Carpenter said it's a lot of just keeping up with senior citizens and making sure they are OK.

"We don't want to forget about them and we want them to know we love them," Carpenter said.