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Church has to be 'ahead of curve' to deal with pension pressures

It comes as a report suggests the cost of being retired will increase by 148% in the next 35 years.

Royal London, which commissioned the report, says that in 2050 each pensioner will spend an average of £2,930 per month, compared to £1,084 per month in 2015.

Findings also show that 2 in 5 people under the age of 40 believe a State Pension will no longer exist by that point.

The Outlook Trust is a charity that supports Christian people to work with over 60s.

Its National Director, Robin Rolls, told Premier they offer training to churches across the country: "They need to say 'Okay great, let's have you come over and do a seminar for us' because it's a specialist way to work with older people.

"It's not difficult, but it is specialist and so the church, en masse, needs to get ahead of the curve and take note of what's coming."

Mr Rolls believes churches and Christians need to think carefully about how they will practically support older people in decades to come: "How will we engage with older people that appear to be happy on their own but are actually chronically lonely?

"Then we've got to think about how we serve them because the health service will not be around by 2050; there's no way it's not going to be privatised. How many of us can set up visiting schemes or can help with feeding older people?

"And then there is their spiritual well-being; how will we help a generation of people who've never been inside a church?"

The 'Pensions Through the Ages' report, released today, predicts housing costs to produce the fastest increase in essential expenditure, from £200 per month to £728 per month by 2050.

Spending on transport, food and fuel bills is also expected to rise substantially.

But Mr Rolls says this should not stop Christians giving financially to their churches: "The Bible tells us that God loves a cheerful giver and one of the aspects of faith is about stepping out of the boat.

"As Christian people we have to realise that if God is in charge of everything then that means he's in charge of our bank balance. God is far bigger and far more generous than us and we should have faith in Him to meet our needs."

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