With the revisions in the Medicare reimbursement system, many older pa tients are being discharged "sicker" than was the case ten years ago; thus, most older adults require some type of home-care assistance after being dis charged from the hospital. Given that most older adults attend church regu larly (Markides, Levin, and Ran, 1987), hospital social workers and others have suggested that churches might be able to provide some of the aftercare assistance that is needed upon discharge from the hospital (e.g., transporta tion, meal preparation, cleaning house, etc.). However, past research indi cates that only a small percentage of congregations have developed specific service programs for their older parishioners. For example, Adams and Stark (1987) found that only 20% of the congregations in their sample offered a telephone reassurance program, only 10% had a hospice program, and a mere 1.5% offered a home health-care program. Similarly, in a needs assessment study using a representative sample of one thousand St. Louis senior citizens, only 6% of the sample reported receiving any type of assistance from a church (Smith et al., 1988). Why do so few congregations provide services for their older parishioners? Although research on this topic is limited, prior studies do offer some in sights. In a nursing-home setting, Pardue (1991) found that the clergy and the elderly had different views regarding the spiritual needs of the elderly. Similarly, Shepard and Weber (1992) found that although the clergy had posi tive attitudes toward the elderly, their perceptions regarding the abilities of the elderly were overly optimistic. Finally, Mobey (1983) found that 80% of the clergy in his sample felt inadequate to deal with the elderly. Thus, these findings suggest that inadequate preparation of the clergy may be one of the reasons for the paucity of church-sponsored programs for the elderly. Another explanation can also be advanced however: many elderly may not