Amy Hanson
Doctor
Biography
Amy Hanson, Ph.D., leads a speaking, writing, and consulting ministry that helps churches and organizations respond to the needs and opportunities of older adults. She is the author of the book, Baby Boomers and Beyond: Tapping the Ministry Talents and Passions of Adults over 50, and has spent almost 30 years working in the critically important space of older adult church ministry. Amy is a faculty member with the Department of Gerontology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she teaches a variety of aging courses with an emphasis on service learning and community engagement. Amy lives with her family in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and enjoys slow conversations, walks in the sunshine, and the occasional pickleball game.
Education Description
Dr. Hanson began her third third work at the age of 23, when she became the full-time active adult minister at Central Christian Church in Las Vegas. Even then she sensed a powerful calling from God to serve older adults and help them flourish as disciples of Jesus. During this time on the church staff, Amy realized that she needed more training, so she earned a master’s degree in Gerontology from Abilene Christian University, followed by Ph.D. in Human Sciences from the University of Nebraska, where she teaches courses on aging and older adulthood.
Dr. Hanson has consulted with dozens of churches on ministry with Boomers and is one of the leading experts in this field. During his research on third third topics, Mark Roberts discovered Amy’s book Baby Boomers and Beyond. He says, “This is the finest book for churches and church leaders that want, not only to serve their third third folk well, but also to enleash the potential of their older adults for ministry in the church and the world. Amy’s material is theologically and scientifically solid, but also very practical. She supplies valuable tools for churches and church leaders.”
Amy and her husband, Jon, live in Council Bluffs, Iowa. They have three children, Ella, Eli, and Elise.