About bēkn
Warn. Guide. Celebrate.
bēkn (pronounced “beacon”) is a faith-based nonprofit in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We work with church leadership to build meaningful community around seniors and the families who care for them.
Our mission
What a beacon does, we do.
A beacon warns of danger, guides ships home, and celebrates safe arrival. bēkn warns churches about the growing needs of seniors and caregivers in their midst, guides and equips church families to care for one another, and celebrates the years of our aging loved ones.
We do this by creating spaces for respite and renewal, and by facilitating the conversations families avoid: wishes for later life, for illness, and for accident. The goal is a church that is a center of compassion where both the senior and the caregiver are supported.
Grounded in Scripture
Honor your parents. Care for the vulnerable. Offer hospitality. Celebrate life.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
James 1:27“Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
1 Peter 4:9“Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.”
Proverbs 16:31“Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
Deuteronomy 5:16Our team
Ethicists, nurses, pastors, and caregivers.
Our board comes from bioethics, nursing, pastoral ministry, social work, nonprofit leadership, and finance. Every one of them has cared for an aging parent or friend.