OVERVIEW OF PASTORAL CARE

 

How You Can Help With Pastoral Care… Even if you can't be part of one of the Teams, you have an important role in pastoral care. Some of the best pastoral care happens in informal ways.  You can speak to the people around you in the pews on Sunday, get to know them and support them with your prayers and friendship.  Also, every Team or Committee meeting at Grace and Holy Trinity can start with prayer and also with a time for “checking in.”  Checking in gives people a chance to share personal news, such as an up-coming wedding or the hospitalization of a family member.  This kind of interpersonal caring and concern provides some of the best pastoral care there is.

The Clergy Team consisting of the Rev. Jason Roberts and the Rev. Bo Millner, meets weekly to discuss those with expressed pastoral needs and devise a schedule of appropriate contacts.  The clergy share on-call duties and respond to crises as they arise, such as hospitalizations, deaths, or relationship difficulties.   They also prepare couples for marriage through a series of counseling sessions which utilize the Prepare/Enrich Premarital Inventory.

 Times to contact  the clergy ...  When you go into the hospital, please do not rely on the “grapevine” to let the clergy know.  Contact Jason Roberts and Bo Millner directly so that they can be sure to visit.  They are happy to bring communion to you during your hospital stay.  The clergy may be contacted by calling 359-5628, by writing at the church address, or via e-mail (jroberts@ghtc.org  or  bmillner@ghtc.org).

 Other times to contact the clergy include: when you are having relationship or marital problems, when you are having trouble discerning God’s will, when you want to talk about your prayer life, when you are contemplating a major life change (marriage, a move, retirement), when a baby is born,   when you have good news to share, or when you would just like to talk.

The Lay Pastoral Care Team consists of Candy Osdene, Phil Dawson, John Thomas,  Mary Lietman and Jodie Pully.  The  Rev. Bo Millner is an advisor and currently convenes this Team.   This Team's role is to take the "big view" and ascertain what pastoral needs might be met through the formation of special groups, classes or other activities.  Over the past couple of years two series were organized, one on parenting and another program for our older members on memory and related mental health issues.  Currently this group has devised a program of special prayers on Sunday mornings.  You may read more about this below (the section which begins:  "Starting in September...).

The Lay Pastoral Visitors are supervised by the Rev. Bo Millner and they make regular monthly contact with members who are no longer able to be as active as they once were.  These visitors make personal visits, telephone calls, remember birthdays and celebrate other important holidays. They also check on their folks in the event of natural disasters. If you or someone you know might like to be visited through this program, please e-mail Bo Millner:  bmillner@ghtc.org.

The Shawl Ministry consists of a group of talented knitters who create beautiful blankets or shawls.  These are brought to the altar to be blessed and then they are taken to members and friends of our parish.  The shawls are accompanied by our prayers and allow the recipients to be surrounded by our love.  If you are interested in this ministry please contact Betsy Featherstone.

The Prayer Group  is a group of people who volunteer to receive a prayer list from the church each week and commit to praying for all the people on the list each day.  The members of this group offer these prayers independently and in accordance with each intercessor's schedule. Any name placed on this list is held in confidence.  Intercessors may send notes or speak one-on-one to the people for whom they are praying, but  information will not be shared further.  If you are interested in being a member of the group please e-mail Bo Millner: bmillner@ghtc.org

A Mid-Week Service is offered on Wednesdays at 5:15 PM.  Parking is available in the lot behind the church and the service is held in the chapel.  This service of Holy Eucharist: Rite I includes prayers for healing.  Prayers for healing with anointing were part of the Jewish tradition and of the Church from earliest times.  Healing may come in a variety of ways.  Physical illnesses may be healed.  We may also receive strength to face challenges of various kinds.   The Holy Eucharist itself also communicates God’s grace.  The Catechism in the Prayer Book states: “The benefits we receive are the forgiveness of our sins,  the strengthening of our union with Christ and one another, and the foretaste of the heavenly banquet which is our nourishment in eternal life.”  (page 859ff)  You are encouraged to attend.  If sickness keeps you from attending church, please contact Bo Millner or Jason Roberts.  They will be glad to bring communion to you or arrange for a Lay Eucharistic Minister to do so.