Do you have a pastoral need? Need prayer? Need godly counsel? Do you know someone who does? You don’t have to go it alone...
One of our goals at Ascension in recent years has been to encourage and extend the provision of Pastoral Care. Oftentimes this is done as we care for one another in a myriad unsung ways. Indeed the Bible enjoins us to pray for one another and extend practical help to one another. “Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” (James 5:14,16)
Read on to find out how Pastoral Care / Mutual Care is exercised in our midst. Here’s what’s available for you or someone you know:
- Make an appointment with one of our clergy - One of the most fulfilling aspects of being a pastor is being able to talk to, pray with and assist parishioners with pastoral needs. Please know that your clergy are available to meet with you. Appointments can be made through the church office or by calling them directly.
- Speak with a member of the church staff - All program staff, and even the administrative staff, are gifted and anxious to assist with pastoral needs. Please feel free to bring concerns to them. They will refer you on to clergy should there be a need.
- Prayer Ministry - Dr. Wendy LeMarquand, MD, has oversight of Ascension’s prayer ministry. She has procured a three-year diocesan grant for the training of our prayer ministers. To date many of our prayer ministers have gone for special training sessions at a School of Healing Prayer in Florida and eleven more are scheduled for training in February. Wendy also hosts monthly Prayer Practicums to assist with the ongoing training of prayer ministers. So, the good news is that we have a growing group of prayer ministers who want to pray with you and are becoming increasingly more versed in how to do that effectively. Parishioners are invited to come for prayer at one of three prayer stations during communion at our 10:30am service. Additionally, Wendy is beginning to host periodic sessions for soaking and healing prayer during our 9:15am Adult Education Hour on Sundays. It is our hope that the prayer ministry continues to develop and flourish in new ways in the years to come.
- Intercessory Prayer – Dr. Jeanne Kohn manages an intercessory prayer list. When prayer concerns are recorded on our blue inserts each week, Jeanne sends them out to a group of intercessors. If you are in need of intercessory prayer by the wider body, please let us know your prayer concerns by recording them on the blue sheets or letting us know in another way. If you would like to be an intercessor, please contact Jeanne.
- Counseling – “The Workshop at Ascension” is an onsite, and expanding, counseling service. A gifted team of counselors, currently comprised of Connie Hughes, Baxter Peffer, Julie Ray, provide counseling, coaching and support to those needing healing or wholeness in their lives. The counselors have a wide range of professional training and experience including marriage and family issues, addictions and recovery, sexual brokenness, relationship difficulties, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, anxiety and trauma. To find out more you may talk to one of our clergy, or call one of the counselors directly. More information is available on our website.
- Hospital and Home Visits – Both clergy and lay members make many visits to those shut in at home, or those in the hospital. It’s quite a blessing to know the care offered to the ill and frail that goes on behind the scenes at Ascension. If you are ill, or know someone who is, please do contact the church office – and keep us updated! We have a gifted group of laity who can bring the Eucharist to those who are at home or in the hospital, and we want to make sure our shut ins are cared for.
- Meal Ministry –Soul Food, Ascension’s meal ministry, is headed up by Aggie Lotz for the wider congregation and by Katharine Luckett for new moms. Love is extended in a very practical way through this meal ministry for those celebrating the birth of a baby, recovering from illness, mourning a loss. If you are in need of meals, or know of someone who is, please let the need be known to the church office and we will communicate with the Soul Food coordinator.
- Home Groups – One of the ways all kinds of pastoral care happens is through home groups. This kind of pastoral care often doesn’t make it onto the ‘radar screen’ – but it is happening! Presently Ascension has 19 home groups that meet regularly with about 220 participants. Several more groups would like to form. You can see the profiles of different groups on our website. Home groups are a way to get to know a group a people at a deep level – to worship together, study together, fellowship together and pray together. It is often members of a home group who extend pastoral care to members of their group who are in need – bringing meals to them, praying for their needs, helping them move, helping them cope with loss. We receive frequent wonderful reports of ministry happening in our home groups. If you would like to become involved in a home group, please contact the church office, ext. 218.
- Special Classes – Sometimes pastoral issues arise in one specific area in our life. We have problems in our marriage or we’re preparing to marry, we have trouble with our finances, or we’re mourning a loss. Please be reading our monthly publications for news of upcoming courses. Financial Peace University and the Marriage Course, offered every other year, have had terrific responses. Marriage Preparation Classes are arranged for engaged couples through one of our clergy. Additionally, we hope to offer a support group for those experiencing grief that is to begin this spring.
Whether you have a pastoral need yourself, or know of someone who does, please always be sure to communicate with the church office. We want to ensure that all members of our church family receive care during times of transition, difficulty, illness and loss.
|
Give 