Creating a Caring Congregation

The Pastoral CareTeam leads the ministry of caregiving within our congregation. The main objectives of this ministry are to maintain contact with people who need support and encouragement for a variety of reasons, and to encourage the congregation to provide this support in a variety of ways. Members of the Pastoral Care Team are representative of the congregation’s concern and care for all its members.

The Pastoral Care Team is made up of a Coordinating Committee and a roster of Pastoral Care visitors and Pastoral Care contact persons from the congregation.

The Pastoral Care Coordinating Committee is comprised of the Minister and four to six members of the congregation, and has responsibility for coordinating the ministry of caregiving.

The committee meets regularly to discuss pastoral care concerns and programs, and to assess the pastoral care needs of members of the congregation which have come to its attention through personal observations, requests for support from in-dividual members, expressions of concern by members of the congregation about indi-viduals needing support, and through the sharing of Celebrations and Concerns each Sunday morning.

Committee members connect with the congregation each Sunday by being available at the Pastoral Care Table. A member may choose to light a candle silently or to record a celebration or a concern and then light a candle at the front of the sanctuary. At the designated time in the service a member of the Pastoral Care Committee leads the congregation in words of reflection on the importance of caring for one another, and listening to one another. The recorded messages are shared with the congregation, and a final candle is lit for all those thoughts yet to be shared.

Together, members of the PC committee determine the necessity of a followup conttact and the most effective choice  conversation during coffee-time, visits from the Minister or a member of the congregation, phone calls, cards or letters, flowers, or suggestions for referrals to other support groups or social agencies. Members also consider the best person to make the contact, taking into consideration the personalities and interests of both parties as well as prior friendships/relationships.

Members of the congregation who offer to be part of the pastoral care team through such personal contacts are asked to listen carefully and respond empathically to any concerns raised by the individual, to offer friendly encouragement and support, and to inform the PC committee of their contacts with members of the congregation, including any concerns that they would like the Pastoral Care Committee or the Minister to follow up on.

The congregation is also involved in two special projects of the Pastoral Care Committee: the delivery of tins of dainties close to Christmas to members who are house-bound and not able to regularly attend services, and the delivery of flowering plants following a special PC service in the spring in which we pay tribute to members of our congregation/ our families who are deceased. Members who have delivered dainties and/or flowers report that these remembrances are much appreciated.

Members of the Pastoral Care Committee have as their overall goal the creation of a caring congregation in which all members of the congregation feel encouraged to explore their role in the ministry of Pastoral Care.

"Why not hold this image in our minds, like a family portrait, remembering that with each phone call, each form filled out, each guideline obeyed, each individual or group meeting, we are part of a larg-er whole that is "in the same boat," rowing or sailing or motoring away, sometimes in control, sometimes hopelessly out of control, but WITH each other, through the storm to the eventual dry land and rainbow"? (Max Speights)