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Caring Ministry

A small group serving for two months at a time to be the hands and feet of Christ. This group will serve those in need within our church community and in the St. Croix River Valley. Serving on a caring ministry team will allow each person/family to connect in a meaningful way with one another and our neighbors.

Team Leader
Serve as liaison and communicate between church office and team. Team leads are chiefly responsible for timely communication, integrity in communication and creativity in response.

Team members
Serve as the hands and feet of Christ! Team members are responsible for timely responses to their team lead with willingness to care, serve, gather, pray etc. Team members will hold confidence as needed and be honest with their team about their own stresses and limitations.
All people, all ages are welcome to serve.

How will it work?
Each team will meet one time each month the team is serving. During the meeting the team will hear from Pastor and team lead of opportunities to serve. The team will pray together and commit to supporting and communicating with each other throughout the month of service.

Commitment
One hour meeting each month of service
Communicating with team via email/phone (as needed)
1-5 hours of service and growth a month

Contact Pastor Elizabeth if you are interested in serving on a caring ministry team!

Caring Ministry: One Year In

When I arrived at Memorial I did a lot of listening; committee meetings, conversation circles, casual comments, pastoral visits — all occasions for listening to the Holy Spirit that is at work in our midst. This past September I told you what I heard, people were longing to feel more connected to one another and more connected to the wider community. In response to this communal longing we launched “Caring Ministry Teams”! Many of you signed up to serve in a small group working for two months at a time to be the hands and feet of Christ. The hope was that serving on a caring ministry team would allow each person/family to connect in a meaningful way with one another and our neighbors.

The first team began in with November/December and the final team of this year is serving right now with May/June, caring ministry will take a hiatus during July/August and begin again with new teams in September/October (get ready to sign up!).  Nearly thirty members served and cared for their community, praise God!

What worked: Each team met with me (Pr. Elizabeth) or their lay leader, to discuss how they felt called to care.  Each team moved in unexpected and inspired ways — these meetings with the caring team were some of the most meaningful and inspirational conversation that I witnessed all year.  Thank you teams for your courage and honesty! What did the teams do? Here is just a sampling…

Made visits to homebound and sick, bringing communion, and some team members continue visiting even after their “shift” has ended! Care packages to our military, letters of encouragement to our college students and young adults, cards sent to worship visitors all year, serve during fellowship hour for a month, deliver Holiday Cheer bags to elder members, deliver Easter flowers to homebound, Working during the “Meet Your Neighbor” event, Seder Meal, organize a day of prayer and lead a prayer activity with our VBS children, and every team connected with one another in new ways! (Whew, no wonder we need a Sabbath).

Areas to improve: We served the church community well, opportunities to be present beyond our church community felt hard to navigate.  I will make community connections and setup channels so that next year’s teams can easily feel empowered to be present in the St. Croix Valley during their two months of service. We had two lay leaders this year and I am hoping to train a lay leader for each team of the coming year.  Interested? Let’s talk.

Beginning in August you will start hearing about the next year of Caring Ministry.  I pray you will decide to step forward and serve with your sisters and brothers in Christ to the glory of our loving God.

~ Pastor Elizabeth