Midweek Eucharist:
There is no mid-week service this week due to Kofe being on leave
There is no mid-week service this week due to Kofe being on leave
I have often referred to the need for a good Pastoral Care team here at St Aug’s.
I just want to elaborate on what I mean, in the hope that I can get a group formed who will overlook this important ministry.
Pastoral care is generally based on the ideas of the leaders of a church as shepherds in Scripture. Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
Pastoral care is generally used as a term referring to the practices leaders of a church do, to shepherd or care for individuals in their local congregation. For example, some aspects of pastoral care could include hospital visitation, visits to elderly church members, prayer with church members, or similar practices.
In reality, pastoral-care ministries are just as valuable as the delivery of a sermon. Caring for a person who is struggling with a difficulty, being present during a time of pain, praying with someone in a crisis—these are the moments when spiritual breakthroughs occur. Ministering through a good, biblically sound sermon is absolutely necessary. But ministering through a personal touch, i.e., pastoral care, is just as important. This ministry is a witness to the abiding presence of God’s love, from the bedside of a newborn baby to the bedside of a patient as they come close to death. They offer us a profound gift!
The parish, while caring for one another through Home Groups and friendships, needs a dedicated group of leaders who can come together regularly to discuss the needs of those they care for, and to report to your clergy about on-going needs. It is essential that people don’t “fall through the cracks” and are left uncared for!
I am happy to provide basic training sessions to get the group started, and am willing to journey with any of you who might feel called to be God’s presence amongst the suffering.
Below is a little more information on the Ministry of Pastoral Care.
The foundation of good pastoral care is “Caring through Listening.” Many people struggle to sign up for this Ministry, believing that all it entails is sharing thoughts and stories as a link between the church and individuals. I beg to differ!
Good pastoral care means being God’s absolute Presence for the individual being ministered to. In many situations, it comes down to simply being with the individual and listening to his / her story of grief, hurt and disappointment
Just listening.
In many cases, this good listening will just be 2 – 3 minutes on the phone; in others it might mean being physically present at someone’s house or Residential Care room and encouraging the individual to unload their sense of grief on to yourself. In yet other cases, it might mean prayerfully engaging with the individual through encouragement and Scripture. In all cases, you as a Carer, are taking on the burden and sharing the load of the individual. By simply listening!
Pastoral Care is a Spirit-led Ministry and I know of many, many Carers whose lives are changed and who feel God’s Presence while they sit with someone. This is an absolute blessing, and you will not know what I mean until you have tried it.
While my desire is to be able to visit EVERYONE in need, sadly, this is not possible and I am reaching out to you all for help in maintaining connectivity amongst our vulnerable. It will not take too much of your time, but it certainly will be valuable!
So come and join this Ministry. Come as you are!
With blessings, Kofe
* Sunday 29th May (5th Sun of the month): Combined 10am Communion Service, led by our 11Sharp band & Kofe.
* Sunday 5th June (Pentecost Sunday): Combined 10am Communion Service, led by our organists, Rev Sue & Ciru.
Click on the (red) link below to view a copy of our A.G.Minutes for 2021-2022 (from the meeting held in April 2022)
COVID-19 (+Variants), the Diocese has issued a statement asking us to please continue to wear our masks and keep them on during our services, plus maintain our social distancing.
Let us NOT become complacent; yet let us continue to gather to worship our Living, Healing God!
Please remember that from Sunday May 1st 2022, our earlier service time changes to 9.30am.
We hope that this little change will enable our more elderly worshippers extra time to make it to church, especially through the winter months.
After the service and your coffee, please make your way out to your cars via the Hannan Centre to avoid disrupting the 11am service preparations
With Covid in our community, it is even more important to be praying for any special needs that may occur. Because people may not be able to get to church, and there is no longer a prayer chain operating, I want to encourage ANYONE to send me a prayer request at any time.
Email is best – at haycienda@xtra.co.nz – but do phone me on 0212384130 if that’s more convenient. (We are no longer using the prayer box at church for requests.)
Please let me know too if you would like to join our team of pray-ers, who pray for the requests that come in, and I will send you more information about that. You need to be on email regularly to participate.
We also need another intercessor for the last Sunday of each month, for the 11am service. Despite Covid, let’s be a praying church! Thanks, Liz Hay, Prayer Co-ordinator.
Bread Tags for Wheelchairs https://breadtagsforwheelchairs.co.za
If you have a few, or many, plastic bread tags at home please can you bring them in over the next two weeks? Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. Our jar looks impressive already and we would like to see it reaching the top very soon so that I can drop the tags off at a nearby collection point.
The cause is a good one, wheelchairs for people in South Africa who need but cannot afford one, and you can read about it in the link above. At the same time, we are contributing in a small way to saving the planet for our children’s’ children.
Feel free to phone with questions, Maxine Kissling, Ph: 338 4002
But Wait! There’s More!
Richmond Community Gardens collect up several other things which we are reluctant to throw away knowing that there is probably a use for them somewhere. At their EcoHub they have a system of melting and pressing plastic milk bottle tops into moulds for building materials. They also accept other plastic bottle tops which are made of the same material..
We will have a set of labelled buckets at the far end of the Hannan Centre on Sunday mornings ready for your contributions. Even our blue medical masks are reinvented into something else.
Ask you friends, work mates and neighbours to add their contributions to yours and fill our buckets. ‘You in your small corner and I in mine’ comes to mind. Thank you for your help to reuse rather than pollute the environment.
Recent Comments