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Cancer support group in Illinois uses a one-on-one structure for ministryOctober 5, 2007
At Christ United Methodist Church in East Moline, Illinois, Parish Nurse Joann Stribling began noticing that prayer requests received on Sundays mentioned cancer a great deal. "Here was this great need, but we didn?t have formal ministry in place to meet it," she said. So, Stribling began collecting resources. One of the things she did was contact Our Journey of HopeŽ to schedule a lay ministry training at her church in the summer of 2006 to help congregants and clergy learn how to be more effective in ministry to cancer patients and their families. 
Following the training, she scheduled some brainstorming sessions with people who were interested in forming a ministry to cancer patients and their families. These were folks touched by cancer in some way, i.e., they were either cancer survivors or had a family member or friend with cancer or had a heart to minister to cancer patients and their families. "I have a core group of 11 people in this ministry," Stribling said. "We meet quarterly to brainstorm and decide what the next thing might be that we need to do. The ministry has already changed quite a bit from our original concept." Stribling explained that originally she'd thought of having monthly meetings cancer patients and their families could attend, but what she found in their area was that most of the cancer patients were too sick to attend and didn?t want to leave their homes. "So, we've structured our ministry so that we actually go to them," she said. The cancer care ministry team is currently caring for 28 people, with each of the 11 members assigned certain people to care for. Those members make home visits, send encouraging cards, make phone calls and meet other needs. "One of the latest things we've added is meal delivery to people on the day they have a chemotherapy treatment. That's when they?re most tired and don?t feel like cooking, but they still need to eat," Stribling said. This addition is the suggestion of a lady who'd initially been ministered to by the group and who has now become part of the ministry team. Stribling said she had no idea how well received this meal delivery would be. "It's been better received than I expected," she said. "I call and make sure there are no diet restrictions and that, if there are, we abide by them in the food we prepare." In their first year of ministry, Stribling estimates they've reached out to 75-100 people. "I've also been contacted by people from other churches who are interested in starting a support group at their own church," she said. "I've been able to supply them with some of the resources manual we received through the lay ministry training. To promote the cancer care ministry, Stribling has information about it on the church website, www.ChristUMC-qc.org and in the church's monthly mailing, has posters about it in various locations in the church and even has flyers in some of the area physician offices. Her advice for people starting a cancer support ministry includes: |
