|
|
Churches gather for lay ministry trainingNovember 11, 2005
In the last two weekends of October and the first weekend of November 2005, 11 churches in two states sent representatives to lay ministry training provided by Pastoral Care staff of Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Southwestern Regional Medical Center in Tulsa through the organization?s spiritual outreach, Our Journey of HopeŽ.
?I think I?ve learned what a cancer patient is going through, the challenges they face and also about the differences in cells and the stages of cancer,? Katrina Hubbard from Rhema Bible Church in Broken Arrow, said. ?As a prayer warrior, this helps me know how to pray more specifically. It gives me a greater knowledge.? Lynn Archibald, director of Stephens Ministry at First United Methodist Church of Broken Arrow, stated, ?I thought the training was very thorough and informative and all the speakers were excellent. Stephen Ministers are described as lay caring Christians that walk alongside someone as they are dealing with one of life's many challenges or struggles. We study different modules such as ministering to those suffering from depression, to those who are hospitalized, those suffering from grief ? but do not have a module specifically for ministering to those dealing with cancer. So, the Our Journey of Hope training took us that step further to help us with specifics when dealing with someone who is battling cancer. The training was a wonderful enhancement to what we learn in Stephen Ministry.?
In Tacoma, Washington, representatives of six churches in the South Puget Sound region attended lay ministry training at Our Savior Lutheran Church on Nov. 5. Linda Woerman, member of Our Savior Lutheran, shared, ?This lay ministry training is a hand-in-glove kind of thing with Stephen?s Ministry training, even down to doing the responses on the communication exercise. It?s a good complement to that. I came away feeling I could talk more intelligently with a cancer patient on the different kinds of cancer, that I had enough statistics to show that this is where the population is moving, and that the focus needs to be compassionate care for the patient and not just what the industry needs. I?m more equipped, through the training, to deal with congregational cancer needs as well as needs in the workplace.? Our Journey of HopeŽ provides the eight hours of lay ministry training free to churches throughout the United States. Various speakers, including nurse educators, naturopathic practitioners, a cancer survivor and Pastoral Care staff, share information covering such topics as the importance of reaching out to cancer patients and their families and of caring for the whole person and not just the cancer, what cancer is, hospital visitation, special needs of cancer patients and how to minister to those, creative care tips, responses to life-threatening illnesses, the differences between empowerers, rescuers and enablers, communication helps, prevention and cancer resources. As a follow-up to the training, Our Journey of HopeŽ will be providing evening seminars on cancer-related topics at some of the participating churches in the near future. These seminars will be open to the public. To find out more about lay ministry training and how to schedule it at your church, call Our Journey of HopeŽ at 1-888-399-8126. |
In October, representatives of four churches belonging to the Broken Arrow Ministerial Alliance attended training sessions at Heritage United Methodist Church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, to help them become more effective in ministry to cancer patients and their families.
Shane Hickey, pastor of Fellowship Christian Church and president of the Broken Arrow Ministerial Alliance, commented, ?I appreciate Lyn, Mike and the others for the wonderful presentation. I heard nothing but good things.?
