The Concise Guide for Congregational Care

The Concise Guide for Congregational Care

Author: Melissa Collier Gepford

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Published: 2022-04-05

Total Pages: 69

ISBN-13: 1791024114

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THE RIGHT WORDS FOR EVERY SITUATION, AT YOUR FINGERTIPS. Pastors and congregational care ministers of all kinds must offer the right words and presence in any place, at a moment’s notice: Words of scripture offering comfort, encouragement, and wisdom. Words of truth providing accurate information. Words of prayer offering connection with God. And a calm, capable, attentive presence. The Concise Guide for Congregational Care is the tool for the task. This easy-to-use book provides words of scripture and prayer, along with important information to share with people in hospitals, care centers, and homes. The full texts of scripture, poetry, and prayers are included, so there’s no more flipping back and forth in your Bible or other books. The small size makes the book easy to carry in your bag or pocket, and appropriate to use in the most intimate settings and sacred moments. Part 1 offers quick reminders of the foundations for care, including key points on theology, boundaries, procedures, and the use of technology. Part 2 provides scriptures, prayers, and other relevant words for times of crisis and events or situations during which people need care. It is organized by situation, including addiction, anxiety, cancer, COVID-19, death, depression, divorce, infertility, sexual assault, and suicide. Part 3 equips you to be a meaningful spiritual guide in important moments beyond crisis care. These include adoption, blessing of a home, graduation, retirement, and many other transitions, milestones, and seasons of life. This section includes words of scripture and prayer for each situation, plus instructions for conducting a simple service of anointment. Melissa Gepford is an ordained deacon in The United Methodist Church and serves as the Intergenerational Discipleship Coordinator for the Great Plains Conference, UMC. She launched Caring Congregation Ministries at churches in Kansas and Nebraska, and is an organizational consultant for The Caring Congregation, which strives to create excellence in church care ministry across the United States. Contributors Laura Berg and Joy Dister-Dominguez provided original prayer texts and helped to shape the scripture selections for this book. Laura Berg is an ordained deacon in full connection in the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. She has served as a minister of congregational care, hospice chaplain, and chaplain for the fire & police departments of New Smyrna Beach, FL. She co-established a congregational care ministry in her church and has worked with leaders and laity in churches across the U.S. to develop care ministries for their communities. Joy Dister-Dominguez serves as associate pastor at Arlington Heights United Methodist Church in Ft. Worth, TX, where she oversees congregational care and discipleship and preaches regularly. Joy is an elder in full connection in the United Methodist Church. She is an ICF trained coach and uses those skills to guide leaders and congregations in creating strong, sustainable ministries of care.


The Caring Congregation Ministry Implementation Guide

The Caring Congregation Ministry Implementation Guide

Author: Karen Lampe

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Published: 2021-05-04

Total Pages: 155

ISBN-13: 1791013392

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Pastors and church leaders genuinely want to care for people in their congregations and communities. But pastors cannot care for an entire church, and most laypersons don't have the training to do it. The Caring Congregation Ministry is a model for person-to-person care that's been proven to work in small and large churches across the U.S. It is a laity-centered ministry, where laypersons receive rigorous training and then are commissioned to serve as Congregational Care Ministers, caring for others in their own congregation and their extended community. This remarkable approach to congregational care was first developed by author Karen Lampe and her team at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, in Kansas City. It has been tested, refined, and strengthened, and is now being adapted in all sorts of congregational settings. One early adapter was co-author Melissa Gepford, who launched a Caring Congregation Ministry in her own rural church. Together, they have created this immensely practical guide for any pastor or leader seeking to create a congregational care ministry. This Implementation Guide is the main book for getting started. It introduces the ministry model and explains the Five Essentials which form the ministry's foundation. It is extremely practical, full of checklists and other tools to help pastors and other leaders understand (and explain) this way of providing congregational care. The Implementation Guide also includes a section focused on the crucial component of this ministry–the Congregational Care Minister, or CCM. This section fully describes the characteristics of CCM's, how to recruit people to this ministry, how to discern if candidates are a good fit, and how to conduct the CCM training over a multi-week period. It details the critical information CCM's must know, and the behaviors and habits they must practice in order to be effective. Note that the companion book, The Caring Congregation Ministry: Care Minister's Manual, is required for the CCM training. It serves as a training workbook, which then becomes the CCM's personal reference manual.


Listening & Caring Skills

Listening & Caring Skills

Author: John Savage

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Published: 2010-09-01

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 1426723172

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The secret to leadership and transformation of a group--or of another person--is the quality of the relationship one person has with another. The effective group leader or counselor will be the person who learns how to listen to other people. By studying and employing listening skills, church leaders will engage others more compassionately, allowing them to feel that their needs are being met. These skills can be used with persons who are terminally ill, inactive at church, going through a divorce, in a family with a severely ill person, unemployed, seeking a new church, grieving, traumatized by catastrophe, going through teenage adolescence, in marriage counseling, or leading a ministry team. John Savage offers eleven specific and teachable listening skills for improving relationships among those who do ministry in small-group settings or when offering counsel to others. The skills are taught through oral exercises and unfailingly helpful examples from actual congregational situations. The skills include paraphrasing, productive questions, perception check, expression of feelings and emotions, fogging, negative inquiry, behavior description, and story listening.


The Caring Congregation Ministry

The Caring Congregation Ministry

Author: Karen Lampe

Publisher:

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 9781791013400

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The Care Minister's Manual is the personal training workbook and reference guide for Congregational Care Ministers (CCM's), who serve a central role in the Caring Congregation Ministry. CCM's receive in-depth training, where they learn the theological foundations of congregational care, plus the behaviors, habits, and practices they will need to follow in order to serve others well. Each CCM-in-training should have a copy of this Manual. It serves as their training workbook, which then becomes the CCM's personal reference guide. The Caring Congregation Ministry is a model for congregational care that's been proven to work in small and large churches across the U.S. It is a laity-centered ministry, where laypersons receive training and then are commissioned to serve as Congregational Care Ministers or CCM's, caring for the people in their congregation and community. The Caring Congregation Ministry: Implementation Guide is the main book for pastors and other leaders seeking to build, launch, and sustain a Caring Congregation Ministry in their church.


The Concise Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling

The Concise Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling

Author: Glenn H. Asquith JR.

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Published: 2010-09-01

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1426720106

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The Concise Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling is a condensed version of the Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling, first published in 1990, with new and updated articles. This book provides classic and key articles that explain current theories, trends, and practices in the field of Pastoral Care and Counseling. Contents include: Definitions; History and Biography; Issues of Power and Difference; Interfaith Issues and Methods; Clinical Method; and Pastoral Theological Method.


Crisis Counseling

Crisis Counseling

Author: Howard W. Stone

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published:

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13: 9781451409789

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Crisis Counseling is written for persons who seek to provide such assistance, whether as ministers or hotline volunteers or pastoral counselor.


Made to Lead

Made to Lead

Author: Nicole Massie Martin

Publisher: Chalice Press

Published: 2016-07-12

Total Pages: 108

ISBN-13: 0827223684

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Women were made to lead. Even in church. Jesus affirmed women as leaders-many contend Mary Magdalene was the first female minister. Yet women in ministry face challenges and obstacles, both from churches and from their own self-doubts. Both men and women miss out when women don't lead. Made to Lead empowers you to live out your calling boldly and confidently. Draw closer to God with relevant biblical examples and heart-felt prayers. Break down stereotypes of women in leadership. And create your own successful reality in which you are a key part of God's holy community.


Encyclopedia of Ephemera

Encyclopedia of Ephemera

Author: Michael Twyman

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-10-24

Total Pages: 1322

ISBN-13: 113678778X

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The joy of finding an old box in the attic filled with postcards, invitations, theater programs, laundry lists, and pay stubs is discovering the stories hidden within them. The paper trails of our lives -- or ephemera -- may hold sentimental value, reminding us of great grandparents. They chronicle social history. They can be valuable as collectibles or antiques. But the greatest pleasure is that these ordinary documents can reconstruct with uncanny immediacy the drama of day-to-day life. The Encyclopedia of Ephemera is the first work of its kind, providing an unparalleled sourcebook with over 400 entries that cover all aspects of everyday documents and artifacts, from bookmarks to birth certificates to lighthouse dues papers. Continuing a tradition that started in the Victorian era, when disposable paper items such as trade cards, die-cuts and greeting cards were accumulated to paste into scrap books, expert Maurice Rickards has compiled an enormous range of paper collectibles from the obscure to the commonplace. His artifacts come from around the world and include such throw-away items as cigarette packs and crate labels as well as the ubiquitous faxes, parking tickets, and phone cards of daily life. As this major new reference shows, simple slips of paper can speak volumes about status, taste, customs, and taboos, revealing the very roots of popular culture.


Pastoral Care of Alcohol Abusers

Pastoral Care of Alcohol Abusers

Author: Andrew J. Weaver

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780800662615

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Over 120 million American teens and adults use alcohol at one time or another. While in most situations these individuals are able to use it responsible and with moderation, no one is immune to its destructive use. Many drinkers find that their otherwise responsible use turns problematic and abusive when faced with depression, trauma, grief, undue social pressures, or other tempting and potentially addictive behaviors. Not all of these people become full-fledged alcoholics, but they do develop an alcohol problem that needs careful and sensitive pastoral care to understand better the underlying issues for their alcohol abuse. In Pastoral Care of Alcohol Abusers, Andrew Weaver and Harold Koenig provide five case studies that illustrate common situations in which individuals may come to be at risk for alcohol abuse, and assist clergy and other pastoral counselors who need to develop competence in recognizing such problems, including alcoholism. The book also offers valuable information on identifying when to make referrals, helping persons to find available community resources, and training congregational members to provide support to affected individuals and families. Book jacket.