Caring Ministries
Caring Ministries are a vital part of St. Martin’s mission to welcome, heal, nurture, and serve. Service requests are made to Jan Sanders or the ministers by calling: 530-756-0444,
M-F, 9AM to 5PM, or emailing : info@churchofstmartin.org.
Eucharistic Visitors: St Martin’s is fortunate to have a small group of faithful people who are designated Eucharistic Visitors. These people are specially trained to take the communion elements (bread and wine) from the service of Holy Table to those who are unable to attend the regular services. They are charged and sent out at the end of the service to deliver the sacrament. This is an important caring ministry and provides a link between the congregation gathered for worship and those who cannot, for reasons of health, be present.
Healing Ministry (“the laying on of hands”): are trained St. Martin’s volunteers that gently place their hands on your head, their arms around your shoulders, and ask Jesus to pray with you. They draw a cross with warm oil on your forehead and surround you with prayer. Their goal is spiritually to have you feel the warmth, love and comfort that Jesus promised. The healing prayer stations are available during the services on the right side of the altar for people that need healing or comfort for themselves or those they love. We can’t convey in words how powerful this feels, and the electricity is lasting. (To become a healing minister, please contact Rev. Mark Allen)
Quiet Days: are actually ~six hours of a powerful connection to God enclosed in quiet, contemplation, prayer and resuscitation from a busy world. These are casual and held approximately twice a year in a parishioner’s home. There is usually a shared bag lunch that is social to bring you back to the world. 10 to 12 people are ideal. These are refreshing to the mind, body, heart and soul. Watch the Bulletin for announcements.
Helping Hands: are St. Martin’s extraordinary chefs. They bring dinners complete with a decadent dessert to your home, at your convenience in the worst of times, and when you you’d like some good food to celebrate the best of times. The chefs prepare food for different St. Martin events too. There is a limit of 10 nights of dinners; however, this is negotiable. Dinner can also be arranged for every other night. If you’d like the chefs company at dinner too, please make that request. “Thinking of you” baskets of cookies are also available. All information related to this service is confidential. (To become a chef, email slfilby@sbcglobal.net or call: 756-8524) Chair: Sandy Filby.
Intercessory Prayers: Would you like us to pray for you? Or for someone you care and worry about? There are twenty of us and we pray daily for people who have requested prayers. Any information given us is kept absolutely confidential, and all we need is a name, although it is helpful to know the nature of the problem – whether it is an illness, work problems, family problems, safety during travel, or the like. We enjoy giving praise and thanksgiving when they are due! For prayers, please call Rosie McFerran at 756-3487 or email her at rosemond.mcferran@sbcglobal.net. Also contact Rosie to join the prayer chain.
Holy Rollers: When you just can’t get to church, these volunteers are happy to give you a warm smile and a ride.
Chair: Adam Russ mr.russ@math.com
Worship Services Tapes: are made and delivered to homebound parishioners.
Chair: Dick Walters.
Order of St. Luke: The Order of St. Luke is an international Christian order premised on the understanding that “healing is an ongoing, lifelong process of growing into the wholeness that God wills for all of us.” (Sharing: A Journal of Christian Healing, October 2007, p. 13). At St. Martin’s, our OSL chapter meets 1-2 times a month to engage in a biblically-based healing ministry study series. Participation in these meetings is a wonderful way to help parishioners discern whether they feel a call to join OSL and/or a call to participate in the healing ministry at St. Martin’s. For more information about OSL, contact Margaret Grayden (mgrayden@cal.net). Participation in the healing ministry at St. Martin’s as a commissioned healing minister involves a separate process. The first step in this process is meeting with our rector and OSL Chaplain, Rev. Mark Allen (mark@churchofstmartin.org).
Stephen Ministry is our congregation’s one-to-one caregiving ministry.
God works through Stephen Ministers to plant a seed of hope and healing in a person whose life seems barren and forlorn because of some crisis or tragedy. Stephen Ministers listen, pray, explore feelings, share Christ’s love, maintain confidentiality, attend to the caregiving process, and leave the results to God. Stephen Ministers care for people who are grieving, in a crisis, in need of long-term care, dying, hospitalized, divorcing, experiencing losses as they age, going through a crisis of childbirth, or the family and friends of people in crisis.
