Pastoral Care is a shared responsibility of all the people: clergy and lay. This shared responsibility begins with awareness so that we can provide a continuing response to joy or sorrow, allowing the Church to walk with its members.

 

 

The Clergy Team

The Clergy Team, consisting of the Rev. Michael Cadaret and the Rev. Bo Millner, meets weekly to discuss those with expressed pastoral needs and to devise a schedule of appropriate contacts. The clergy share on-call duties and respond to crises as they arise, such as hospitalizations, deaths or relationship difficulties. They also prepare couples for marriage through a series of counseling sessions which utilize the Prepare/Enrich Premarital Inventory. Click here to go to the staff page and learn more about the clergy.

Times to Contact the Clergy

When you go into the hospital or desire pastoral care please do not rely on the "grapevine" to let the clergy know. Contact Michael Cadaret or Bo Millner directly so that they can be sure to be in touch.

 

Other times to contact the clergy include: when you are having relationship or marital problems, when you are having trouble discerning God’s will, when you want to talk about your prayer life, when you are contemplating a major life change (marriage, a move, retirement), when a baby is born, when you have good news to share or when you would just like to talk.

The Lay Pastoral Care Team

The Lay Pastoral Team takes the "big view" and ascertains what pastoral needs might be met through the formation of special groups, classes or activities. Contact the Rev. Bo Millner to learn more. You might also like to speak with the Vestry liaison to this Team, Sara Jo Williams.

The Lay Pastoral Visitors

  The Lay Pastoral Visitors are supervised by the Rev. Bo Millner and they make regular monthly contact with members who are no longer able to be as active as they once were. These visitors make personal visits, telephone calls, remember birthdays and celebrate other important holidays. They also check on their folks in the event of natural disasters. If you or someone you know might like to be visited through this program, please email Bo Millner.

The Shawl Ministry

The Shawl Ministry consists of a group of talented knitters who create beautiful blankets or shawls. These are brought to the altar to be blessed and then they are taken to members and friends of our parish. The shawls are accompanied by our prayers and allow the recipients to be surrounded by our love. If you are interested in this ministry, please contact Betsy Featherstone.

 

Volunteer Opportunity

The Lay Pastoral Care Team needs your help (see above for more on this Team). This Team has identified a need to provide rides to medical appointments and to the grocery store for some of our parishioners.  The Shepherd’s Center of Richmond, part of whose purpose is to provide such transportation, has agreed to coordinate these rides. (GHTC also supports the Center with grant money.)  Because the Center will specifically serve our parishioners, it is necessary for GHTC volunteers to sign up as drivers.  Presently there are 71 drivers volunteering for the Center.  One GHTC member has applied for a volunteer driver’s position.  More GHTC drivers are needed.  Please call Sally Yates Wood with questions.  You may contact the Center by e-mailing Julie Adams, the volunteer coordinator, or by calling 355-7282.

 

The Prayer Group

The Prayer Group is a group of people who volunteer to receive a prayer list from the church each week and commit to praying for all the people on the list each day (or as often as possible). The members of this group offer these prayers independently and in accordance with each intercessor’s schedule. Any name placed on this list is held in confidence. Intercessors may send notes or speak one-on-one to the people for whom they are praying, but information will not be shared further. If you are interested in being a member of the group, please e-mail Bo Millner.

Random Acts

Random Acts is a group which makes regular contact with those who are the primary caregivers for a loved one. Care giving can often be a lonely undertaking and it helps to know that others are grateful for those efforts.

Note Writing

Church note paper is kept at the back of the church so that anyone may pick up one and send a note to someone who was remembered in the Prayers of the People. This is a very powerful and effective way to extend our prayers.

 

Planning Your Funeral and Writing a Will

  To download an informative booklet to help you plan your funeral and write a will, please follow this link.

 

Meal Train – A Great Way to Deliver Meals to Those Who Need the Support

Friends going through a difficult or challenging time due to a birth, surgery, illness, etc., could use some help. Willing friends, neighbors, colleagues, and congregation members would love to meet this need, if they only knew what to do. An organized meal train gives them a way to show they care by cooking and taking a meal to a friend or family member. Meal Train is a free service and web site designed to help eliminate the confusion related to meal giving. No longer are questions like; What do they like? When are they available? What have they already had? left unanswered. Providing each giver this information helps simplify the process so they can focus on supporting others with meals.  Click here to go to the Meal Train web site.

How You Can Help with Pastoral Care

Even if you can't be part of one of the Teams, you have an important role in pastoral care. Some of the best pastoral care happens in informal ways. You can speak to the people around you in the pews on Sunday, get to know them and support them with your prayers and friendship. Also, every Team or Committee meeting at Grace and Holy Trinity Church can start with prayer and also with a time for "checking in." Checking in gives people a chance to share personal news, such as an up-coming wedding or the hospitalization of a family member. This kind of interpersonal caring and concern provides some of the best pastoral care there is and helps make us a strong church community.