This is what we do - we have a fairly large church and have a Care Ministry that over sees the different needs of our Grace Church family.
I have a FABULOUS TEAM of 20 volunteers that consist of Makers and Senders. All are volunteer and most use their own supplies. The makers, make the cards and fill our file cabinet at church. The senders will write notes of encouragement and send them out. Both the makers and the senders pray for over the cards as they make them or send them out.
As a team, we send out approximately 200 cards a month. I send out a weekly and monthly report.
The weekly report is based from the church office - which come from the prayer needs and more of immediate needs of our Grace Church family. On the weekly assignments, I include a short devotional and I include a brief summary of what the person is going through (death, illness, hospitalization, birth, etc.) and the person's name. Those who serve in the military are included on that list too. I "assign" the names to our card senders and they then send cards out according to what they have gone over.
We have a church directory that has everyone's address and phone numbers. All information is kept confidential. Each card will include a Scripture and a note of encouragement based on their specific needs. We pray over the cards that we send out too.
Our monthly reports will have a devotional as well. This report will include staff encouragement, long term illnesses, people going through cancer treatments, Caregivers of special needs family members, people who have a chronic illnesses or who need more encouragement, Homebound,
Bereavement - we send out cards when people first lose a loved one, then send "thinking of you" type cards at 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, a year and Christmas.
Our team gathers a few times a year for different events. I will plan special projects for us to work on. Every year we make around 125 Thanksgiving cards. These cards go to anyone who works within the Care Ministry at our church. We also make around 125 Christmas cards for those who have lost loved ones over the years.
This year we made special Hospital Binders for our Hospital/ Homeboung Visitation Team. This is a binder filled with Scriptures - we decorated with stamps. We made 140 of these this year. I will make another one and share pictures of it for you to see.
That is not everything I do - most of it is the LORD working through me, stretching me, molding me and changing me. That is probably the hardest part! LOL
If you have any other questions, please let me know!
Psalm 73:26 (New King James Version) My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Our church's website is www.graceinracine.com . Our pastor has been doing a WONDERFUL series on MORE than CONQUERORS in the book of Joshua. All messages are on the website. If you are going through a difficult time, I would encourage you to listen to them!
Have a nice weekend!
7 comments:
Oh, my goodness...that is quite the ministry you have. It sounds absolutely wonderful! May God bless your ministry and the people that help as well as those who are encouraged by it!
I loved what you are doing! This is wonderful! I only make cards when I have a specific person in mind, too.
Blessings on being a blessing to others like you do!
it's a great thing you are doing by sending out the cards - you might consider using Send Out Cards the cost per card is much lower then purchasing at the a store you can personalize, upload pictures it is really a great system. It could also be used as a fundraiser.
What a wonderful ministry to be a part of! You keep up the good work.
What a fantasit ministry Chrissy. Sounds like you keep very busy. This is exactly what I would like to begin in our church. "Thank you for giving to the Lord"
Holy cow! What a job! I am starring this post because I sooo want to do this!
Wow! Your card ministry is amazing! It sounds enormous! What an awesome encouragement your team must provide for your church! Thank you for posting this to answer our questions!
It sounds like your stampers do their stamping individually on their own schedules...I'm hoping, at least at first, to get ours together not only to teach them how to stamp, but also for fellowship and a devotional. Hopefully I'll end up with enough that we can birth more than one group eventually! Thanks again for sharing!
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