Congregational Life
Ministry Team minutes
Last meeting: Jan. 8, 2008
Attendees:
Ellen Evensen
Elizabeth Hensel
Deni Lundwall
Staff:
Karen Herbrich
Jean Monson
Guest: Pastor Dismer
Excused: Emilie Larson
Jean Wuethrich
Margaret Zweig
Important items of information:
Member care 2008 and 2009
Pastor Dismer joined
Congregational Life tonight to review the Congregational Life goal of having
Stephen’s Ministry in place at FELC. Ellen shared the history of the past task
force and her history and Congregational Life’s history with Stephen’s Ministry. Discussion took place on what needs to take
place in 2008 to set the groundwork for ultimately having trained Stephen’s
Ministers.
Questions were asked with
the idea that these will be expanded upon next month.
Next month (Feb. 2008
meeting) will be spent brainstorming around these four key highlights. A rough
draft of a timeline will be created to move from where FELC is now, to 2009,
when more people are engaged in member care so Stephen’s Ministry can become a
reality.
At some point in the near
future, Congregational Growth and Congregational Life should meet to discuss recruiting
and training more welcome hosts.
Health ministry update
Karen shared the work of the
health ministry subgroup around the new parent and young child emphasis:
Program
goals:
Offer health education, support and guidance for the
physical, emotional and spiritual needs of new parents and young families.
Present spiritually-inspired parenting techniques to foster
growth in family unity and faith.
Unite the physical and spiritual aspects of health
issues to create whole-family wellness.
Create a setting in which optimal sharing can occur
between experienced and inexperienced parents, ultimately fostering a mutually-supportive
network.
Provide an outlet for refreshing and re-educating
grandparents in the most current child-health and child-rearing techniques.
Initial program objectives:
Identify pregnant and or new parents through
individual referral, hospital reports, list of newly baptized, etc.
Establish a base agenda for new parent home visits:
Review physical health and care
of baby.
Review physical
health of mother, if recent delivery.
Assess for post-partum
depression, when appropriate.
Discuss breast-feeding, when
appropriate.
Deliver a “care package”
containing items such as a prayer shawl, devotional for new parents, baby care
items, meal vouchers from congregation members willing to make and deliver
meals, or vouchers from “Dinner Helper”
Pray together and invite further
contact, community referrals as appropriate, etc.
Invite to FELC support group.
Establish ongoing support group or support network
for moms, dads, and/or one for couples, including grandparents.
These support groups could be launched initially with
a series of 4 to 6 classes on topics of child care and development, parenting
and emotional/ spiritual needs of new parents and young children.
Classes should include plenty of bonding time between
members, so that they might continue to meet as a support group.
Create several mini-series of classes designed in stages
appropriate for different ages of children: a series for newborns, toddlers,
early elementary, teens, etc., allowing participants to attend multiple times
at several different stages as their families and children grow. Hopefully,
over the years, bonds will continue to grow between members.
This third objective should
be done in coordination with the education committee and possibly membership
and fellowship committees … others?
New members
Elizabeth agreed to make
phone calls to recruit possible new members. Visit in February with terms
beginning in March. Next month is Ellen’s last meeting. A new chair will need
to be determined.
Chili cook-off
Deni Lundwall agreed to
coordinate a booth on behalf of Congregational Life. Team will discuss in more
detail next month.
2008 meeting schedule - 6:30 p.m.:
Downtown Site
·
Feb. 12
·
March 11
·
April 8
·
May 13
·
June 10
·
No July meeting
North Site
Submitted by:
Jean Monson