The Congregational Care Ministry is divided into three different ministries: Stephen Ministry, Hospital Ministry Team, and Parish Nursing
Stephen Ministry Stephen Ministry has been a program in our congregation since 1982. It enables lay persons to provide distinctively Christian one-on-one care to those who need the care of a Stephen Minister in our congregation and community.
The Stephen Ministers training has began a new class to learn skills in Listening, Feelings, Spiritual Care, Aging, Grief, and Divorce. This training equips Stephen Ministers to discern and empathize with people facing a crisis. In today’s difficult times, many people are experiencing job loss, financial problems, illness, divorce, and much more. Stephen Ministers are available to become “intentional friends” to those needing a good friend with confidence. Call the church office at 961-1254 or Lary Iwanowski at 960-3232.
Hospital Ministry
The Hospital Ministry Team visits those hospitalized and in rehab centers. New team members are needed at all times, please contact Jeanette Abbott at the church office (813) 961-1254 ext. 280 or jabbott@lmumc.org. You can sign up for a time that best fits your schedule. Anyone with a caring, compassionate heart is encouraged to participate!
Hospitals in the Tampa Bay area to visit include:
Memorial Hospital
Moffitt
St. Joseph's Hospital
St. Joseph's Hospital- North
Tampa General Hospital
Town & Country
University Community Hospital-Carrollwood
University Community Hospital-Fletcher
VA Hospital
Parish Nursing
The parish nurse, in collaboration with the pastoral staff and congregants, participates in the ongoing transformation of the faith community into a source of health and healing. Through partnership with other community health resources, parish nursing fosters new and creative responses to health and wellness concerns.
Parish Nurse Ministry offers blood pressure readings every 2nd & 4th Sundays from 9:00-9:30 a.m. & 10:30-11:00 a.m., in the reception area of the CEC building. Parish Nurse Wellness Council Meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of each month.
Parish nursing is a specialty practice and professional model of health ministry distinguished by the following beliefs:
The parish nurse role reclaims the historic roots of health and healing found in many religious traditions. Parish nurses live out the early work of monks, nuns, deacons and deaconesses, church nurses, traditional healers and the nursing profession itself.
The spiritual dimension is central to parish nursing practice. Personal spiritual formation is essential for the parish nurse. The practice holds that all persons are sacred and must be treated with respect and dignity. Compelled by these beliefs the parish nurse serves, advocating with compassion, mercy and justice. The parish nurse assists and supports individuals, families, and communities in becoming more active partners in the stewardship of personal and communal health resources.
The parish nurse understands health to be a dynamic process, which embodies the spiritual, psychological, physical, and social dimensions of the person. Spiritual health is central to well being and influences a person's entire being. A sense of well being can exist in the presence of disease, and healing can exist in absence of cure. Gloria Ciani is the Parish Nurse for Lake Magdalene United Methodist Church. You may contact her at gciani@lmumc.org.
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