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OPC Deacons Teams
Supported By:
OPC Session
Its Mission:
Service and
caregiving to the OPC community. To "minister to those who are in
need, to the sick, to the friendless, and to any who may be in
distress".
Who May Want To Join:
Members of the congregation, elected by the congregation to a 2-year
term. The office of deacon as set forth in Scripture is one of
sympathy, witness, and service after the example of Jesus Christ.
Persons of spiritual character, honest repute, exemplary lives,
brotherly and sisterly love, warm sympathies, and sound judgment
should be chosen for this office.
Activities:
According to the Book Of Order (G-6.0403): The deacons of a
particular church shall organize as a board, of which the pastor,
co-pastors, associate pastors, and assistant pastors shall be
advisory members. The board of deacons shall elect a moderator and a
secretary from among its members. The secretary shall keep a record
of the board's proceedings. Responsibilities: It is the duty of
deacons, first of all, to minister to those who are in need, to the
sick, to the friendless, and to any who may be in distress. They
shall assume such other duties as may be delegated to them from time
to time by the session. Descriptions follow below of several teams
supported by the Deacons.
Individual Ministry Opportunities:
There are
many ministry opportunities with the Deacons teams described below
and on the Board of Deacons itself there are opportunities to serve
as moderator, vice moderator, secretary, or team leader/member.
Meetings & Time Commitments:
Deacons meetings
are on the 1st Thursday of each month at 7:00 PM.
Deacons' Caregiving Teams
For information about a specific Deacons' activity click on a link
below:
Supported By:
Board of Deacons
Its Mission:
To expand our
caregiving to those in the OPC family who may need help with health
issues.
Who May Want To Join:
Those with
training as a doctor or nurse who would be willing to help.
Activities:
Provide blood pressure check
s to those wanting them during the Sunday School hour on Sunday
mornings. Help members get answers to medical or health questions.
Individual Ministry Opportunities:
Be in ministry to others needing
your help.
Supported By:
Board of Deacons
Its Mission:
Provide coffee in
the narthex and lemonade outside the kitchen downstairs between
Sunday morning worship services to foster fellowship and community.
Who May Want To Join:
Anyone who would like to serve the body of Christ in this way.
Activities:
The key Sunday morning activities are 1) coffee brewing, lemonade
preparation and setup (allowing about 45 minutes for coffee brewing)
before the end of the first worship service, 2) coffee and lemonade
serving and 3) cleanup. [In a joint effort with the Missions Team,
we use Equal Exchange Coffee
.]
Contact: Kendy
Moore
Supported By:
Board of Deacons
Its Mission:
Prepare the
elements for communion services (including homemade-bread
baking
).
Who May Want To Join:
Anyone who would like to serve the body of Christ in this way.
Individual Ministry Opportunities:
Setup and
cleanup for either service on Communion Sundays.
Congregational Care Team
Supported By:
Board of Deacons
Its Mission:
To assist any OPC
member who may need a card, visit, phone call, meal or other
assistance.
Activities:
Members are encouraged to place a card in the Care Connection Box in
the narthex if they know of any one who might need a
card, visit, phone call, meal or other assistance. A member of the
Deacons' Congregational Care Team will follow up. The box is locked
and all requests will be kept confidential.
Supported By:
Board of Deacons
Its Mission:
To help foster
closeness in the OPC “family” by sending “thinking of you” cards to
shut-ins or to those dealing with illness or grief or other crisis
in life.
Who May Want To Join:
Anyone who would enjoy writing greeting cards in this important
caregiving activity.
Supported By:
Board of Deacons
Its Mission:
To support other
groups at OPC using our kitchen facilities.
Individual Ministry Opportunities:
Please
contact us if you would like to help in maintaining kitchen
equipment or training people in how to use the dishwasher
or
providing on-call help with kitchen issues.
Contact: Doug
Howell
Doug Howell
Supported By:
Board of Deacons
Its Mission:
To serve meals
after funerals to families and friends when requested by the family.
This includes set up of the fellowship hall, preparation of
beverages, setting out of food, serving the meal and clean up.
Who May Want To Join:
Anyone who is interested in providing comfort and support for
families who have lost a loved one. Our team includes those who are
retired or homemakers who help with funerals that are on weekdays
and some employed who are able to help with a Saturday funeral.
Activities:
Funerals have their own schedule. This team goes into action when
needed, usually on short two- to three-day notice. We are usually
only needed two to three times quarterly.
Individual Ministry Opportunities:
We will
gladly take any help. If anyone wants to take on the shopping for
supplies or desserts, or washing linens after the meal, it will be
appreciated.
Meetings & Time Commitments:
This team goes
into action when needed, as funerals are not predictable. Your name
will be placed on a call list and when there is a need, you will be
contacted. Usually three to six team members are needed at any one
time, so the work is spread out over a number of people. We do not
meet as a whole group.
Supported By:
Stephen Ministry
and Board of Deacons
Its Mission:
To help those who
have lost their mate find support in their grief and adjustments to
a life without the mate.
Who May Want To Join:
Anyone who has lost their spouse - whether recent or not so recent.
Individual Ministry Opportunities:
Those who
have experienced the loss of a spouse and can minister with an
empathetic ear to those grieving the recent loss of their mate.
Meetings & Time Commitments:
2nd
and 4th Saturdays at 1:00 PM at OPC.
Contact:
Cindy Vey
Supported By:
Board of Deacons
Its Mission:
Ease the daily
burden of those who are dealing with difficult times by providing
heartfelt meals.
Who May Want To Join:
Those with a desire to cook and serve others in need.
Meetings & Time Commitments:
There are no team
meetings. The time commitment depends upon the individual. Once they
accept the request to provide a meal, time is solely dependent on
how long it takes to make and deliver the meal. Requests for meals
are infrequent in nature and impossible to predict. With having more
people involved, we are able to spread out the requests throughout
the year.
Supported By:
Board of Deacons
Its Mission:
To call members who have not been attending worship services to let
them know we are concerned.
Activities: Members of this team are appointed by
the Board of Deacons and receive 1½ hours of "calling inactives"
training. They call those members who have not signed in (on the pew
registry books) for six consecutive weeks or more. The primary goal
is to show that our church truly cares for all of our members,
especially those we have not been seeing in worship services for
some time. Inactive members having a serious issue with a church
leader or staff person are encouraged to discuss it first with that
person, and then, if the issue is not resolved, to discuss it with a
member of the Personnel Committee or other member of session as
appropriate.
Contact: Ken Mozingo
Supported By: OPC Session
Its Mission: To add to and maintain the repository of
historical documents, pictures and recordings of significant
events/people in the life of Oswego Presbyterian Church.
Individual Ministry Opportunities: Assist in collecting items
for the historical archive. Assist in searching for and presenting
historical information in support of special OPC
anniversary/celebration events.
Contact:
Ken Mozingo
Supported By:
Board of Deacons
Its Mission:
To help foster
closeness in the OPC “family” by recognizing important events in our
families such as the birth of a child or a marriage or the loss of a
dear one.
Who May Want To Join:
Anyone who would like to help the Deacons in this service function.
Activities:
To acknowledge an event, a rose is placed up front in the sanctuary
and an explanatory note is put in the bulletin.
Meetings & Time Commitments:
No meetings. Time
would be required to get the information about an event, send the
church office a draft of the note to go in the bulletin, and obtain
and position the rose in the sanctuary.
Contact:
Bill Grove
Supported By: Board of Deacons
Its Mission: Stephen Ministry is a lay caring ministry
in which one person reaches out to another during a time of need or
crisis, offering encouragement and friendship in an ongoing helping
relationship.
Who May Want To Join: A Stephen minister is trained to be
an encourager, a listener, a confidential "special friend," to
someone who may be experiencing any number of life's trials or
crises. A Stephen minister should be someone who cares about others,
one who has a heart for people and is compassionate and empathic and
who, of course, has the time to commit to an extensive training
program and a very worthwhile ministry.
Activities: Lay caregivers called Stephen Ministers
provide one-to-one Christian care to the bereaved, hospitalized,
terminally ill, separated, divorced, unemployed, relocated, and
others facing a crisis or life challenge. Stephen Ministry does not
replace the visitations by the pastors, but supplements and helps
pastors enhance the church’s caring ministry. To date, about
60 of us have received this training since it was started at OPC.
Each annual class consists of between 5 and 15 members. The training
includes classes on listening, feelings, confidentiality and
assertiveness, and specific situations such as grief, death and
dying, illness, depression, divorce and ministering to the elderly
or shut-ins.
Click here for a picture of the 2009/2010 Stephen Ministry class
commissioned on March 21, 2009.
Individual Ministry Opportunities: Stephen Ministry
will bring many blessings into your life including 1) growing in the
understanding of your own Christian calling, 2) knowing that you are
a vital part of the body of Christ and are fulfilling the
commandment of Jesus to "love one another" and 3) finding that the
skills you receive in the training are applicable in your everyday
life as well as in the lay caring ministry.
Meetings & Time Commitments: A 2-year initial commitment,
beginning in late September, is necessary. This will include the
50-hour training course over five months of weekly classes and two
overnight retreats. After commissioning, you will be asked to attend
a support team meeting each month and, most importantly of course, you
will be expected to make weekly visits in ministry with an assigned
care receiver. This is a substantial commitment of time and
effort, but it could be one of your most fulfilling commitments.
Please contact us if you think you may be interested in enrolling in
the 2010/2011 class we expect to start in September.
Contact:
Kathy Mozingo
Supported By:
Board of Deacons
Its Mission:
Provide
opportunities, especially for newer members, to get to know others
in the congregation.
Who May Want To Join:
Any adults, singles or couples, who would like to share “supper” in
someone’s home with a group, typically 6 to 8 people.
Activities:
There is a separate clipboard signup each month for that month’s
supper night date for you, or you and your spouse, to bring a dish
to share to the host’s home for supper and fellowship.
Individual Ministry Opportunities:
There is a
space to check (on the clipboard signup sheet) if you would like to
be a host for a group in your home. Also, please contact us if you
would like to help coordinate supper nights in the future.
Contact:
Kathy Mozingo
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