The Volunteer Effect

Dave Hall, PAOC Alberta District Office, wrote the following article on an @Midpark Church area of service. In 2005 Randy Johnson, Sheila Muirhead and myself committed ourselves to address the need to, a) provide a truly effective support system in the local church, b) train volunteers to rise to the level of competency, and c) enmesh the ministry into @Midpark's Mission Statement.
After meetings and presentations to the @Midpark leadership, plans got under way. Today under the leadership of Danell McSween, Jacqueline Mueller, Susan Tam and Derek Sheahan @Midpark's CareNet ministry has benefitted countless people both inside and outside the congregation. CarNet has also make inroads to a host of various organizations and community resources creating true partnerships.

Much thanks goes to a movement of volunteers of 50 plus who have engaged in a Missional Christianity.

By Dave Hall

As I meet with our District Credential Holders and go to the places they minister, I often hear some great ideas for ministry in local churches and their communities. After hearing some of these ideas, I have often thought, “I wish I’d heard of that when I was pastoring. That’s a great ministry plan!” Over the past 3 plus years of hearing about great ministries that our District churches and ministries are doing, I have decided to share some of them in our District Update as a regular feature. As you read them, you might just catch something that you can do in your sphere of God’s Kingdom. It may not be exactly what is being reported but you may begin to see something you had never thought of before. So in this regular feature, if a seed gets planted in your mind, my prayer is that it will grow to be a blessing wherever you minister.

In this first feature, here is an idea for providing care in the local Church and community. Derek Sheahan is on the Pastoral team at Midpark Christian Assembly in Calgary with Lee Primeau. Here is a brief description from Derek on “CareNet”…

CareNet
CareNet is a support ministry aimed at meeting practical and spiritual needs of people at Midpark and beyond. It is a network that links one person’s gifting to another’s need. In its most basic definition, CareNet facilitates CARE.

CareNet is a community of people who demonstrate compassion, caring and serving. There are two main roles -- the first is the practical response to and care of those in need. We commit to provide an unconditional caring response to the emotionally distraught, the struggling, the lonely, the shut-ins, the sick and the dying. The second is to establish partnerships with external resources to more efficiently and productively care for those in need.

As CareNet has grown, we have implemented different teams to accommodate the regular patterns of need we have seen. The teams are:
PrayerNet: they are the prayer chain team and also are the ones we call upon in church services if prayer is needed for individuals.
MMM-Midpark Meals Ministry: this team regularly meets to cook and stock our freezer so we can give food to families in need for all occasions.
Emergency Meals Team: this team is called if we have funerals or last minute food needs
Transportation Team: this team is called if people are needing rides to church, hospital, doctors, etc....
Moving Team: this team is called upon if someone in the community is moving and needs helpers or trucks.
Miscellaneous Team: this team covers all the rest of the requests from helping someone fix a household item, to donating furniture, to whatever comes our way...no need is rejected.

In addition to these teams, CareNet oversees our support groups which are now GriefShare, Divorce Care, Surviving the Holidays, Anger Management, Dealing with Depression, Caregivers of Alzheimer/Dementia, A Trusted Friend (a facilitators course), Financial Management. Benevolence, HomeStart, and OIL (operating in love) are also under our CareNet umbrella.

Not every need can be met in-house, and so CareNet has endeavored to partner with other ministries and resources outside our church. We have a vast array of resources that we can direct for individuals from counselors, to financial aid, to shelters, to medical assistance. No need is refused.

We believe CareNet represents what the church is already supposed to be doing... making an impact in people’s lives for the kingdom of God and His glory.