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St. Michael’s Episcopal Church
2140 Mission Avenue
Carmichael, CA 95608
ph: (916) 488-3550
fx: (916) 488-3564
st.michaels@sbcglobal.net

Pastoral Partners

2007 Annual Report

The Pastoral Partners Ministry has been in existence at St. Michael's since 2003.  We have been in transition this year since the departure of Pastor Dori in the fall of 2006.  This year we have had 20 functioning Pastoral Partners who have been able to serve only about 65% of the congregation.  We are searching for more Pastoral Partners to replace those who have left the ministry and also to meet the needs of a growing congregation. Pastoral Partners is a program developed to foster a parish ethos of sharing and caring.  Pastoral Partners are assigned a group of families or individuals in the congregation.  The responsibility of a Pastoral Partner is to stay in contact with his or her cluster and to pray for the assigned members.  Contact may be at church, or an occasional phone call, note or card.  Pastoral Partners provide care and support through staying aware of issues that might need the involvement of one of our ministries or clergy.  

This year we have had three group meetings (offered two times each) and one group training day.  During one of those meetings I offered to serve as liaison or contact person.

We are fortunate now to have Mary Ellen Ferguson as our Lay Assistant.  She met with us at two of our group meetings last fall in which we discussed the needs and concerns of the group.  Our rector, Pastor Mary Hauck, conducted individual conversations with each partner early in the year.  We also now have a lay chaplain, Cindi Keller.

Future plans include a half-day retreat at the Mercy Retreat Center in Auburn in early February, 2008, for comradeship, training and planning.  Current and prospective Pastoral Partners are invited to attend.

Submitted by: Elizabeth Null, Liaison, January 2008

More Information

Many congregations have adopted some version of a laity-led pastoral support program for its members.  Several years ago, many were featured at the Bishop’s Conference on Health and Wellness.  Some of the more familiar programs are Stephen’s Ministries, Pastoral Partners, and Community of Hope.   At St. Michael’s, the Pastoral Partner Program was instituted in 2003. 

Pastoral Partners is a program developed to foster a parish ethos of sharing and caring.  Over the past three years we have trained 22 members of this congregation on topics such as active listening, grief support, health ministries and other support programs within St. Michael’s.  We currently have 19 functioning Pastoral Partners.  Each of these has been assigned a group of families or individuals in the congregation.  We have a significant percentage of our congregation assigned to Pastoral Partners, but as we look ahead in 2000, we need more Pastoral Partners to cover new members or replace Pastoral Partners who have left this ministry over the course of the past couple of years.   

The responsibility of the Pastoral Partner is to stay in contact with their cluster and to pray for their assigned members of the congregation. Contact may be a phone call on occasion, a note, or a card.  Pastoral Partners is a non-intrusive way of letting you know that there are people in the congregation who are lovingly watching for you and care about you.