INFORMATION ABOUT OUR PARISH HEALTH MINISTRY
MISSION STATEMENT OF THE PARISH HEALTH MINISTRY
The mission of the Parish Health Ministry of Old Paramus Reformed Church is to promote healthy living by focusing on the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of our church family and our community as they strive to achieve wellness, manage illness, and grow in spiritual wholeness.
WHAT IS PARISH HEALTH MINISTRY?
The Health Ministry movement defines health as more than “absence of disease”. It incorporates service to those in need, prevention information, spiritual values, healthy attitudes and behaviors, and related education.
The church as a caring community is mandated to respond to the needs of its people. For centuries churches have promoted health and wholeness through worship, music, sharing and caring. How natural to move forward into a dimension that incorporates an even greater response in a practical sense – to fill in the blanks created by the current system.
HOW IS THIS MINISTRY CARRIED OUT?
The Health Ministry functions under the leadership of a volunteer coordintor and is carried out with the able assistance of caring individuals who respond to the needs of the people and who promote the concept of body, mind and spiritual health.
THE MINISTRY OF CARE AND CONCERN
This part of the health ministry provides for services as needed and may include the following:
- Meals at times of illness or death in the family
- new baby or crisis of any kind
- Transportation to church services and medical appointments
- Shopping for shut-ins
In addition, as an expression of care, for more than 10 years the Parish Health Ministry has maintained a Prayer Quilt Ministry. Handmade quilts are sewn and tied with prayers in every knot. Additional prayers are tied in by the congregation and they are blessed. These quilts are provided, with the permission of the recipient, to those who are ill, grieving, or facing surgery. They are given at baptisms and to the youth of Old Paramus leaving for college. The message being that when the quilt is over you, you are covered with the prayers of the people.
