Laura Howe 00:01
From Hope Made Strong, this is the Care Ministry Podcast, a show about equipping ministry leaders and transforming communities through care. supporting those in your church and community not only changes individuals' lives, but it grows and strengthens the church. But we want to do that without burning out so listen in, as we learn about tools, strategies, and resources that will equip your team and strengthen hope.
I'm Laura Howe and I am so pumped to share that we are about to open registration for the care ministry cohort. Now the cohort is a group of 20 or so care ministry leaders, and they meet weekly for about four or five months and the Hope Made Strong team leads this group through conversations about building a strategic care ministry that doesn't burn out your team. And I'm sharing this today because I am talking about the four components of a strategic care ministry. And while I offer an easy download outlining the four components and questions that will help you assess where you're at in these areas, some of you are going to want to go deeper, you're going to listen to this podcast and get that free download but recognize that your church has a huge opportunity to offer exceptional care and support but it is too much or overwhelming to do alone.
You can have all the trainings and programs and groups in the world you can have everything lined up. But if you're not implementing them with strategy, you're still just running around putting out fires and and all these ministries are siloed from every part of the church.
I was doing a quick online search for carrot church strategies and I saw a bunch of topics. church growth being the biggest one, communications and social media. These were all top categories or top search hits that I found when I looked up church strategies. And I must say I'm a little bit disappointed because growth communications and media man, our church is so much more than that.
And when I talk to churches or visit churches, it is clear that they have a strategy for first-time visitor visitors or discipleship or even small groups, meaning that they have a known process or system or pathway for these areas. There's things like forms, schedules, timelines follow up, or even trainings that are being made available to support these ministries. However, nowhere I have never read or seen anything about a church's care strategy.
It's very common for churches to have a care as part of their ministry. Just about everyone can say, Yeah, our church cares for its people. But often this care is a reactionary response to the needs that somehow filter their way to the office, the staff find out and then there's a response. It's offered by a person who has a million other responsibilities, and care becomes an add-on to their job. This approach results in burnout and overwhelmed leaders and oftentimes disappointed congregants and neither of those things are a good look.
I would love to see every church have a care ministry that is intentional and strategic about care, as they are about communication, small groups, church growth, and even discipleship. I can already hear people saying, or maybe they're just thinking, I don't have a large church staff or our church doesn't have time or the budget to meet all the needs, and I completely agree with you.
You can't be all things to all people. And the church staff are not the primary way or method that people receive care. It's just not possible but having a strategic care ministry is about building a culture of care, rather than programs of care. There is no model or program that is the right way to offer care. There is no template or perfect system that you can apply to your church that will meet your needs that you can cut and paste, and then boom, all the needs are going to be met. Your church's care ministry is going to be as unique as the people and the needs that you serve. No church is going to be alike and that is good. That is okay.
However, there are four common components of a care strategy that can help you build the ministry and create a culture of care that is sustainable, and effective and if you want to build this culture of care if you want to approach your congregational care ministry with strategy and intentionality, you're going to want to consider these four components.
The first one being vision alignment, how does care fit into the bigger picture of your church care is isn't an isolated program, although it probably feels that way right now. Care actually supports and even aligns with the vision of the church.
Now just about Every church has the same vision. It's either or some version of a vision. It's either to make Jesus known or to go and make disciples, or reach people who are far from God. Generally, Every church has the same vision or big picture that they're going after. But the mission is the how they do it and that really is what makes every church unique. How do they go about this vision?
Some churches focus on missions, and some offer schools and children's children's programs or, or maybe someones really focused on the geographic neighborhood of where their churches are, or maybe other churches are focused on social justice issues. And, and then there are churches who are called to the arts and creative ministries. Now, none of these areas are wrong. All of these are areas that are amazing, and and so cool, that they're all different. Nothing is better than the other. They're all unique, and all approach this vision of telling others about Jesus differently, and your care ministry can and should align with this vision or these passions. If your church is passionate about supporting young families and adoption, it would make the most sense to ensure that your internal care ministries are focused on this group or this population as well. Now, I'm not saying that a senior's ministry wouldn't be appropriate. But rather than investing resources into a senior's ministry, maybe you do something else, like you partner with another church, or maybe even a community agency.
So when you're looking at building a care ministry, from the beginning, or you're starting from scratch, or maybe you want to just kind of audit what your care ministry is doing, or you want to make it more strategic and intentional, definitely, you're going to want to align with the vision and the mission and focus of your church.
So in the download that I offer, identify three questions to ask yourself to help guide you in aligning with your church's vision to build your strategic care ministry. Now, the second area is systems and policies, this is a core component of building a care strategy.
The second area actually might hurt a little bit to listen to because it is rare, so rare for me to find a church that has policies, procedures and pathways for their care ministry. And most people just doing it haphazardly or off the side of the desk or kind of just more of a crisis response where their reaction reactionary, to when someone identifies a need. And the push back on having systems and pathways are procedures is that I that I hear from churches is that each care ministry or each care need is unique. And again, I agree, every situation is unique but if you look, dive down a little bit, and if you closely look at these needs, they usually fall into a few categories, that the need is either a physical need, where they need money, or food or housing or clothing, something physical that someone needs, or maybe they need an emotional or mental health need.
This is a second area that, you know, it could be a number of different specific issues or unique issues. But usually it's emotional, mental health need, or the other areas that they need a community resource, they need to get connected to another resource, whether that is a counselor or a service or an organization within the community.
So these are just an example of how yes, every unique need is unique. But generally they fall into very similar categories. And I think having a care pathway or procedure on how your church's approaches these common needs, it can be so, so helpful. And this is why it's number two in building a strategic care ministry because it is so helpful for both the staff for the organization as well as for the congregation. Not only does the pathway reduce the stress and pressure on the team, but it also creates continuity of care. The church's response to one person's need is similar for that of the next, a common Christian criticism of churches is that there are cliques or favorites or people get preferred treatment and or maybe that people fall through the cracks and so having a care pathway creates a continuity of care, and reduces the number of people falling through the cracks and supports the team in managing all of your care needs.
In the care cohort that were talked about at the beginning. We talk so much we address care pathways a lot in our conversations by giving templates and sample forms and documents like intake and emails and policies. But for looking at what are the core components to look at your church and in this download, download that I offer, I want you to get started with four simple questions. How do you receive care needs or hear about care needs in your church? How do you respond to care needs? And how do you follow up with those care needs? And does your church have policies for how your church offers care, like in pastoral care, or maybe even in benevolence?
Back in episode 77, I talk about these issues and offer a sample Care Procedure, you're definitely going to want to check out episode 77. If you right now you want to focus on building a care strategy. It is super, super helpful.
All right, so the next core component of building a strategic care ministry is addressing or looking at team development. Building a culture of care is recognizing that care can be offered by every person in your church, not just by staff, people and every pastor said Amen. To make sure that we are on the same page of what care ministry is, let me share with you my definition of care, because my definition definition of care is much broader than what I think most people think of when they hear about care ministry. So to me, care ministry is the support and care provided by the church with the intention of strengthening belonging, purpose and hope, and with the goal of equipping the whole person to flourish.
Now the key words in this definition are belonging, purpose, and hope these are core needs that every person has, and that the church is perfectly suited to meet. And I talked all about this back in episode 18. So you're gonna want to check it that out. But the why I'm sharing it now is recognizing that yes, we can not meet all the needs that are brought to the church. But we can create communities of belonging, we can strengthen the person's purpose, and we can offer hope. And we need to do that in a team approach. And so this third component of building a strategic care ministry is looking at team development.
Now there are three types of caregivers peers, those who have lived experience and could be supporters. We have pastors, those who have further training or expertise in education and offering spiritual guidance. And then we have professionals. These are clinicians who offer diagnosis, treatment, and case management. Now our churches are filled, absolutely filled to the brim with people with lived experience and to offer strategic and sustainable care ministries, there needs to be resources and intentionality in developing these peers.
When the church is filled with peers, those with lived experience, who are equipped to support their neighbors, we create a culture of care caring for one another. No longer is the pastor, the primary caregiver, but people become neighbors to one another and care for one another as neighbors. And that is why looking at team development and building that culture of care is the third element in building a strategic care ministry.
Now the fourth area is looking at what direct care ministries you offer. People think that the problem is that the church doesn't offer enough care but in truth that is very rare. In fact, I bet you are offering more care in your church than you even realize. Because remember, care is anything that strengthens belonging, purpose and hope. The problem is rarely that the church doesn't offer enough care, things usually break down because the church doesn't know what care is actually being offered.
I bet your churches offering a tremendous amount of care. But because things are so siloed, or maybe it's happening organically, or there's not just one person thinking or strategizing or leading care ministries and and support are scattered throughout your whole church and in every element. So the final component of a strategic care ministry is getting a really good understanding of what your church is already doing and care and then becoming intentional with it. Your staff and team are already maxed out so it doesn't make sense to add more to their plate when we're trying to actually reduce burnout. So instead, let's consider what you're already doing, and seeing how your church can be become more effective in these areas.
I bet you're gonna find that your church is offering a huge amount of care, but it's been so segregated. But by having a clearer picture of what your church is already doing, leaders will be able to decide how they want these initiatives to be led, how they want them to be funded and supported. And in the download. I offer a few questions that will help guide you in finding these care programs that are being offered already being offered in your church and and really looking at how you want to take the next steps. care isn't in Hey grew up part of the church. It's a core function that supports each area.
Care can't be isolated ministry or, or something that's done as an afterthought. It's actually the glue that holds everything together, which is why it's so important to have a care strategy. Make sure you grab that download, outlining those four components of care of care ministry strategy, and the key questions to assess each of these areas and if you recognize that care has been an afterthought, and you would like to become more intentional, organized and effective, then I recommend you check out the current ministry cohort by going to hopemadestrong.org/cohort or just checking out the show notes below. I really appreciate you listening in on this. I really appreciate you spending the time and the energy thinking and wondering how can our church care for people? Well, it is your work that is transforming your community and I am so, so grateful for you.
I really hope this episode has been helpful. Each week I strive to offer practical tools so your church can offer an incredible strategic care ministry that will transform your community. Some weeks, it's solo episodes like this week, and others it's with guests and who are offering a book or resource that you can support your soul as a caregiver because you're a person to or for your church and the people that you serve. If you want to get the latest episode or have access to the latest episode, make sure you subscribe or follow by clicking that little plus button at the top of your device. Again, I'm so grateful for you. Thank you for connecting and take care.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
