EVERY
MEMBER
IN
MINISTRY
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded;
and from the one who has been entrusted
with much, much more will be asked”.
Luke
WHAT
IS GOD CALLING
YOU
TO DO?
Look
inside for 100 and 1 ways to serve the Lord,
and
answer His call.
My Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
This is such an exciting
time to serve here at Ebenezer. This
fall has seen the beginning of two new programs: the “Come as You Are” service on Sunday mornings;
and “Worship on Wednesday” on Wednesday evenings. Both are new ways we are seeking as a church
family to serve the spiritual needs of our community.
“Every Member In Ministry” is another new emphasis this year. Having a personal ministry is an important part of our faith walk. This year we have gathered a “supermarket” of specific ministry activities at Ebenezer. It is my fervent wish and prayer for you that you will respond to God’s call by choosing at least one ministry for the coming year.
God Bless,
Pastor Ray
SOME
INSTRUCTIONS
This booklet will help you
choose the ministry, the way in which you will serve God, in 2002.
The pink center pages contain a list of 100 ministry opportunities
open to you at or through Ebenezer UMC. Each confirmed member
should complete his/her own form. Two copies of the form are included. If you need additional forms, please contact
the church office.
The rest of the booklet gives brief descriptions of each
of the ministries. These descriptions
are numbered to match the list where you make your choices. To learn more about a ministry on the list,
look up the number of that activity in the list of descriptions.
And be sure to look at #101. Here is an opportunity for you to respond to
an even different ministry to which you feel God is calling you.
Prayerfully seek God’s guidance for your service in ministry for next year. Make your choice or choices on the pink response sheet, remove it from the booklet, and return it with your pledge card.
WORSHIP
01 Help Lead Worship A worship service leader
provides the direction and organization to keep the service moving smoothly,
making announcements, leading the prayers and accepting the offering. This job does not include reading scripture or
preaching.
02 Lay Preacher When our pastor is on vacation
or ill, we need a layperson to preach the sermon. To be a lay preacher you need to have a solid
Biblical background and to be comfortable speaking in front of a group. The UMC offers courses to prepare lay speakers.
03 Read Scripture A lay reader assists in the
worship services by reading the scriptures and sometimes accepting the
offering. Lay Readers usually read about
once every 3 months.
04
05 Assist in
06 Prepare Communion A communion steward is
responsible for obtaining the bread and juice, setting the communion table with
these elements, and cleaning up afterward.
This job is a commitment for one service a month plus a few special services
for a year.
07 Help Serve Communion You can help the pastor serve
communion by passing out either the juice or the bread. We serve communion once
a month so you might do this only once or twice a year.
08 Before Worship Greeter At each Sunday morning
service, we need people to greet our members and guests as they come in to
worship. Your job is to make sure that
people feel welcome right at the door. Typically, you would serve as a greeter
for a service 2-3 times a year.
09 After Worship Greeter Make the commitment each and
every Sunday to spend a few minutes after the worship service to meet and
welcome guests and visitors to our church.
10 Acolyte Lighting the candles is a part of
our traditional worship services. Our
young people usually take this responsibility, and this is an excellent way for
them to participate in our worship.
11 Schedule/Train Acolytes You can work with our young
people to keep our worship flame burning brightly. Take care of the behind-the-scenes work of
training and scheduling acolytes.
12 Usher As an usher, you will assist
people with such things as getting into the sanctuary and getting seated,
tending to special needs, and guiding them to the nursery or Sunday School. You
also pass out bulletins, make sure the candles are lit and take up the
offering.
13 Decorate Sanctuary Throughout the year special
decorations are placed in the sanctuary to emphasize the church season. Join
our Visual Arts Team to come up with ideas and decorate the sanctuary.
14 Donate Altar Flowers You can donate the flowers that
decorate the sanctuary for one Sunday or more in memory of a loved one. The church office handles the flower
ordering.
15 Organize Bibles/Hymnal The pew Bibles, hymnals and
hymnal supplements need to be evenly distributed throughout the sanctuary. You
also restock the
supply of prayer cards, offering envelopes and change the special hymnal bands.
16 Drama in Worship Interested in drama as a way to share
the Gospel? You may want to participate
in our Palm Sunday passion drama or even try new ideas for drama in
worship.
17 Liturgical Dance Liturgical dance is a specific form of
worship. Do you have this interest?
Volunteer to share it with us.
HOSPITALITY
18 Prepare Meals Our fellowship at Ebenezer
frequently includes food! For example, we need folks to handle meal preparation
for our Worship on Wednesday (WOW) night, special fellowship events, and for
meals after funeral services. You can
serve on a meal team for a month or once a year.
19 Donate Food for Meals At different times throughout
the year we have dinners or receptions where desserts or casseroles are
needed. Make a commitment to this
activity, and you will be contacted several times a year to provide a dish or
dessert.
20 Set up for Meals You can help with fellowship
meal events by putting up tables and setting the places on them in the CLC
fellowship hall.
21 Clean up for Meals Many hands make light work. By signing up as a clean up person, you
lighten the load for the cooks.
22 Provide Table Flowers It’s nice to dress up the tables
for special fellowship events with flowers.
If you are a gardener with lots of flowers, you may want to sign up to
provide some flowers.
23 Decorate Tables Do you have a flair for
decorating? Share your talents by
volunteering to decorate tables with flowers or favors or whatever you dream
up.
PRAYER
24 Prayer Chain Become a member of a telephone or
e-mail prayer chain. You will receive and pass along regular prayer requests.
Then, make intercessory prayers for others’ needs.
25 Sunday AM Prayer Group Every Sunday morning, a group of
folks get together to pray for our church, our leaders, programs, our country and its leaders.
26 Prayer Partner Sign up to be a prayer
partner. We’ll work to get you matched
up with someone so you can support one another in prayer.
27 Prayer Vigils Your schedule may not allow regular participation in organized prayer
activities. But you may still want to
join in the occasional special prayer vigil.
Let us know that.
28 National Day of Prayer Each year on the first Thursday
in May, we participate in a special nationwide program to pray for our country
and its leaders. Commit some time to
help put together this event at Ebenezer.
CARING FOR OTHERS
29 Deliver Flowers Pick up the flowers after the
Sunday service and take them to shut-in members of our congregation.
30
31 Millcroft Ministry Ebenezer leads a Sunday afternoon
worship service on the 4th and 5th Sunday each month at the Millcroft
nursing home on
32 Ebenezer Friends Sign up for a ministry that will
bring love and caring to or homebound members.
Sometimes, just a regular phone call and chat is a welcome addition to
their day.
33 Provide Transportation You can provide a wonderful
service ministry by being a volunteer who takes non-driving folks to doctor’s
appointments and shopping or who picks up prescriptions.
34 Nursery Care: Infant Volunteer to care for our smallest
ones so their parents can participate in Sunday morning worship, or Wednesday
evening activities and other special programs.
35 Nursery Care: 2-4 yrs Volunteer to care for our toddlers
and young children so their parents can participate in Sunday morning worship,
or Wednesday evening activities and other special programs.
36 Hospital Chaplain Support Work with the chaplain at a
nearby hospital, visiting patients and responding to their spiritual
needs.
37 Help Incoming Members Help with the arrangements for
the activities when new members join Ebenezer.
Set up
orientation sessions with church leaders, match-up a sponsor to
help the new folks get acquainted and arrange for photos and flowers on the day
they join.
FELLOWSHIP GROUPS
38 Women’s Circles Ebenezer’s United Methodist Women has
5 circles that gather for fellowship and study; they regularly minister to our
members and raise funds for missions and church projects. Check this ministry to get involved in our
UMW.
39 Common Ground This informal group gets
together for lunch and fellowship after church.
You can join them for fellowship on a “drop by” basis.
40 Small Group Fellowship- Choose this ministry for small group fellowship,
and the opportunity to get to know other church members better. Small groups
meeting go back to John Wesley.
(Actually, they go back to Biblical times.) A small group of about 12 people get together
monthly or semi-monthly to share their faith, fellowship and study.
CREATIVE/TECHNICAL
41 Create Artwork Let us know if we can call on
you to help out when we need artwork for displays, publications or computer
presentations
42 Take Pictures Help out by taking pictures of
everything from new members to capturing some of the different activities
throughout the year.
43 Video Recording Video has become an important
tool for communication. Volunteer to
help us use this tool to grow God’s ministry at
Ebenezer. We’ll call on you for helping
set up, to camera work for recording special events or making dubs, and see
what develops from there.
44 Operate Sound Systems We have a sound system in the
sanctuary and in the CLC fellowship hall.
We use a small portable mixing system for “Come as You Are” service and
“Worship on Wednesdays. Here’s your
ministry if you enjoy the “techy” work.
45 Create Bulletin Boards Take the responsibility for creating
and keeping a single bulletin board current for a year. Update it once a quarter.
46 Design/Maintain Web Page Ebenezer has a web page. Help our enthusiastic web team with your
skills to make it a great communication tool for our church.
47 Write/Edit Newsletter Our monthly newsletter is put
together by Beverly Shunta. Volunteer to help her out by learning the
process and taking over now-and-then for a month.
48 Puppet Pals In the past, Ebenezer had a
wonderful puppet ministry. Let God call
you to revive and lead this ministry.
Use this creative medium for teaching and entertaining young people in
our church and our community.
OFFICE HELP
49 Count the Sunday Offering We have volunteers who count
the offering for all the Sunday worship services. Our volunteer counters are organized into
teams with a lead counter for each team.
Each team does the counting for a month twice a year.
50 Catalog Library Books Ebenezer has a budding library with
a collection of materials that includes reference books, children’s books and
videotapes. We have a system and will
provide training for you to help get us and keep us organized.
51 Collate/Stuff Mailings This job includes collating and
stuffing mailings, the newsletter and Sunday bulletins and inserts. Folding, stuffing, sealing and sticking.
52 Office Fill-in Judy does a wonderful job of
running our office, but she can’t always be there. Let us know if you are willing to fill in for
the times when she’s gone to answer the phone, etc.
53 Telephoning Volunteer to make telephone calls to
remind people of meetings and special events.
54 Computer Support You can help our computer task
force keep our offices up and running by supporting our hardware and software
needs.
55
MUSIC
56 Sing in a Choir We can never have too many
voices to praise our Lord with music. We
have adult and children’s choirs, and a need to participate in the singing in
our “Come as You Are” and
“Worship on Wednesday” services.
57 Play in a
58 Lead a Children’s Choir Minister to our children by sharing
your musical talents and teaching them the joy of praise through singing.
59 Music Help for VBS For one week in the summertime,
have a grand musical time with Kerry and the VBS teachers and children helping
with the music.
60 Music for SS Classes For the past
couple years, we provided support to our Sunday school teachers by having a
person spend a few minutes each week lead music for the classes.
61 Play the Piano Music is an important part of our
Christian fellowship and worship. Having
piano accompaniment helps give a foundation to singing. And, it can be simple childrens’
praise songs that don’t require expert keyboard skills.
62 Play a Musical Instrument God actually made other
instruments besides the piano. Wind,
strings and percussion players can help add music to our worship and fellowship
experiences.
63 Special Music Interested in performing instrumental
or vocal solo or ensemble music for worship services or fellowship events? Here’s your chance.
64 Choir Child Care Help a busy parent be able to
join in the choir by baby-sitting with their children so they can attend choir
practice on Thursday evenings from
FACILITIES/MAINTENANCE
65 Sanding/Painting Painting requires the proper
preparation. Sanding is important too!! Sign up as a volunteer who can wield
sandpaper or a paintbrush to help us keep Ebenezer looking sharp.
66 Carpentry/”Handyperson” (Not just handymen.) This might be glazing windows or hanging
pictures, installing a shelf or building a cabinet.
67 Electrical This could include some basic
home type maintenance like replacing a switch.
If you are a licensed electrician, you could help us with bigger
projects.
68 Plumbing Repair This is just the light plumbing,
like replacing washers etc.
69 Garden and Landscaping We have flower beds and bushes
and ornamental trees. They need weeding
and feeding and mulching and so on.
Serve God, feed a flower!
70 Spring/Fall Clean-up Let us know you’re willing and
able to wash windows or floors or walls for a general clean-up event.
LOCAL MISSIONS
71 Deliver Meals on Wheels You can drive or be a helper to
deliver meals to shut-ins once a week.
72 Cook for Hope Dining Room Ebenezer members cook and serve the
lunch on one day every month. You’ll be working with a crew of “well-seasoned”
cooks who can show you the ropes.
73 Bake Cookies for Prisoners While this is only a once-a-year
activity, it’s important and has become a tradition to make Christmas cookies
for
74 Deliver Cookies to Prisoners We can’t go into all the
prisons to deliver cookies, but we can still get into some to deliver a
personal greeting along with the cookies. Join us for this once-a-year ministry
by helping either package or deliver Christmas cookies.
75 Coordinate Angel Tree Each Christmas, it has been our
practice to take the names of a number of families of prisoners and purchase
Christmas presents for them. Organizing this activity is a rewarding ministry. Pam Maier can give you the details on how it
works.
76 Mentor a Prisoner You can be a friend to pray
for, encourage and visit a prisoner each week.
This ministry does require classes for preparation. Remember, ”I was in
prison and you visited me.”
77 Other Prison Ministries Through a program called “New
Beginnings” you can help prisoners with weekly visits and discussions that
emphasize how a spiritual foundation contributes to becoming a constructive
member of society.
78 Habitat for Humanity Join Ebenezer members who
volunteer their time and labor so others can have a home. Not a long-term commitment. You can volunteer once a week, once a month
or once a whatever.
79 Friendship House This is a non-profit Christian
Corporation committed to making a difference in the lives of homeless and
impoverished people in
80 Sojourners’ Place Volunteer to help at this
case-managed transitional housing facility for homeless men and women. You can lead Bible studies or craft
activities, provide training in life skills or prepare meals on the
weekends.
GLOBAL MISSIONS
81 Correspond w/ Missionaries Ebenezer and our members contribute
to the support of a number of missionaries around the world. Volunteer to be our official church
contact. Report their work and needs
through the newsletter and bulletin inserts.
82 Go on a
83 Christmas Shoebox The end product is hope and joy
for underprivileged children. The means is a shoebox of toys and personal
articles for a boy or girl. You can be the vehicle by promoting and coordinating
the creation and collection of these shoeboxes in our church.
TEACH/LEAD
84 Teach SS 3-4 yr olds Be a teacher or assist a
teacher for these delightful cherubs.
85 Teach SS 5-7 yr olds These young learners need
teachers and helpers. You’ll be amazed at what you can learn from them!
86 Teach SS 8-12 yr olds Volunteer to teach these children and
pre-teens.
87 Teach Confirmation This very special class for 8th
graders leads them to point where they make a decision to join the church.
88 Teach SS Sr. High These young people live in a
world of conflicting messages and values.
Teaching these young people is a wonderful ministry opportunity.
89 Young Disciples Counselor Work with Jeanie as she teaches
and has fun with our pre-teens.
90
Jr. High MYF Counselor The different age groups of our young people
have different needs, but they all need support and role models. Help Jeanie with these young teens.
91
Sr. High
MYF Counselor High school
92 Teach Adult SS Do you have a scriptural topic or Christian interest that you enjoy
exploring? Share your interest with
others and teach about it in a Sunday School Class.
93 Teach Wed Eve Class Our new WOW (Worship on Wednesdays) has time set aside for small group
study. You can lead a group in a study of contemporary issues facing
Christians, a book study or start a working group to address a new ministry.
94 Lead
Wed Eve Activity This is an opportunity for
special activities, like maybe sharing your knowledge/skill of a special hobby
or craft after the Wednesday evening supper and worship.
95
Wed Evening Tutor/Homeroom Help provide a place for children to do homework
while their parents participate in the Wednesday evening activities after
dinner.
96 Substitute SS Teaching Sign up to be a substitute
teacher for those times when a regular teacher isn’t feeling well or needs to
be out of town.
97 Teach/Help Vacation Bible School For one week in the summer
time, have some fun teaching and playing with our young people. There are a whole bunch of ways you can help the teachers from
activity time to crafts during this week of fun.
98 Make Snacks for VBS Make a batch of brownies or jello snacks for the kids.
Make one batch or maybe three.
99 Pass out Fliers We need to do more to let
people know that we’re here for them. As
a volunteer you can pass out fliers in the neighborhood or take posters to
local businesses.
100 Lead/Help w/ a Special Event We need to reach out to our
community. We have had a Spring
Fair. We can have more special
events. Be called to help plan and
prepare an event that will allow us to reach out to our community.
101 Burning
Bush As God spoke to Moses
through the burning bush, what is it that you feel that God is calling you to
do in His service? Check this selection
and make a commitment to your own ministry.