Newsletter Articles

Search Archive

January - February 2006

Margaret Bernhart, M.A., LMHC
Executive Director

Reaching the Heart Conference

RMI and seven local churches came together to help sponsor Dr. Larry Crabb's two day Reaching the Heart conference held in Tallahassee at the end of October. Pastor Scott Graham has written a short article on his experience while attending this community event. We would like to thank the following churches for their financial and volunteer support: Agape Life Fellowship, Four Oaks Community Church, Killearn United Methodist Church, Northwoods Bapist Church, St. John's Episcopal Church, Vineyard Christian Fellowship, and Wildwood Presbyterian Church.

Ruth Beck, RN, MSW has begun a Parish Nurse Chapter in Tallahassee. I've asked her to write on it's origin and how this association can impact our local community.

---

By Scott Graham,
Pastor of the Vineyard Community Church

How Does My Heart Need Reaching?

Surprise, enlightenment, repentance, hope, and joy--all parts of my experience as I sat under the teaching of Dr. Larry Crabb during his Reach the Heart Experience.
Good teachers invite, challenge, and leave you coming back for more. As he described the radical shift needed in our hearts to have authentic community and live in transforming relationships, hunger and hope were ignited with a slight bit of trepidation, knowing the cost of what lay ahead--seeing my tarnished and ugly motivations. Real community and spiritual formation aren't pipedreams. To give us vision for how true community functions, God reveals it through the unity and sacrifice of the Trinity--the intimate dance of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And we are all invited!

As I listened some questions came to mind: How does my heart need reaching? Do I have a sense of what the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are doing in my life? Is my heart open to receiving a divine, yet untamable love made available through Jesus' sacrifice? And am I sharing that valuable life-giving Spirit-supplied energy with others? An honest evaluation of our hearts is needed if we are to become the community of believers that God has designed.

Jim Kallum, pastor and author of Risking Church,
spoke vulnerably about some of his personal struggles and articulated how his church practically lives out spiritual formation through four powerful keys: Safety, Vision, Wisdom, and Power. A church is a safe place when others feel accepted. It fosters vision for who each person is becoming in Christ. It is within this atmosphere where wisdom is offered that challenges the hindrances that keep believers from becoming all they were meant to be. And it is within this safety, vision andwisdom that the life-transforming power of the Spirit is released. I began imagining, what the Church could become--pilgrims maturing and struggling well with life and others. The very thought of such incites hope and adventure within me!

Dr. Crabb shared that it is difficult to move forward in your spiritual journey without first knowing where you are spiritually. He used the metaphor of the red dot found on mall directories accompanied by the ever-important words, You are here. I felt challenged to reflect upon how the Spirit is presently moving and speaking in my life. Believing that God wants to reveal himself helps me contend with the busy culture and endless distractions that seek to capture my attention. "Certain things," says Larry Crabb, "can be learned in solitude that can be learned nowhere else. The Spirit indwells us. Only silence allows us to hear His quietest whisper, the voice in which He communicates the deepest life." I pondered whether my church brings focus or buries members in religious activity that ultimately keeps them from communion with God.

Dr. Crabb went on to describe the cycle of spiritual formation. It involves brokenness over our sins, followed by repentance, leading to abandonment to God, instilling confidence through God, and releasing of life that is authored by God. He makes clear that this process is only found by entering into a relationship with the Trinity. At the very center, what moves us forward is the core desire to know God more and to keep him in first place. It's not a walk for those who want to play it safe, as there is no formula. It became abundantly clear to me that without the power of the Spirit, all efforts to engage in spiritual formation are counterfeit. How vital this is not just for those of us who are called to soul care, but for all believers who desire to journey well and connect meaningfully with others. It challenged me to abandon my approach of trying to make things happen and embrace with curious patience the wind of the Spirit.

"What's below the waterline? asked Dr. Crabb. Hindrances that exist above the water's surface of our life are easy to see like the visible tip of an iceberg. Sins like adultery, fits of rage, greed, and lust fall into that category. However, much rockier terrain exists below the waterline than what is visible. It is here where our self-protection, escapism, and self-obsession taunt every good motivation and hold hostage life-giving power. As we enter into our interior world we gain insight into how to cooperate with what the Spirit is doing--removing what hinders us from receiving the life he fully offers. It's much easier to flee what is most offensive within us. Yet, by venturing down the narrow road, we will find what our hearts want most--knowing God more deeply and exposing what offends his glory.

Leaving the conference that evening, I was challenged and excited about the transformation that could take place in our churches if we sought to use suffering as an opportunity to engage more deeply with God, instead of finding relief from what burdens us. What if we focus on developing character that brings glory to God, rather than achieving goals that satisfy our need to point to outwardly visible accomplishments? What if instead of trying to make things happen and getting God involved with us, we allow God to pour into us and get involved with Him? What would it look like if at the center of every expression of ministry, the core goal is to know God and then to allow vision and employable strategy to emerge from the life that God pours into us as we draw near and enter His unforced rhythms of grace? Could this be the New Way that Paul speaks of in the epistles--a way that follows the Spirit instead of the law?

How do our hearts need reaching? I know I gained some clarity that weekend. And as a result I caught a vision of how to love my wife and family more richly, especially my daughter who has autism. Because of her condition, she is unable to receive love the way most do. Over time, this has been like a knife to my heart and I have bled tears and pain. I discovered that this ache is not something to avoid, as my daughter still needs a father who will wrap his arms around her and pour the love God gives me into her heart. I will be changed through the pain of unrequited love, and understand more vividly a God whose love is unchanging, even when I am a traitor, seeking other avenues to cover my pain and fill my longing heart.

by Ruth Beck, RN, MSW

Passion for the Ministry of Parish Nursing - Part I

What do you do when a friend is in need of open heart surgery? What do you do when that same friend later has breast cancer resulting in a double mastectomy, and she has no insurance to cover the cost of either lifesaving procedures? I watched as fear, the physical and emotional strain of recovery, financial devastation, and frustration with the healthcare system robbed my friend of her desire to keep fighting in what seemed like a hopeless situation. The one thing I could offer was a place to live. She moved into my office for seven years until she got back on her feet. It is this experience that imprinted my soul with the desire to see the church become more involved with the needs of the impaired and sick, and start the ministry of Parish Nursing in Tallahassee.

Recognized as a specialty area of nursing practice by the American Nursing Association in 1997, Parish Nursing has its roots in the early Judeo-Christian Church. In the ancient pagan cultures, if you were unable to care for yourself, you were left by the roadside to die. The early Christians had a reputation of caring not only for their own, but anyone who was sick. People began to associate health and love with being a Christian. This was one way the gospel spread. Some actually had "Christ Rooms" in their homes where the sick, elderly, and infirmed could stay.

In the 1200 and 1300's religious orders in both the Catholic and Protestant faiths were established to care for the sick and poor. In the 1830's two Lutheran ministers, Theodore Fliender and Wilhelm Lohe, started a movement to train women in the church and community in educating, nursing and caring for the needy (social work). In 1846, Pastor William Passavant asked Reverend Fliender to send deaconesses to what is now a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pa. Thus the ministry of Parish Nursing came to the United States. It was lost to the Church in the early 20th century, and withered until the early 1960's. A Lutheran minister, Rev. Granger Westburg, in Park Ridge, Il. formed one of the first holistic health clinics. His clinic had a strong spiritual component, and Parish Nursing was re-introduced to the Church. Today there are over 5,000 nurses trained in Parish Nursing.

Basics of Parish Nursing -

Parish Nurses can work as paid or non paid members of the ministerial staff, focusing on the individuals, families and groups of the Faith Community, and its outreach ministries. A goal is to assist in transforming the Faith Community into a source of health and healing. This includes the physical, psychological, spiritual, and social dimensions of the individuals, families and groups of the Faith Community, and wider social community.

There are seven functions of the Parish Nurse: 1. Integrator of Faith and Health; 2. Health Advocate; 3. Referral Agent; 4. Developing Support Groups; 5. Coordinating Volunteers; 6. Health Educator; and 7. Personal Health Counselor.

What do Parish Nurses Do? -

The ministry is only limited by one's imagination, and call. They may work with the Deacon Board or other Helps Ministries in the Faith Community to help ensure that the needs of the parishioners are met. Parish Nurses may do blood pressure clinics; coordinate health screenings, and health fairs. They may teach or coordinate health related classes in babysitting, CPR, Living Wills, newborn care, diabetes, heart disease and other health and medical areas. They may work with a family in determining appropriate medical care for a child, elderly or loved one, taking into consideration the faith beliefs of the individual. They may do home, hospital and nursing home visits of parishioners and others. They may write articles for the church bulletin or newsletter. They may counsel people in times of personal and spiritual crisis. They may work with other professionals, and volunteers in the community to help ensure that the health and social services of others are being met. They pray for people.

Recently, the Community Parish Nurse Association was begun in Tallahassee. If you are interested in establishing, or working in a healthcare ministry in your Faith Community, please join us at the next meeting of the Community Parish Nurse Association. We meet on the second Thursday of the odd months. Our next two meetings will be May 11, 2006 and July 13, 2006 at 7:00 pm at Wildwood Presbyterian Church. For more information on this ministry, please call Ruth Beck at 850-562-3097.

Ruth Beck is a Registered Nurse in practice for over 25 years, receiving her MSW from FSU in 1986. As the director of Beck Rehabilitation Services she has worked with over 1,000 clients. In the spring of 2002, she was trained as a Parish Nurse and later commissioned by her church to this ministry. This combined educational and work background has allowed her to work with a wide variety of individuals. She has been able to see firsthand the health and social service needs of people in Tallahassee and the outlying areas. The next issue of The Heart of the Matter will outline a broader vision that Ruth has for those who fall through the cracks of the healthcare system.