Start: Sep 28, 2012 @ 5:30 PM
End: Sep 30, 2012 @ 12:30 PM
Cost: $200.00
(The cost of this program has been significantly subsidized thanks to a grant from The Watkins/Ann Baker Fund of the United Church of Canada.)
Please note that the program begins with supper included on Friday and ends with lunch included on Sunday.
This program will fill up fast. Please register early.
The Hand in Hand program at Five Oaks offers ongoing programming to develop and nurture capacity for pastoral care in congregations with both lay people and ministry personnel. Below is the information on upcoming Hand in Hand events.
(The cost of Hand in Hand events has been significantly subsidized thanks to a grant awarded to Five Oaks from The Watkins/Ann Baker Fund of the United Church of Canada for Innovative Seniors’ Ministries.)
Upcoming Hand in Hand Events:
•A weekend program – Sept. 28-30, 2012.
Program Description:
As the average age of church members continue to increase the focus of ministry for many communities of faith has turned toward offering spiritual care for their aging population. Offering educational opportunities for both lay people and ministry personnel to develop gifts and skills for this specialized ministry of pastoral care is the focus of the Hand in Hand program at Five Oaks.
The overall purpose of this weekend program will be to:
•Develop skills, tools and understanding of what it means to offer pastoral care. This will include practical tools for pastoral visits, role plays, cast studies and practicing the skill of listening and asking open honest questions;
•learn what it means to be ‘present’ during a pastoral visit – how are we present to God and to each other?
•explore theological dimensions of pastoral care, including opportunity for participants to identify their theological comfort zone, to consider responses to theological questions that arise in pastoral care settings and to learn one method of theological reflection to use in pastoral care ministry;
•explore the role of prayer in pastoral care;
•offer participants an introduction to music therapy as a resource for spiritual care, especially in palliative care;
•focus on experiential learning;
•enable participants to feel more competent and confident in their role as a pastoral care provider.
Anyone interested in being a more effective listener, exploring how God is present in our lives and has a desire to simply care for others is welcome! We look forward to journeying with you as we affirm each others gifts for this special and challenging ministry.
Leadership over the course of the weekend will include the following:
•Members of the Hand in Hand Planning Team: Lorna MacQueen, Jennifer Budd, Bob Thompson and Robin McGauley.
•Marilyn Bacon comes with many years experience in health care, congregational lay ministry, and over a decade of practice as a spiritual director and is a member of the team of spiritual guides giving leadership to days away and silent retreats at Five Oaks. She believes that each of us can find the way to a meaningful, authentic prayer life that connects to all that God is, and that this sense of connection can be taken into every moment and circumstance of life and shared with others.
•Tomoko Okumura has a Bachelor of Music in Piano and nine years experience in music therapy in Japan. She obtained a Master of Music Therapy from Wilfrid Laurier University and began to provide music therapy for the Brant Community Healthcare System in 2007. She also visits the facilities and individual homes in the Brant region.
•Joan Wyatt retired in June 2011 as Assistant Professor and Director of Contextual Education at Emmanuel College of Victoria University. Prior to being at Emmanuel she spent seven years at Vancouver School of Theology as Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology and Theological Field Education. Joan’s research has been on the rise of feminist practices in the United Church of Canada. She has an upcoming chapter in a book on the history of the UCC focusing on the decade of the 1970s and an article in Touchstone magazine on UCC feminist foremothers. Ten years as pastor of Trinity St Paul’s UCC Toronto honed Joan’s love of creative liturgy, preaching and the integration of arts in worship. Recent leadership occasions include theme speaker on expansive language for God at Worship Matters in Ottawa, evangelist for the ten day Berwick Encampment in the Maritimes and chair of an event at Emmanuel College celebrating the installation of Almuth Lutkenhaus’ sculpture Crucified Woman, at Bloor Street UCC in 1979 and at Emmanuel College in 1986. Joan is married to her high school sweetheart, Peter Wyatt. They are parents of four grown children, three delightful in laws and two beautiful grand daughters.