How to finance a Cancer Care Ministry?
“Initially, cancer care ministries have no need for finances beyond coffee and snacks for the group meetings. As the group develops or grows, financial needs may surface. There may be travel costs involved for group ministry or additional trainings. You may need to raise funds to help patients and caregivers with necessities or even treatment.
The ministry can be funded in several ways. The simplest is the church itself providing direct funding. The next option would involve adding a designated giving option within the church offering materials for cancer care ministry, explaining the merits and impact of this ministry to the congregation. A third option would involve developing an active fundraising program which may include a wide variety of vehicles: bake sales, banquets, direct appeals, etc.”
~ OJOH Leader’s Guide, page 78
I am always amazed at how much God can do if we are just obedient! Methodists are well know for our “committee” mentality. We can meet something to death before we actually get around to doing it. Anyhow, as the Church’s Pastor I felt this overwhelming call to answer the OJOH posting several months ago. I kept talking it up to the congregation and the week before I left for training, I asked our Prayer Circle and the entire congregation to pray for my trip and the training. Upon my return, I announced the upcoming ministry and told the congregation I would discuss the next steps at our Administrative Council on Wednesday (last evening).
I truly love the Family of God at Indian Springs, as they are above all things a praying, loving and obedient congregation. About 5 minutes into my presentation last night I was interrupted by the Chairperson and he said, “Preacher, we don’t need to hear all this, What do we need to do and when can we start?” Here are the results of last night’s Council Meeting:
We have set Sunday afternoon September 23, 2018 as our first training session and will continue for 7 subsequent Sundays and then hold a Commissioning Service during Morning Worship on Sunday, November 19 which is our Annual Thanksgiving Service.
The Finance Committee is holding a fundraiser luncheon on 9/20 to support the new ministry.
Tonight, the Trustees appropriated funds to renovate and furnish a classroom (with direct access to the parking lot and the prayer garden) into a counselling/family room exclusively for OJOH at IS.
And, Praise God, 17 members have already signed up for the class and we have not yet put the list out.
The response was overwhelming. The best quote of the night came from my Lay Leader who asked “Preacher, how can we NOT do this? This is GOD opening up a new door for us to walk through and be HIS Church! Thought I would just share this.
Some OJOH ministries serve their church and community by developing prevention awareness and strategies. Eliminating “smoldering, chronic inflammation” is a known prevention key. Learn more here:
“With 35 percent of cancers linked to dietary factors like obesity, stress and lack of exercise, the association between lifestyle habits and inflammation remains a concern. These factors trigger an immune response, even without an infection to fight off or an injured tissue to heal.
“The reason inflammation gets so much attention in the press right now is because a lot of it is dependent on our lifestyle,” Dr. Eugene Ahn says. “The more sedentary you are and the worse your diet is, the more inflammation you’re generating.””
SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/groups/590010337803217/1323079551162955/