Quick Links
The Parish Nurse Office is located in the Session Room at the bottom of the stairs. Office hours are every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. The parish nurse is also available any time of the week by contacting the church office. A Blood Pressure Clinic is held on the 3rd Sunday of the month after morning worship, while a Health Spot is presented the first Sunday of the month at Junior Worship. Check the bulletin board in the hallway leading to the office for timely health information. The parish nurse also writes an article, which contains pertinent health information, for the church newsletter.
-
What is the Parish Nurse Program?
The Parish Nurse Program is a partnership between Trinity Regional Health Care System and Churches in the Quad Cities and surrounding region. It allows congregations to expand their healing ministries. The program takes a holistic approach to health care by promoting wellness in body, mind, and spirit. The goal of the Parish Nurse Program is to help individuals stay well and to create a feeling of deeper caring throughout the community. This is the third year Bettendorf Presbyterian Church has been involved in this program.
-
Who is a parish nurse and what are her responsibilities?
Parish Nurses are persons of faith who are registered nurses and they have received special education in holistic health care. They promote wellness within the congregation. Parish nurses can provide personal health counseling, develop educational programs, link parishioners with community resources, assist with visits to the homebound and hospitalized, facilitate support groups, and interpret the relationship between faith and health. Parish nurses can also assist families in times of crisis and help provide continuity of care as people move through the health care system. The services offered by parish nurses are tailored to meet the needs of the congregation they serve. There is no fee for the care provided.
-
What makes one truly healthy?
You might answer, “Not to be sick, to be well, or to be free of disease.” This could be true of any of us, yet we may still be unhealthy. Health encompasses more than just being free of disease. Each human being is a body, a soul, a mind, and is connected to others by relationships. We must have balance between all four parts or our entire being will be affected and we will not have health and wholeness.
The Bible tells us in Luke 2:52 (RSV), "Jesus increased in wisdom (mind) and in stature (body), and in favor (in favorable relationship) with God and man, (with family and neighbors). So should we strive to have balance and to be in harmony with our body, mind, spirit, and in relationships. Then we will have total health and wellness!
Dear Friends,
I have been a member of the Presbyterian Church for many years and I do not ever recall being to a Healing Service in the church. Several years ago at a conference I attended I was fortunate to be able to take part in such a service. Included in the service were the Anointing with Oil and the Laying on of Hands. It was a very moving service. In August we will have an opportunity to take part in a Service of Prayer for Healing and Wholeness. Check your newsletter then for more information.
Why a Healing Service?
God’s word invites us to:
- Come
Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” - Call
James 5:14 “Call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.” - Ask
Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you will find.”
Hebrews 4:16 “Come boldly before the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” - Know
Ephesians 3:20 “Know…Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge and is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”
In his ministry Jesus performed many different acts of healing, forgiving sins, casting out demons, curing physical diseases. At his command, his disciples continued a ministry of healing which included the laying on of hands and anointing with oil.
The Church continues these practices as a part of its ministry in Christ’s name. Laying on of hands and anointing the sick are associated with intercession and the gifts of God’s spirit. They express the church’s earnest intercession for those in need of healing. In Biblical times, oil was a symbol of God’s healing properties.
This service is for healing of every kind, whether physical, spiritual, or emotional. As Christians, we believe God is the source of wholeness in our lives. Therefore it is appropriate for us to conduct prayers for wholeness and healing. Some of us need healing from broken relationships; some of us need healing from psychological distress; some of us need the gift of physical healing. None of us is exempt from needing God’s healing presence in our lives.
May Health Be With You,
Sharon Pipe