Pastoral Care
Card Ministry
After each Wednesday Healing Service the group sends out birthday, anniversary, get well and sympathy cards to members of our community to share that they are being remembered and prayed for by their church. This is a tangible reminder that we don’t walk this journey alone. As the church we are called to share in each other’s joys and sorrows; burdens and celebrations.
Eucharistic Visitors
Eucharistic Visitors provide the bread and wine to those who are unable to attend services at St. Peter’s Church on a regular basis. Visits take place at nursing homes, the parishioner’s home, or the hospital. Our visits begin with a friendly smile, news from the pews, and empathetic listening. During an abbreviated service, communion is shared. Occasionally the visitor is asked to read certain prayers or psalms. A normal visit lasts from a half hour to an hour.
Visitors can take communion after church on Sundays or during the week. Our Rector trains and approves all visitors.
What better way to touch the lives of the homebound than to provide the bread of life and the cup of salvation? It’s hard to tell who benefits most: the receiver or the provider.
Homebound Mailing
Every week we send the Sunday worship leaflet and weekly prayer list to members in our community who can no longer attend worship services. We feel it is very important that our members stay connected and continue to feel a part of our community. This mailing is a visible reminder that we are all members of the Body of Christ.
St. Peter's Purlers (formerly known as the Knitwits)
There is a closet full of yarn and it's calling us!
If you enjoy knitting and/or crocheting or would like to learn, we invite you to join us as we revive our knitting group, now called the St. Peter's Purlers. We gather to do handwork while sharing our skills, enjoying each other’s company, and creating pieces that bring joy and warmth to members of our community and members of our companion churches in Guatemala. We also have members who work at home. We have knitted or crocheted many prayer shawls, scarves and prayer pals (small knitted squares) that have been a blessing and a comfort to others. Any form of handwork is welcome and some of our projects are just for fun or learning new techniques!
No skills are needed to be a Purler; you can come and learn. If, however, you have a skill, this would be a wonderful place to share it. Another way to share this ministry is to donate 3 matching skeins of Lion Brand “homespun” yarn.
The St. Peter's Purlers meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 11:00 am in the Parish Hall. Feel free to bring your lunch. For more information, contact Janice Solla at 215-407-7723 (phone calls or text messages).
Our prayer shawls are blessed before they are given and have a tag that says: “Made with love and prayers by the St. Peter's Purlers of St. Peter’s Church, Glenside, PA.”
If you would like to learn more about prayer shawls, visit: www.shawlministry.com.
Mary Pat's Cookies
This ministry was named for Pat Hoar who began the ministry years ago and Mary Couch who continued it. During the Christmas season, we ask members to bake cookies for our shut-ins. Volunteer visitors deliver the cookies, calendars, and notes to them the week before Christmas. This is one of the ways that St. Peter’s maintains our connections with members who can no longer come to church.
Prayer List
St. Peter’s Church maintains a Prayer List of those in special need of prayer. Updated weekly, copies are available in the church mailbox (marked “Prayer List”) or by email. Please contact the church office to add someone to the list. The list includes church members and members of the wider community who are in hospital or rehab, the recently bereaved, those with current or long-term illness or problems, the homebound, those in hospice care, the military, and the clergy. Occasionally, a sudden need arises and prayers are requested by phone or special email.
People on the Prayer List are held up in prayer each Wednesday at the healing service (9:30 a.m.) in the Chapel. Church members who pick up the Prayer list from the mailbox or who receive it by email each week offer intercessory prayers at home during the week using either a Litany for Healing (which can be supplied) or their own prayers.
All are invited to come to the Wednesday healing service or to receive the Prayer List. All you need is a belief in the power of prayer. To receive the Email Prayer List or to become part of the Prayer Chain ministry, please call or email the church office.