St. James is a Stephen Ministry church. Lay people are equipped to provide one-to-one Christian care to people in our congregation and community who are experiencing difficulties in their lives. We all experience challenges in life - - times when we could benefit from care and support. Stephen Ministers can provide the emotional and spiritual care we need when faced with a crisis or difficulty.

PASTORAL CARE UPDATE

St. James has some exciting news to share regarding Pastoral Care. The Rev'd Dr. Sebastiana Springmann will now be the "Coordinator of Pastoral Care" for St. James. After her ordination to the priesthood, her title will be "Priest Associate for Pastoral Care." This means that Rev'd Sebastiana will be the central person for coordinating all Pastoral Care issues that might arise. Here is how it will work. All Pastoral Care input/requests will be sent to Rev'd Sebastiana, regardless of their source. She will then triage the information and pass the need along to the Pastoral Care Ministry that can best meet the need. For instance, if someone cannot make it to church, and would like communion brought to them, Rev'd Sebastiana will send that information to the person who coordinates Eucharistic Visitors. If there is a loss, and the person would benefit from receiving the Grief Booklets, that information will be passed along to the person who coordinates that ministry. We are thrilled to now have a "Clearing House" for all Pastoral Care needs. This will certainly enhance the delivery of Pastoral Care services to the members of St. James.
If you have any questions about all of this, please contact: Rev'd Sebastiana: (352) 460-1806 / Revsebast>iana@stjames-leesburg.org

EUCHARISTIC VISITORS

Supposed you had planned to go to a big family party, and at the last minute you became ill and were not able to attend. Imagine how disappointed you would feel! The rest of the family would also be disappointed, feeling said that you could not be a part of the festivities. Someone at the party suggests that they take you a piece of cake from the family celebration, hoping that this would be a way to make you a part of the celebration, even though you couldn’t be there physically with the rest of the family. Imagine how wonderful you would feel about being included in a special way.
This is exactly the purpose of the Eucharistic Visitor Ministry. We at St. James do indeed have a big “family celebration” every Sunday, and when someone is unable to be with us physically we feel the loss. We try to make them feel included by taking a part of our feast from Sunday morning directly to them.

INTERCESSORY PRAYER GROUP

As Christians, we all realize the power of prayer. An Intercessory Prayer Group has been established at St. James to promote this process. The purpose of this group, which is open to all members of St. James, is to have a venue for the immediate implementation of an intercessory prayer request. The way it works is quite simple: when a Prayer Request is received by St. James, notification is sent via email to everyone in this group. Members of the Intercessory Prayer Group then pray for that person and their need. The only requirements of this group are:
1. Be willing to pray for people in need.
2. Have a viable email address so that you can receive the information.

GRIEF BOOKLETS
In support of anyone who has experienced a significant loss, St. James provides a series of booklets designed to help people with the grieving process. This series, “Journeying Through Grief”, is a set of four short books sent to people at four crucial times during the first year after a loss. While these books can’t tell a person exactly how they should grieve, they can help someone understand how grief works. These booklets may be requested by any member of St. James for anyone they know who has suffered a loss.