Asbury United Methodist Church
Thursday, February 23, 2012
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Lend-A-Hand Ministry“Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand” Philippians 2:4
Overview of Ministry:
This ministry is to provide non-emergency small home repairs. The outreach program will start within the congregation of Asbury United Methodist Church (AUMC) however is intended to grow throughout the community encompassing a 10 mile area around the church.
Who Will Provide This Ministry:
This ministry started with one of the small groups that participated in the “40 days of community” study. This group will welcome any person wanting to serve others through this ministry.
Services That Are Provided:
The following is a list of suggested services that can be provided but is not intended to be inclusive:
Will try to suggest a consulting or referral service for those tasks the ministry will not be doing.
Time The Services Be Provided:
The intent is to provide the services as soon as possible. Many of these can be provided within the week of notification; however some of the more difficult services will be performed over the week-end.
Who to contact:
Those needing service should contact Asbury United Methodist Church office at 205-995-1700, or email your request to RalphCarrigan@charter.net.
Questions and Answers:
Q1 - Are there any sort of criteria that one has to meet in order to be able to use this service or is it open to anyone who asks for it? The problem with criteria is that someone(s) has to perform the screening process and the problem with no criteria is the risk that people might take advantage of it. The screening cannot be done by the church office. The easiest way is to take anyone who asks but there is a risk of resentment when someone calls to have storm windows installed, for example, and they are denied. This becomes even a bigger problem when you go outside the church simply because of the numbers involved. You can assume that shame alone would stop people from taking advantage of the program but shame doesn't always work.
A1 - The group discussed this and decided to keep it open. We considered limiting services by age and then decided that a young single mom may need our help more than most. We discussed other criteria and after much discussion decided to just keep it open. This is why we decided to add “Will provide consulting service and referrals for those items the ministry does not repair.” This way we never say no. If we think the person is taking advantage of the team then we can just offer consulting services.
Q2 - Even if you take whoever calls you run the risk of being adopted by the chronic lonely or the slightly unstable. What starts out as a good deed turns into a lifelong chore. Who makes the call when to say no?
A2 - Group decided that the lonely and slightly unstable should be loved as well. We just decided that we would handle this as the need arose and see what we could do to steer them to other support groups.
Q3 - Cost - Who pays for the supplies used in the repairs? The same issues as in #1 above come into play plus the fact that you have to have a source of funds if you decide that the church pays. In any case you will have situations where people can't afford it and someone(s) has to make that call unless you pay for everyone.
A3 - Group decided that we would not ask the church to set up a fund and that since we are starting out with projects that are very small we would raise fund to pay for the cost ourselves. We think that the reverse would be true that people would want to give us something for our service to them and we decided that if they are persistent then we would take their funds and use it to help the next person.
Q4 - Does the church or an individual incur any liability when we winterize a house and something freezes? This is maybe a minor issue but one that has to be considered.
A4 – The group discussed this issue as it was brought up in fixing a toilet and thus caused or continued a leak. The question was would we be responsible for any water bill if the toilet continue to leak or worst cause damage to a floor etc. I really do not know how to resolve this issue and will continue to get input form others as we discuss this between other members of the church.
Q5 - Do you send a lone male to do work for a single female? Do sending 2 males solve the problem or must you send a woman also? Don't underestimate the chance that someone will claim that something happened.
A5 - Group discussed this and decided to always send at least one male and one female for the reasons that are mentioned above. The male may do the repairs and the female spend time with the person. I hope that this ministry starts with the senior members of Asbury and we believe many could be lonely and just need someone to talk too.
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