Bishop Commissions Pastoral Visiting Team

On Sunday, April 8, Bishop Jane visited St. Luke’s Anglican Church in Edmonton to commission eight parishioners in a newly developed team for pastoral visiting.

The Ven. Richard King, rector of St. Luke’s, is fond of reminding parishioners that each one is uniquely gifted by God; that those gifts are needed for the church to grow to maturity (1 Corinthians 12:4-7); and that individual Christians need to exercise their gifts in order to grow as well. With all that in mind during a meeting of St. Luke’s Ministry Leadership Team, King asked whether anyone had an idea to do something that would allow them to use their gifts, and the idea came up of visiting home-bound people who could no longer attend services. That idea resonated strongly with a number of other parishioners and quickly transformed into a full-fledged Pastoral Visiting Team. One team member said she had been wondering what she might get involved in, but as soon as she saw the notice about the team, she knew it was for her.

The development of gifts-based mission and ministry is a key aspect of the ‘I.D. framework for discipleship’ that King is involved in bringing to the diocese. It focuses on the fivefold ministries of Christ listed in Ephesians 4. He says he looks forward to seeing many more parishioners grow and flourish through the exercise of their gifts.