Making friends
Many people can experience loneliness at times in their lives, through a move, changed circumstances or loss. Churches are based on the idea of community and friendship and we have a particular heart for those who feel isolated or marginalised. Opportunities for finding friends include the Welcome Café held in the Church Hall on the last Friday of each month (details on the News and Events page) as well as the tea/coffee and chat after the Sunday services.
Please contact the Pastoral Care Coordinator if you wish to request any of the following services.
For those ill or in hospital
Being ill or in pain is often a frightening time and the prayer and support of the church can make a big difference. The Ministry team has good relationships with the chaplains at the Exeter hospitals and the hospice and can visit or arrange for you to be visited by a Chaplain if you become an in-patient.
Home Communions
As people get less physically mobile or less mentally agile, church worship can become too difficult to access. Being separated from your church family can be a real loss. Home Communion is available to anyone who would like to receive the sacrament at home, and clergy and laity visit on a monthly basis to those in their own homes or in a care home.
Home visits
Sometimes people need help to talk through an issue such as a strained relationship, a family worry, or they may have an immediate need or be experiencing a prolonged difficulty with their health or circumstances. Pastoral care is not counselling or therapy, and pastoral visitors are there to bring a Christian perspective to a situation. They may offer guidance about resources and encourage people to access support and services. Visits may be about enabling people to find healing and wholeness and reconciliation with others and with God.
Prayer requests
Prayer is one of the key ways in which we offer pastoral care and we carry each other’s burdens when we pray for each other. Prayer can be private and confidential or more public as people are prayed for by name in church. You can ask for someone to pray with you, or request that prayers be said.
There is book on the top of the pew by the church entrance where you can add names for prayer requests. These are usually mentioned in prayers at services.
Bereavement support
The Church of England has been helping people mark the end of life for generations. Often people have to plan a funeral with little or no prior experience of death, whilst in the midst of sorrow and loss and the Ministry Team works closely with families when preparing a funeral either in the run up to a death or after a death has occurred. Funerals in church are very special, as the loss of a loved one is placed in the context of the promise of Jesus of eternal life and the hope and comfort that brings.
Our care and support does not end at the funeral: we offer ongoing support. Our church is open during the day for you to visit for a time of peace and reflection. We offer special services of remembrance around the Festival of All Souls at the end of October and at Ottery Church there is a special Christmas service aimed at those who find the season painful. There is also an opportunity to attend a bereavement course usually a year after a death.
Supporting those in need
We have a drop off point at the back of our church for food bank donations, which are then taken to the food bank in Ottery St Mary. If you need to be referred to the food bank then please contact the Pastoral Care Coordinator.