Dr. Richard Dayringer, Director of Care Ministry

There are two types of volunteer lay care roles: Lay Care Ministers and Lay Care Visitors.  Each is an important part of our church.

1. Lay Care Ministers (LCM's) receive special training primarily for the purpose of visiting members of our congregation who are hospitalized or are to undergo surgical or special diagnostic procedures.  LCM's also visit people who are homebound or in nursing homes.  Their training consists of classroom lectures and practice concerning applicable princliples  and methodology for appropriately interacting with the patients and their families.  Individuals are certified by FUMC as LCM's after satifactory completion of the training.  As LCM's, they work closely and are supervised by FUMC ministerial care staff.
2. Lay Care Visitors (LCV's) who previously served on the Visitation Team have been combined with the LCM Team.  LCV's visit and/or phone individuals who are homebound or in nursing homes to express the continued interest of our church, provide friendship and fellowship, and attempt to assure their needs are met.  No special training is required and the LCV's do not make hospital visits.  They come under the same ministerial care staff supervision as the LCM Team.

Lay Care Minister Certification Training

The certification training of LCM's is developed and taught by Reverend Dr. Richard Dayringer.  Richard is an ordained minister, a nationally recognized educator and authority in pastoral care, and the author of serveral books in this field.  The initial certification training consists of four sessions of approximately three hours each.  Each session will consist of lectures concerning pastoral care principles and appropriate visitation techniques  and of role-playing to gain experience in applying the concepts discussed.  In addition, some outside reading will be assigned and a hospital visit with Dr. Dayringer is required.  Upon satisfactory completion, the person will be certified and consecrated as a LCM.

Lay Care Minister Commitment

The reason for training and certifying LCM's is to supplement the care ministry of the ministerial staff.  As church attendance grows, the care ministry requirements increase beyond the abilities of the staff to properly meet all the needs.  Thus, each LCM commits to make themselves available to:

1. Visit those already hospitalized.
2. Meet with those who are to undergo either inpatient or outpatient surgical or diagnostic procedures.
3. Visit those who are homebound or in nursing homes.

While hospital, homebound, or nursing home visits can generally be made during the day at a time convenient for the visitor, being with a patient and their family prior to surgical or diagnostic procedures requires visiting at a specific time, often early in the morning.  Further, LCM's may occasionally be asked to consider making visits to either Tulsa or Joplin.

The time requirement will be dependent upon the number of certified LCM's and the level of service desired by each LCM.  As a minimum, a LCM should be willing to cover local care visitation needs one day every two weeks.