There really is no place like home, at least in Gadsden, where Jim and LaWanda White are leading volunteers from the Goodyear Heights Baptist Church in a new ministry to persons who are homebound in their community.
The ministry, named “Home Ministry,” began in September 2002 but actually has roots that reach far back into Jim and LaWanda White’s personal experience of faith and caregiving.
“My father loved church and served as a deacon for many years, and he was absolutely heartbroken when his Parkinson’s finally became so bad that he couldn’t attend services,” LaWanda White said.
Her father passed away in 2001, sending the Whites into a year of prayerful consideration of the needs of other homebound persons and their families. “As caregivers we found that when someone first gets sick there are many visits and calls but during times of extended illness many people fall through the cracks,” LaWanda White said.
A series of events during that year moved along the idea of home ministry, including a teaching series on spiritual gifts by Goodyear Heights Pastor Tommy Ferguson and a teacher training event at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega.
“We were enjoying the teaching and thinking about ministry,” the Whites recalled, “when we picked up a LifeWay pamphlet entitled How to Start and Maintain a Homebound Ministry.”
“Jim and I had dodged the issue for a while, but then we had an idea of where we could begin,” LaWanda White said. “We reflected on how the Lord had sent His Comforter to us and we wanted to be a part of sharing His comfort with others.”
The Whites compiled a list of homebound people in their church and community and circulated a flyer asking members of their congregation to adopt one person from the list for one year. Volunteers commit to make a 30-minute visit each week and to attend a ministry meeting with other volunteers once a month. The strategy is loosely modeled on the FAITH outreach program, with emphases on ministry, training and celebration.
Visitors represent a cross section of the congregation at Goodyear Heights. Men and women, singles and marrieds, senior adults and high school students are all taking part in this growing ministry.
“Our WMU ladies prepared Christmas gift baskets for homebound members last year and they were so well received we decided to do Easter baskets for them as well,” Jim White said. “We didn’t realize, though, that people this age had never received Easter baskets. Some had prepared them for their children, but none had ever received one personally. We decided then to try to find other ways to surprise them.”
Currently, 14 volunteers visit 24 homes each week. Visitors take to the homebound Sunday School and devotional literature as well as videotapes of all weekly services at Goodyear Heights, but the regular contact with homebound people and their caregivers is the primary objective.
“We want to understand their needs and help where we can, but we mostly want to help them stay connected to the church family,” LaWanda White said.
“We update them on the ways the Lord is blessing our church, we try to enroll each person we see in a Sunday School class for additional follow-up, and we always ask our homebound members to pray for the church,” she continued. “We know that many of these folks have been faithful prayer warriors for years, and we want to encourage them to keep praying. Homebound people are still very important to churches.”
The home ministry is not only revitalizing relationships, it is also evangelizing the lost. One volunteer became involved in ministry with a homebound neighbor who came to faith in Christ just weeks before his death. In another circumstance, two volunteers were converted through their involvement with homebound believers.
“Late in my father’s illness,” recalled LaWanda White, “our pastor and deacons came out to visit and to share the Lord’s Supper with him.
“It was a very moving moment for all of us, but I especially noticed an impact on our home health aide,” she said. “She was not a Christian then and has not come to Christ since, but we’re still in touch and talk about my dad’s faith. You never know how God can use a simple thing like a home visit.”
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