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          Next IPNRC Course    

Baptist Union Promotes Health Ministry & Parish Nursing   

Parish Nursing featured in Baptist Times
(this is a large 3.5MB PDF file)

    The 2007 UK Newsletter 

Christmas 2007 Newsletter

To all Parish Nurses, their friends and supporters, and those interested in Parish Nursing

The work of Parish Nursing Ministries UK is growing quietly and steadily, continuing to maximize the wellbeing of society in community through three specific means: application of professional nursing skills; response to people's inner (spiritual) needs; and mobilisation of ordinary members of church communities and beyond. A parish nurse helps the church members to be able to offer the community “whole person health care”. 

Parish Nurses, congregations and PNMUK Trustees share the feeling that this is a movement of God’s desiring, and we have much to celebrate.

This pioneering model is proving effective in the delivery of better quality of life in communities in at least four ways:

1. members of the public in the orbit of a church community can receive co-ordinated preventative health care that recognises their spiritual needs along with their physical wellbeing;

2. Christians who are nurses experience a reconnection of their professional life with their faith life;
3. churches and the wider community find themselves enabled, motivated and empowered to contribute to the wellbeing of people around them;

4. professional organisations and Primary Care Trusts are welcoming the input of properly-managed professionals who can also mobilise supervised voluntary involvement.

So as more projects get established, and interest increases, the Trustees have decided to celebrate and rededicate the work that has been built up over 4 years. There is to be a special service to start the year and we hope that you, as someone who has expressed interest or is actively involved with Parish Nursing, will take part in one of the following ways:

1. Come along on Sunday 6 January ( for more details please email)  

2. Join in prayer at the same time from where you are

3. Commend the work of PNMUK to the prayers of your congregation during January

4. Send a prayer, greeting, or blessing to be incorporated in the service at Dunchurch

Feel free to use the trifold leaflet to help explain to others about the work. In addition you might like to know that our current developments include: 

-  building networks of prayer partners and supporters
-  introducing Parish Nursing Ministries to more churches in the UK
-  developing information and study resources available to individuals and churches 

If you would like to be a prayer supporter and receive news updates by email, please contact us through the website or by phone.

Financial support comes from voluntary donations from individuals and churches with a little from Trusts, and we are deeply grateful for all that has been and may be received, so that this work can grow. 

With warm greetings for Christmas and the New Year. 
Yours sincerely


Revd. Helen Wordsworth, 
UK Coordinator, Parish Nursing Ministries UK

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Next IPNRC Courses  

July 28-31 Dunchurch, Warwickshire

January 19-22 2009 Midlands

Basic Preparation for Registered Nurses     
at Princethorpe, near Coventry. 

 ...please do get in touch if you or someone you know would like to come on that course.

Acceptance of the guidelines must be signed and returned along with an application form which is available here:            

  PDF format

The Guidelines acceptance to accompany the application is [here].

A job description for a Parish Nurse can be seen [here].

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NEWSLETTER 2007
(PDF)

Stories from parish nurses


“A member of the church, had been unwell for some months prior to my involvement 
suffering with extreme joint pain, fever lethargy and depression. Her condition remained undiagnosed for many months.

During my assessment it was evident that she was also suffering from spiritual distress and was a very scared and broken person.

I visited her weekly to offer my presence. Her despair was very painful to witness. I was unsure how I could be of any help. She felt separated from her Lord ...unable to read, pray or connect to Him due to her physical, mental and spiritual distress. All areas of her life, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual were painful; the spiritual pain was the most frightening for her. We spent time together, planning how to address her spiritual distress, we prayed. At times I wondered if I was able to help at all.....she tells me now the most important thing during that time was my presence and our time of prayer.

She is still recovering and has recovered enough to attend some Sunday services. “

“A blood pressure check after the morning service at Church led to a timely referral for a client to see her GP.  As a result, her BP was monitored for 24 hours by her doctor and treatment and support was initiated.”


"Carers look after family, partners or friends in need of help because they are ill, frail of have a disability. The care they provide is free. As part of National Carers week we decided to hold a Thanksgiving service. The service was designed by our local carer support worker, curate & myself and included a poem writer by a local carer describing his wife’s relentless physical decline with MS and an address by a minister who had previously been a psychiatric nurse. Candles were lit as local statutory & voluntary services pledged future support for carers and the service with tea & cakes. 45 people attended; all found it moving & helpful & we have decided to repeat it next year but to advertise more widely.”



“The management of the local care home have been enthusiastic supporters of Parish Nursing from the moment I went to talk to them in September of 2005. They offered, free of charge, the use of a peaceful, comfortable room called the Sanctuary. This is where each Tuesday morning residents, congregation and people from the community come to meet the Parish Nurse. They are able to speak of their problems, receive a listening ear, some medical advice and a prayerful response. The Sanctuary is a tiny oasis within the turmoil of the deprivation and social problems of the local council estate. In providing this haven the care home team has demonstrated a godly generosity which has enabled the elderly and the community to come together in a wonderful new way.” 

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