Andrew Ministry Volunteer Teams
The death of a loved one can be among the most difficult and painful experiences a person will experience during their lifetime. At such a devastating time, it is important for a person who has experienced the death of a loved one to have a solid support system of other family members and friends. Through the Andrew Ministry, Christ Church United Methodist offers comfort, support, and fellowship by organizing refreshments or a meal for the family and friends of the deceased. Refreshments are an opportunity for our church family to reach out in Christian fellowship and compassion to fellow church members and their families during a difficult time in their lives and/or to pay our final respects to church members who are no longer with us. Death touches all of us at some point, and the work of the Andrew Ministry likely touches every church member at some point — as a deceased person for whom a funeral is held or as a grieving family member or friend in attendance at a visitation or funeral.
The Andrew Ministry offers the following volunteer opportunities:
- Funeral Refreshment Teams – The Andrew Ministry uses rotating teams to provide either homemade or commercially-prepared refreshments, side dishes, or desserts depending upon the type of reception chosen by a grieving family. As a volunteer, you will be assigned to one rotating team. Your team will decide which refreshments and beverages to serve. You will choose or be assigned a particular refreshment to provide.
- Substitute Funeral Refreshment Volunteers — The Andrew Ministry also retains a list of volunteers who are potentially willing to provide refreshments when a member of the rotating team on duty is not available for a particular funeral or for larger receptions requiring extra refreshments. The substitute list consists of both volunteers who are willing to serve only as an occasional substitute and volunteers willing to serve as substitutes for teams other than the rotating Funeral Refreshment Team to which they are assigned.
- Funeral Refreshment Team Leaders – Each rotating Refreshment Team will have a team leader who is responsible for the organizing the team’s work and communicating with their team members. Each team will also have a substitute leader in the event the team leader is unavailable.
- Funeral Hospitality Team – The Andrew Ministry has a list of volunteers who are potentially willing to participate in the set-up, service, and clean-up at a funeral reception or meal. Some funeral receptions occur on weekdays, and others occur on weekends. Volunteers will receive e-mail notification about the date and time of an upcoming funeral and the numbers of volunteers needed to fill hospitality roles. Volunteers can sign up when they are able to work at a particular funeral.
- Funeral Hospitality Team Leader – The Andrew Ministry has a Funeral Hospitality Leader who communicates with all potential Hospitality Team volunteers so they can sign up for an upcoming funeral. The Hospitality Team will have a substitute leader to help when the team leader is unavailable.
If you are interested in volunteering with the Andrew Ministry, please click on the below link and complete the volunteer interest form. The Andrew Ministry Leadership Team will contact you as we add more volunteers.
If you have any questions, please e-mail the Andrew Ministry Leadership Team at andrewministryccumwv@gmail.com.