How to use this network

[Lisa Copen]

I hope that we can network the efforts and resources together of those who serve people who live with chronic illness, disabilities, mental illness and those who are caregivers for them. This is a network for professionals in the serving role.

By "professional" it could be someone with a heart for those with chronic illness who is the moderator of an online Christian group for people with fibromyalgia. However, our main goal is to aso network the many people who work in the fields such as
-parish nurses
-chaplains
-Christian doctors
-Christian counselors
-chaplians
-Disability coordinators
-Ministry founders
-Authors/speakers who have a passion in this area

We'd prefer to keep this group as professional at "to the point" as possible, which means staying on the topic of ministry issus related to our audience's need, how to create more awareness and change within our churches, how to grow small groups, and create strong relationships among those who deal with physical and mental challeges, etc.

It is my greatest hope you will use this as THE HUB for all things related to you ministry so that when an event occurs, such as a Disability Awarness Sunday, you will let us know the time/place, materials you used and then follow up with how it went and what you'd do differently.

Please share your calendar events so that
-we can attend your events
-we can tell those we serve about them
-we can pray for you!

Please share resources, books, lists of references, videos, etc. that you use in your ministry.

For some of you starting your own Ning site and "making friends" (connecting with others here) will seem easy and you may end up using the Ning site as your main web site. For others, you may end up just posting a little and using it as a resource to gather information. Please take a few evenings to browse through the different areas of our web site to see what is available and the potential!

I have wanted to create a "place" for this kind of networking for some time but wanted to find the right web service to do it with. I hope you find Ning helpful and pretty user-friendly. It's rather new, but is founded by the man who started Netscape - so it should be good and be around for awhile!

Plus, you can actually start your own GROUP under this network. So, if you wanted to begin a group for people who are in your state you could do that. Or maybe people who reach out to children with illness, adults with mental disabilities, a HopeKeepers Group, Joni and Friends Group, or a ministry in certain denomination. All of these can have separate "forums/networks" under this umbrella to exchange information.

And when God calls someone to enter the field of disability, illness, or caregiver ministry, and they find us... I hope they can sigh in relief!

Lastly, let's connect! As the founder of Rest Ministries I see a lot of people doing amazing work, but oftentimes we overlap our efforts and just keep re-creating some of the same "stuff." If we shared some of what we use (like materials to start a new ministry) we may be able to work with one another an expand it to make it even more effective!

Blessings to you and may God bless our new networking tool!

Lisa Copen
Coordinator
Ilness, Disability, Caregiver and Healthcare Ministry Network

[Angela Dobbins]

Lisa, what a wonderful idea! I look forward to using and participating in this great network. And I'll be praying for God's hand to remain upon it, that it may continue to grow and develop according to His will and to the vision He has placed within your heart.

May God bless you abundantly!

Angela Dobbins