This article is from the EMU News Archive. Current EMU new is available at www.emu.edu/news

EMU Alumni and Pastors Promoting Healthcare Access

It's easy to drive right past the modest building along busy Rt. 11 just south of the city of Winchester, but it would be unfortunate to miss the exciting goings-on inside.

The Stephens City Mennonite Church, helmed by Jim Musser, an EMU grad, and his wife Aldine, a current EMS student, is taking the health and well-being of both its members and residents of the surrounding community seriously.

It’s both an extension of the congregation's spiritual vitality and a response to a healthcare access resolution that delegates passed at the biennial Mennonite Church USA biennial assembly in July 2005.

More than half the congregations in Mennonite Church USA have less than 60 members. These churches are often unable to hire a full-time pastoral leader, much less provide adequate healthcare coverage for them.

So the Mussers have teamed with a local RN and social worker, also an EMU grad, to make a difference.

Stephens City Mennonite Church co-pastors Jim and Aldine Musser check the library of healthcare resources available to church members.
Photo by Jim Bishop

The Stephens City congregation is typical in that its regular attendance averages 60-75, not so typical in that the group is nearly equally divided between ethnic and first-generation Mennonites with many professional people. A Korean group meets at the church Sunday afternoon, and the two groups do interrelate.

Jim and Aldine Musser are co-pastors, giving leadership on the equivalent of one full-time position, for nearly five years. He also works at Grafton School in Winchester, and she teaches part time at Sylvan Learning Center and Frederick County Public Schools.

Before this, they spent 17 years in leadership roles at Bethany Birches Camp and at Bethany Mennonite Church in Vermont.

Jim is a 1975 graduate of Eastern Mennonite University and has attended Eastern Mennonite Seminary. Aldine graduated from Hesston College, Millersville (PA) University and the College of St. Josephs. She currently commutes to Eastern Mennonite Seminary for part-time study.

Congregational Care Commission

The church’s congregational care commission started conversations on how to address healthcare issues in September 2004. Awareness was heightened in response to MCUSA’s promptings to address this critical issue.

In September 2005, about 10 persons began a study using the "Healing Healthcare" guide that Aldine received as a delegate at the MCUSA Assembly.

Joan Rosenberger, a registered nurse in the surgical unit at Winchester Medical Center, volunteered to serve as parish nurse in the congregation and was subsequently commissioned for the role on Oct. 9, 2005.

It started out simply, with Joan offering monthly blood pressure checks to congregants.

Other preventative care services followed – promoting regular exercise and good nutrition habits, recommending flu and pneumonia shots, overseeing storage of reusable medical equipment at the church, keeping first-aid supplies current at the church and providing a resource library on healthcare concerns, including materials from Mennonite Mutual Aid.

Monitoring Congregation Members

A person can have high blood pressure and not show any symptoms, Joan notes. She does monitorings following the worship service, and about 10 persons take advantage of this opportunity each time.

"I’m not working at this alone," Joan points out. "I call other persons in the congregation to assist with wellness programs. There’s a parish nurse network that holds a monthly meeting that I connect with for resources and continuing education.

Joan Rosenberger does a blood pressure check on Byung Bum (Mi Young) Chum of Strasburg, Va. She attends Stephens City Mennonite Church Sundays and ESL classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. She moved to the U.S. this past summer from Korea.
Photo by Jim Bishop

Joan has brought in a person to help members do advance directives, a legal document that spells out what kind of care a person wants to have if he or she becomes unable to make medical decisions.

The church held a "Ladies Night" focus on health issues, and the women's group held a wellness retreat. Other church members have led CPR and first-aid classes and promoted awareness of addiction seminars.

"Parish nursing is rewarding," she says. "I feel like I have more time to work directly with people and help them with their needs," adding that "it makes a big difference if the pastor and other leadership people are supportive, and Jim and Aldine certainly are."

Joan works closely with the congregation's social worker, Sheri B. Reed, who also volunteered for her role this fall. Sheri, who has been a family services worker with the Frederick County Department of Social Services in Winchester five years, is a 1992 graduate of Eastern Mennonite University.

'Resource for the Community'

Sheri says she "seeks to be a resource person for the community," offering referrals when someone calls or shows up unexpectedly on the church's doorstep.

"Our church doesn't have the resources for many of these needs, but I help put persons needing food, shelter, medical attention or in abusive situations in touch with agencies that can help," Sheri notes.

A church newsletter and regular bulletin announcements help keep Joan and Sheri visible in the congregation. A plethora of information and resource materials on health-related issues is readily available.

"Wholeness and well-being is the goal," Jim notes. "We want everything we're doing in this arena to be seen as a shared ministry, as an opportunity for persons to feel the touch of God.

"How did Jesus relate to people? He responded to their total needs – spiritual, physical, emotional," Aldine states. "All of us are ‘broken’ in some way and need God's healing touch.

"We’ve dealt with some difficult issues and major health-related needs in the congregation," so these initiatives have been sorely needed, welcomed and beneficial, they add.

What's Next: Healing Service

The Mussers freely admit they’re "not altogether sure" where all this is going, but one certainty is the next step – an anointing/healing service set for February 2007 as the morning worship service.

As healthcare efforts continue to unfold at Stephens City, "Being open is so important, listening to people’s hearts," Jim and Aldine add. “Having someone available to listen opens up all kinds of opportunities, including reaching into the larger community for assistance."

The key, the Mussers declare, is to "start slow, connect with people and who you already are. Our response emerged from within the congregation and spread from there."

Sounds like a healthy approach to ministry.

— article by: Jim Bishop; posted December 18, 2006