Caring and wellness
We are pilgrims on a journey, fellow travelers on the road. We are here to help each other, walk the mile and bear the load.
We Are Pilgrims, Voices United 595
Highlands has a strong volunteer-led caring ministry group that offers support in the difficult patches of our life’s journey.
Volunteers offer hospital, care home and at-home visits for those who are struggling with failing health, grief, or any number of other life circumstances. For those who need ongoing support we provide circles of accompaniment — a caring group of individuals selected to help you walk the road you're on.
Healing hands
The Healing Hands Ministry is one part of the caring ministries of Highlands and as such follows the tradition of Jesus' stories and Gospel teachings about people getting better in the presence of divine energy and love. It is seen as a gift of the Holy Spirit and is offered in the context of prayer. It was instituted by the Highlands Board in 1995 and recently became a part of each Communion Service with the laying-on of hands. Sessions are free and have long been a source of comfort and renewal to many in the congregation and wider community.
This ministry will be offering healing sessions at 12:30pm and 1:30 pm on the second Wednesday of the month. If you'd like to book a session, please contact Lorraine Elliott.
Hospital visits
Tanis van Drimmelen, a trained visitor with a compassionate heart, is our designated hospital, palliative, and hospice visitor. If you or someone you know is in need of a hospital visit, please call the church office at 604-980-6071 or contact Tanis directly. It takes all of us being aware to ensure that everyone in the congregation receives a caring visit.
Care facilities
Moving into a care facility is a big adjustment, and folks from the congregation can lose touch with their faith community. Highlands’ caring ministry has appointed a visitor for each North Shore senior care facility and/or independent assisted living facility that is home to a Highlands person. These visitors connect regularly, bringing news of friends at Highlands and ongoing activities at the church, and offering some caring faith resources.
If you know someone who has moved to a residential care facility and would like a visit, please get in touch with Jacqueline Scott, Will Sparks, Julie Lees or Colleen Blair.
If you’d like to be part of the caring and compassionate team that visit folks in one of these facilities or be on the sub/alternate visitor list, call the church office at 604-980-6071 or contact Jacqueline Scott.
At-home ministry
As people live longer and remain in their own homes, there can be some acute loneliness in that decision. Visits and friends are more important than ever. Highlands' at-home caring ministry tries to ensure that people living alone get caring phone calls.
Would you like to be a caring contact for the at-home people? Contact Doree Piercy through the church office at 604-980-6071.
Circles of accompaniment
Life throws curves, and sometimes people in the Highlands congregation need support if they’re going through a temporary transition or challenging time. Circles of accompaniment are formed to travel with these individuals, to provide systematic, deliberate, and timely support.
If you, a member of your family, or someone you know in the congregation would benefit from this kind of support, call the church office at 604-980-6071, or contact our ministers Will Sparks or Julie Lees.
Prayer requests
Every week at Highlands United, people who are concerned, worried, thankful, or mindful of someone or something particular add that mindfulness to the prayer list.
Sometimes people add their concerns to the prayer list left open at the back of the church; sometimes they add their thoughts in the chat box online during the Sunday worship service; sometimes they contact the church office directly.
Highlands doesn’t forget those concerns and gratitudes. A small prayer team whose spiritual practice includes regular prayer is informed so that people with concerns aren’t concerned in isolation. Contact the prayer team if you'd like to be added to our list or if you'd like to be part of the prayer team.