Small church reaches nursing home residents

Posted: 9/29/07

Small church reaches nursing home residents

By George Henson

Staff Writer

EWETT—Worshippers tapped fingers and feet as they sang songs closest to their hearts—“I’ll Fly Away,” “I’ve Got a Mansion” and “I’m in the Gloryland Way.” A guitar, keyboard and tambourine accompanied a five-member choir.

The worship service filled with glory—and gusto—was in a nursing home.

Members of Ephesus Baptist Church in Jewett led services at Copper Creek Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Buffalo. They also lead worship at another nursing home in Longview.

Before the service started, volunteers hugged necks and kissed cheeks of the many residents they called by name.

Pastor Ray Payne was front-and-center in the activity, greeting residents with a contagious enthusiasm.

“Every time we come down here, I get encouraged,” he told his congregation of the day. “I just love to get together with the saints of God.”

Payne preaches, strums the guitar and leads the music, but the ministry really is one “I just show up for,” he said. “The rest of them are the ones who do all the work.”

Payne gives credit to Ginger and Blago Kovacevich for organizing the ministry. About a dozen volunters from Ephesus help lead worship at the nursing homes.

“I’ve been blessed with a good bunch,” said Payne, who has been pastor at the Jewett church since 1987. “We’ve done a lot of ministry through the years, and they’re always ready to do something new.”

In addition to the nursing home ministry, the church also has been involved in prison ministry since 1991, including working closely with a foundation that raises money to buy electronics for the prison chapel and toiletry items for prisoners who don’t have anyone to help them.

The church also has a food pantry for families in need in the community and is in the process of building a gym they hope will be a place for the community to gather.

“I’ve been amazed at the way God has worked in our bunch,” Payne said. “But it’s who we are; it’s what we do. We just want to minister in Jesus’ name.”

But he confesses when the nursing home ministry started almost 10 years ago, he wasn’t eager to take part.

“When I first started doing nursing home ministry, it was a chore, but now it’s a joy,” Payne said. The nursing home residents have become a second and third congregation for him.

He has baptized several people from the nursing homes, and he also has performed several funerals.

The Ephesus ministry team also has brought to the residents what they can no longer go to.

“Sometimes we go down there and do the Lord’s Supper because they don’t get to services anymore and we also have memorial services from time to time because so many of them lose friends and they never get to attend the funeral service.”

While many churches minister in nursing homes, the fact Ephesus Baptist Church can do it shows the ministry is possible for any church, regardless of size, Payne said.

“If we can do it, it can be done anywhere. We’re just a dirt-road country church.”