| What is the history of your single parent ministry? When was it founded? |
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The Hopewell Single Parent Ministry was founded under the leadership of Minister Debbie Rauch. As a new member at Hopewell, Ms. Rauch found a gap in services, namely the absence of a single parent ministry. A single mother of two young girls, Ms. Rauch researched the possibility of creating a single parent ministry at “The Well” as it is affectionately called.
After researching statistics to show need and other ministries to show success, Ms. Rauch presented her findings to Pastor Sheals. Seeing the need for outreach devoted exclusively to ministering to the needs of single parents, Pastor Sheals rewarded Ms. Rauch’s zeal and leadership by appointing her Single Parent Ministry Leader.
Ms. Rauch served as Single Parent Ministry Leader for five years. Under her leadership, this ministry developed into a model of education, compassion and outreach. Spiritual development was and still remains a priority of this ministry but outreach and service to themselves and others has also been incorporated into their mission.
After becoming a minister, Ms. Rauch turned over leadership of the Ministry but she still remains active and is honored yearly during the Founder’s Day Celebration. |
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| What is your mission? |
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Our mission is to empower single parents utilizing biblical principles to support them in their high calling of parenthood. |
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| Do you have a singles ministry as well? If so, what is the difference? |
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Yes, our church offers both ministries because single parents and single individuals have different needs and different concerns.
For single parents, their children are their focus. Because of the many challenges of parenthood, single parents are instructed to first seek guidance from Christ for instructions in raising their children. One of the charges regarding children comes from Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it”.
That is the focus of a single parent. A single person with no children will have a very different focus.
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| What programs and services do you offer? |
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We offer spiritual enrichment, support and activities for single parents in our ministry. Because education is our focus, we offer a structured educational curriculum during the latter half of our ministry meetings.
Our curriculum covers the following topics:
- Look at your present situation and God’s willingness to help
- God’s promise of comfort to the single parent
- Maintaining purity as a single parent
- Are you a single parent with a live-in mate
- Establishing a balanced life
- Coping with stress while getting the job done
- Budgeting
We also use other single parent organizations as a referral resource to our parents when specific needs may occur. As our ministry continues to grow we desire to increase this resource program. |
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| Do you serve only members of your church? |
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Our ministry to open to anyone in the community. |
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| How does one become a part of this ministry? |
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Information can be obtained by calling the church directly to be connected directly to the Single Parents Ministry voicemail box. |
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| How often do you meet? |
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We meet monthly for regular meetings on the 2nd Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. until noon. However, we plan different events throughout the year adding additional dates to our calendar. |
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| What about childcare? |
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No specific childcare is offered. However, we encourage our parents to bring their children to all meetings and events. |
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| What type of ministry is it? Educational, programmatic, social, spiritual, etc? |
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We are an educational ministry using the spiritual principles given to us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. |
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| How many members do you have? |
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We have approximately 25 members on our roster. Our meetings, however, typically average about 5-10 participants. |
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| What needs do you have? |
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We are an outreach ministry and appreciate any and all financial donations. We also appreciate donations of talent for our single parent homeowners and those who drive cars that drive cars that are in need of maintenance services or repair. We are always seeking to grow so new members and ministry partners are welcome. |
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| Describe a typical meeting. |
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Our meetings are very relaxed and provide an outlet for parents to share and discuss struggles. We support one another by listening and showing compassion. We discuss current events and news that relate to the single parent experience as well as personal issues members may have. We also plan social, spiritual and cultural events. The latter half of our meetings are devoted to educational and spiritual development. We continue to work our way through our single parent discipleship workbook and tackle the topic of the week. |
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| Is there a cost to belong? |
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No, we do not charge our members to belong. |
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