GUIDE FOR ASSISTING
MINISTERS
Thank
you for volunteering to be an Assisting Minister!
As an Assisting Minister, you are contributing to the
mission of
1)
Coordinators
of the Communion Distribution Team;
2)
Liturgists
on occasion as directed by Pastors;
3)
Backups
for
Lectors;
4)
Gatherers
and Leaders of Parish Prayers.
During
the week prior to Worship Service:
¨ Read
all the lessons for your worship service.
The lessons are listed in the Worship Assistants Schedule found under
“News” on the
¨
Pray for
guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
¨
Check
with
¨
Compose
your prayers…guidelines below:
·
Remember
the bulletin will have printed in it the words you say as an invitation to
prayer. Plan to leave several seconds of
silence after the invitation for folks to gather their own thoughts.
·
Limit
your prayers to THREE petitions – that is, three times you ask the congregation
for a response to “Lord, in your Mercy”.
The Pastor will conclude the prayers after the third petition, so please
don’t exceed this without prior coordination with the Pastor.
·
Usually
in the third petition, leave space to read the names of all those for whom
prayers have been requested in the prayer book before the service. Leave about 5 seconds of silence after the
names for others people who may want to add in their own prayers.
Before
the Worship Service:
¨ Arrive at least 15 minutes before
the service starts.
¨ Wear
your name-tag.
¨ Check-in
with the “Council Person-of-the-Day” for any special instructions.
¨ Check
with the Council Person to see if the lector is here and prepared to read. If not, offer to substitute with the Council
Person.
¨
Ensure
that the assigned altar guild member and 3 communion assistants are ready to
help with communion distribution. If
not, help the Council Person find substitutes – but DO NOT arrange substitutes
on your own without coordination with the Council Person.
¨
Check to
see that the communion elements have been prepared by the altar guild and
positioned on the altar (two chalices, paten, rice cakes (for those who can’t
receive the regular bread), three napkins), and on the table behind the altar
¨
Ensure
the communion elements for presentation have been staged in the credenza on the
choir side of the narthex.
¨
Check the
prayer list on the narthex table…
·
First,
see if you can read and properly pronounce all the names listed. The Pastors may be able to help with name
pronunciation. If not, see the “contact
person”.
·
Second,
read the reasons for prayer. See the
contact person to get additional information, if necessary
·
Third,
compose prayers in your mind, and pray for those listed silently in your heart
before worship.
·
Leave the
prayer list in the book for now – other names may be added during the first
part of the worship. You will need to
return after the sermon to pick up the latest list.
¨ Check
in with Pastors for any special instructions, and ask them if there are any additional
things we should pray for.
During
the Worship Service:
¨ Participate
in worship, taking note of the Prayer of the Day, the lessons, and especially
the sermon. Modify your written prayers
appropriately to respond to what you hear in worship.
¨ During
the “Hymn of the Day” -- immediately after the sermon – go to the Narthex and
retrieve the prayer list from the table, and review any names that may have
been added.
¨ During
the third part of the Apostles’ Creed (“I believe in the Holy Spirit…”) start walking
slowly up to the front of the chancel.
Remember to pause briefly and bow your head as a sign of humility before
entering the chancel.
¨ After the Creed, take a couple seconds to compose
yourself and arrange your bulletin, your prayers, and the prayer list on the
altar. Try not to scrape papers across
the microphone.
¨ Read the invitation to prayer, and then allow
several seconds of silence for folks to gather their thoughts.
¨ Read your prayer – prayerfully and confidently –
with three petitions calling for congregational response. In the third petition, read the names on the
prayer list, deliberately, with about a second silence between the names. Include 5 seconds of silence for folks to
pray on their own for others.
¨ Stay in position until the Pastor concludes the
prayers and offers the Sharing of Peace.
¨ Share the Peace with other parishioners, and return
to your pew until called up for communion.
¨ After
the Eucharistic Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer, join the rest of the Communion
Distribution Team at the altar rail for the first table.
¨ Receive
Holy Communion. Communion at Sunday services is typically
received by “intinction”. At the early
service, this is done at the altar rail by “continuous” communion rather
than by separate “tables”. With this approach,
there is a continuous flow of people who come forward via the center isle to
receive communion at the altar rail when there is space available. When people are ready to return to their pew,
they do so by way of the side isles.
The Pastor will issue chalices to the
communion assistants and assisting minister.
They will take position inside the chancel to follow Pastors (who give
the bread) and offer the chalice. Tray
leads, chalice trails. See flow diagram
below:
Whenever each communicant chooses to intinct in
either the chalice of red wine or white grape juice, the communion
assistant/assisting minister will say the words: “The Blood of Christ shed for
you”, or “This is the Blood of Christ,
shed for you” . If you know the name
of the communicant, you may say their name, as in: “The Blood of
At the late service, communion is received at two stations in
front of the chancel. Again, people come
forward to receive communion by way of the center isle, and return to their pew
via the side isles. After receiving the
sacrament, people have the option of kneeling at the altar rail for prayer
before returning to their pews.
The communion assistants and the
assisting minister take positions beside the pastors, as shown below. When each communicant receives the bread from
the pastor and intincts intinct it, the communion assistant/assisting minister
will say the words, as shown above.
If necessary, accompany Pastors into the congregation to
commune any who could not walk to the chancel.
Once communion is completed, return the chalice to the
Altar Guild person, or to the Pastor. Return to your pew.
After the Service:
¨ Rejoice! You have served well. Thank you!
Special
instructions for Assisting Minister Coordinator: It is important that Assisting Ministers,
like all other worship service volunteers, be contacted prior to each month of
scheduled service to arrange specific dates to serve during the assigned
month. If there is an unexpected late
change, or the names are not in the bulletin, the Council representative
assigned for each service (the “Council Person-of-the-Day”) needs to be
notified as to who will be Assisting Minister.
For services when “Pastor Kniseley”
is assigned as Assisting Minister, make sure the Communion Assistant
coordinator knows to schedule a fourth communion assistant.
If one of our Pastors is not at
worship, the assisting minister may be called upon to distribute the bread at
communion. In that case, a fourth
communion assistant will also need to be scheduled. In such a case, Pastors will give the
Assisting Minister special instructions on bread distribution and blessings.