by Ron Miyake

Last year, I met with the core group of Tender Loving Caregivers (TLC) to hear about the support group they have for people who are helping care for their aging parents. I saw at their gathering how important such a support group is for these caregivers. 

I also thought about the Morning Glory support group for widows. I also learned from Gary Murakami about the GriefShare ministry, held at another church, for those who lost a loved one. 

Hearing about these groups made me wonder about what other support groups would be good to have at our church?  

Fast-forward to March and the COVID-19 pandemic. After talking with one of my daughters, who is an Emergency Room nurse, and hearing about the stresses that she and her colleagues were going through with COVID-19, the idea of having a support group for healthcare workers in our church came to mind. After compiling and contacting 45 people, we had our first Zoom meeting on April 7. The purpose of this support group was to have a place for healthcare workers from our church to share, get support and to receive prayer. For the prayer portion, we have four people from Prayer Ministry (Fred and Irene Kawashima, Virginia Cho, and myself) as part of the group to listen and pray. 

Another Zoom support group we started on April 30 is for single parents.  During this time of distance learning for students and parents, balancing work from home or at a work location, this would be an even bigger challenge for single parents. Naomi Sakata and I facilitate this group during our Thursday evening meetings.

A support group for chronically ill people began on June 11. The name of this ministry is PEARL (Prayer, Encouragement, Acceptance, Receiving, Listening). The core team is Joyce Inouye, Patti Yung, Joyce and Frank Salgado. Their last meeting was on October 15. They are evaluating what will happen next. 

It’s been neat to see how these support groups were started for these particular groups of people in this particular season: to be a place to share, get support, and to come to the Lord in prayer.