Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln Counties
| Good News
Area News of Churches and Related Christian Events
NOL INO: 3
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5,1992
REPUBLIC NEWSPAPERS
CHAPLAIN EDWARD RICHARDSON
Faith in Crisis
By DEBRA HELTON
We've all been there at
one time or another: unex-
pected illness, unforeseen
surgery, accident, trauma.
How easily one can slip
from apparent health to the
brink of death--or beyond.
Medical technology has
advanced incredibly quickly
over the past decade and, in
some ways, the patients
served are changing almost
as rapidly.
The practice of medicine
cuts across all of our estab-
lished "boundaries," cultur-
al, racial, societal, finan-
cial, age. Sooner or later,
almost all of us will pass
through the doors of a hos-
pital-- if not as patients,
then as the family members
or friends of patients.
In an effort to meet the
very real challenge of pro-
viding spiritual counseling
to the vast array of patients
proceeding into and out of
our hospitals, chaplaincy
programs have emerged
throughout the nation as a
means of providing much-
needed support to patients
and their families.
This specialized ministry
often becomes the vital link
between the vulnerable and
God.
"We are, many times, the
only church--the only cler-
gy--available to them,": ex-
plains Chaplain Edward
Richardson, the Director of
the Chaplaincy program at
Gaston Memorial Hospital
in Gastonia.
"Our purpose is to let
them know we're here--we
care. It's a great period of
transition for them as they
wait somewhere between
sickness and health, wait-
ing to see what the future
holds."
Gaston Memorial con-
tains 453 beds and new pa-
tients are admitted at the
rate of 25 to 45 daily.
Chaplaincy visits are al-
ways scheduled for the fol-
lowing day, after a patient's
admission.
"Many times they're dis-
oriented by all of the activi-
ty surrounding an admis-
sion,” Richardson said,
"Chances are good that if
we saw them immediately,
they wouldn't even realize
we had been there.
"This way they have a
chance to get their bearings
and begin to think more
clearly.”
See Faith, Page 7
By DEBRA HELTON
Roberts Methodist
Christian Episcopal
Church, Shelby, believes in
"practicing what they
preach” when it comes to
serving others. Rev. G.W.
Williams, 57, has instituted
several programs at the
church-- but few more
promising than the
Christian Tutorial Program
now being established.
Williams, now serving his
second term as Director of
the Board of Christian
Education, has helped to
organize tutorial programs
at churches throughout
North and South Carolina.
Now, due in part to the suc-
cess of those programs, he
intends to establish such a
tutorial program at his own
church.
"We are currently putting
together a booklet for oth-
ers interested in organizing
their own tutorial pro-
grams,” Williams said, "It's
good for the participants at
both ends of the spectrum--
the students and the volun-
teer teachers that are doing
the actual tutoring.”
Tutorial program provides options "Plus"
The targeted group of
young people are children
in elementary school
through Junior High that
are experiencing difficulty
in such subjects as reading,
English, language and
math.
Teachers are either prac-
ticing teachers, retired
teachers or young college
graduates with a desire to
help others. "We have seen
improvements reflected in
both the grades they get
and the study habits they
form," Williams said. :We
See Program, Page 6