A team of esteemed Detroit faith leaders, including Dr. James C. Perkins, Pastor of Greater Christ Baptist Church, and Dr. Steve Bland, Pastor Liberty Temple Baptist Church are spearheading a city-wide spiritual healing for family caregivers that will convene in the Motor City, in conjunction with National Caregivers’ Day. The call is going out for one hundred local assemblies to come together to pray a specific prayer for family caregivers. Family caregivers provide unpaid care to family members and friends.
Caregivers’ Sunday is on February 20, 2022. Each participating congregation will designate a specific time, in conjunction with their regular Sunday worship service.
One hundred congregations in metro Detroit will gather for a virtual and in-person service in honor of caregivers on this monumental day. The people of God will convene on the same day and simultaneously pray, lifting their voices, petitioning God to give all caregivers guidance, health, wellbeing, strength, and resilience. The Bible instructs His people in this way, “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.” (1 Timothy 2:1–8 NLT). –
Caregivers’ Sunday is designed for faith leaders who have a concern for caregivers and want to ensure that caregivers have sufficient resources for living well. These dedicated servants are often forgotten, overlooked, and taken for granted. A family caregiver often looks after a child or a sick, elderly or disabled person.’ This definition barely scratches the surface of what being a caregiver means. These custodians spend countless hours helping loved ones retain some form of dignity. They remain steadfast even though the burden is excessive and, at times, detrimental to the caregiver’s own health and wellbeing.
In a report from Caregivers.org, “one of today’s all-too silent health crisis is caregiver depression. A conservative estimate reports that 20% of family caregivers suffer from depression, twice the rate of the general population.” In addition, many caregivers suffer in silence from caregiver stress syndrome, a condition characterized by physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. It typically results from a person neglecting their own physical and emotional health because they are focused on caring for an ill, injured, or disabled loved one.
There is a caregiver’s crisis in Michigan, as in many states. The onset of COVID has exponentially increased pressure on these angels of mercy. The body of Christ needs to be more aware and equipped to provide support to the caregivers in their local assemblies. Preparing to give or receive care can be overwhelming. Most households are not ready for such a change in their daily routine. Increasingly caregivers rely on their faith and church family for spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, financial, or practical assistance. The church needs sustainable resources to address these emerging caregiver issues.
With the support of the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, Dr. Marilyn French Hubbard has lent her support to this worthy cause. According to Dr. Hubbard, the goal of Caregivers’ Sunday is to “reduce the caregivers’ crisis, improve the health, wellbeing, and quality of life of caregivers, acknowledge and provide support for the role the faith community plays and strengthen Caregivers’ ministries.
It is time to unite! Please join in with the Caregivers’ Movement by becoming a participating congregation and by praying for those brothers and sisters in Christ and the community at large!
Registration is FREE at https://bit.ly/CaringMovement
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