St. Thomas Aquinas parishioner authors new
book on ministry ideas, strategies
By David Tisdale
HATTIESBURG -- Carolyn Na-
tion was looking for fresh ideas for
a ministry fair scheduled to be held
in the Student Life Center building
on the St. Thomas Aquinas Church
campus. After searching church sites
on the internet and looking for min-
istry fairs and books on the subject,
she decided she should just write
about what she was looking for.
That decision resulted in her new
book,
Living Your Ministry
. It covers a wide range of
ministry subjects, including adult bible study, youth
ministry, social services, bereavement ministry, church
website management and fundraising event examples,
among many others.
“My plan was for it to be a kind of one-stop resource
for ministry ideas,” Nation said. “It would be very de-
tailed with plenty of how-to information to guide oth-
ers in their church ministries. It would cover our (St.
Thomas Aquinas’) ministry history, and it would be
written so others serving in ministry could copy our
ideas or adapt them for their own use.”
Nation said she received inspiration from a quote
from Justin Clements, author of
Stewardship: A Parish
Handbook
, who wrote the book’s preface. “He said that
God gives us talents and it’s up to us to use those talents
to give back to Him,” she said. “I felt the idea was not
just mine, but God-directed.”
“Anyone from any parish can use this book as a ‘go-
to/how-to’ reference manual for specific areas of min-
istry and stewardship development they want to initiate
or improve,” Clements said in his endorsement of Na-
tion’s book.
St. Thomas Aquinas Church Deacon Ralph Torrelli
said
Living Your Ministry
is a “must read for every pas-
tor, parish council member and anyone discerning their
call to Discipleship,” he said. “It is a well-written, high-
ly motivating work packed with practical ‘fire starters’
that will ‘stir into flame the gift of God’ (2 Tim. 1:6) for
those desiring to create parishes of excellence.”
Nation holds a degree in journalism from the Uni-
versity of Southern Mississippi and has more than 30
years of freelance writing, being published internation-
ally. She has served as the discipleship leader at St.
Thomas Aquinas Church since 2003. Prior to writing
Ministry Matters
, she authored 15 other books and has
been published internationally in newspapers and mag-
azines.
She said she hopes others will find her new book
helpful in their own church ministries. “I want people
to borrow these ideas and shape them for their own
needs,” Nation said. “And with the website available
for input, I hope others will start sharing ministry ideas
so that it will become a place to exchange information.”
While certain ministries cited in the book such
as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, are
Catholic, Nation attempted to describe most ministries
in a general way so that members of any denomination
could find the book useful.
“Anybody in any church could take this material
and adapt it for their church -- Methodist, Episcopal,
Presbyterian,” said Diane Dickens, a member of Briar-
wood United Methodist Church of Jackson, Miss. “It’s
marvelous. I learned a lot”
Nation said 100 percent of royalties from the book
will be used for ministry service.
For more information, book orders or to give input
on ministry ideas, visit
.
Nation
This is the cover of “Ministry
Matters” by Carolyn
Nation. Carolyn has been
the Discipleship Ministry
Leader at St. Thomas
Aquinas in Hattiesburg
since 2003.
No nation should promote the killing of its future citizens
The Pro-Life display is the work of Annunciation Parish and the
Knights of Columbus Council 7078 in Kiln Mississippi. Each year
over 3,000 crosses are set out on church grounds in January for
the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision. This
year before the crosses were put out, every cross was repainted and
repaired.
Father John Noone of Annunciation Parish said the crosses were
made 11 years ago and have been put out each year since then.
The reaction of people is shock -- they never realized that so many
babies were killed in the womb each day. The display brings the
reality home to them.
14
Gulf Pine Catholic
•
March 28, 2014
