Frequently Asked Questions
What is Caring Conquerors?
What is its mission statement?
How did Caring Conquerors get its name?
What are its key elements?
What prompted Ron and Kathy Goble to start this ministry?
How is it different from other support groups?
How does Caring Conquerors empower churches to help hurting
people?
What brings people to Caring Conquerors?
What do people hope to gain through attending Caring Conquerors?
What needs (feelings) are addressed?
What percentage of people could benefit from attending
a group?
Is there evidence that Caring Conquerors truly helps people
that are hurting?
Are Caring Conquerors Support Groups available for people
to join?
Can a Caring Conquerors Support Group be started in our
area?
May the Caring Conquerors study books be used other than
in a support group setting?
What is Caring Conquerors? Who could benefit by attending a Caring
Conquerors support group?
Caring Conquerors is a faith-based support group ministry for anyone
facing a chronic, life-threatening or disabling physical health challenge
whether personally or through the life of a loved one.
Caring Conquerors is designed to help the hurting understand their
challenges and through Jesus Christ lead them to victory as they endeavor
to overcome their pain. It addresses their emotional, physical and spiritual
needs: offering encouragement for coping with their situations and for
improving their personal lives.
What is its mission statement? Its purpose?
The mission or purpose of Caring Conquerors is: "To extend God's
abundant hope and comfort to those who hurt." That together through
caring, sharing, and understanding our "pain" in the light
of God's Word, we can be strengthened in body, mind, and spirit: becoming
conquerors!
Perhaps 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 state it best:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction
so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with
the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."
God comforts us in all our afflictions, because He loves us. And by
that experience of His love, we are to comfort others in their afflictions.
We need each other; and as much as it has been received, we are to comfort
one another.
How did Caring Conquerors get its name?
We are Caring by His Spirit.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." Galatians 5:22-23
We are Conquerors by His power and strength through love.
"But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him
who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any created thing, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans
8:37-39
What are the key elements of the Caring Conquerors Support Group
ministry--ones to be exhibited to and through the individual participants?
- Love
- Unconditional acceptance
- Respect of a person's right to privacy
- Confidential sharing
- Encouragement
- Growth in the Lord
- God's perspective of suffering
- Presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ to the unsaved
What prompted Ron and Kathy Goble to start this ministry?
God nurtured a desire within us to "pass on" to others who
hurt the same abiding hope and comfort that we found in the Lord; to
provide a biblical study that addresses many of the same feelings we
experienced as we attempted to make sense of a chronic illness; to assure
people that they're not alone--that there are people who truly care
about them and what they're going through.
"To bring good news to the afflicted…to bind up the brokenhearted…to
comfort all who mourn…giving them a garland instead of ashes, the
oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of
a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. Isaiah 61:1-3
How is Caring Conquerors different from other support groups?
Many support groups are peer groups offering specific medical advice;
others offer practical advice and simple solutions for dealing with
the various aspects of their particular conditions; and some groups
may even discuss the emotions they experience as they deal with their
illness or situation. However, few groups address the needs of the individual
person as a whole--emotional, physical, spiritual--from a biblical perspective,
and that is what Caring Conquerors does.
You probably have heard it said and you may have said it yourself,
"I don't need a support group. They are only pity parties with
everybody feeling sorry for themselves." Caring Conquerors is far
different from that kind of group. Yes, people in the Caring Conquerors
support groups "rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those
who weep" (Romans 12:15), but they also report that they share
in laughter more than they do in tears. A joy-filled group is possible
when people are concentrating on the hope and comfort of the Lord rather
than on themselves and on their problems.
One Caring Conqueror shared how he had attended many different adult
enrichment classes, men's groups and home fellowships and had never
witnessed such a depth of personal sharing that was so lovingly accepted;
nor had he ever experienced such hope, comfort and encouragement from
a group of people, Christian or otherwise.
How does the Caring Conquerors ministry empower churches to help
hurting people in their congregations? In their communities?
Most churches are surprised when they learn the extent of hurting people
in their body. Tim Kimmel, president of Family
Matters, told us of one church he visited in Oregon that had several
empty handicapped parking places. When he asked the pastor why they
were empty, the pastor replied, "We don't know how to meet their
needs."
Caring Conquerors gives churches the necessary training and tools to
help the hurting both in their congregations and in their communities--offering
an opportunity for reaching people at a time when they're hurting and
more open to receiving the hope and comfort of the Lord.
"What is needed to provide long-term spiritual support and care
for people and their families is a willingness to come alongside people
with disabilities, chronic or terminal illness, or the frail elderly,
no matter how long or how much effort it takes to fully share in the
comfort of God with them." (Disability-Effective Ministry:
A review of Scottsdale Bible Church's potential to minister to and
enfold children and adults with disabilities; Scottsdale Bible
Church Disability Advisory Committee, 7601 E. Shea Blvd., Scottsdale,
AZ 85260; copyright 2000.)
What brings people to Caring Conquerors?
- The trial of their illness or disability.
- The effect of the illness/disability on them and on their loved
ones.
- The need to find a safe place to share, a place where people are
willing to listen and not pass judgment on them or the way they feel.
- The desire to receive help for the way they feel about God, themselves
and their illness/disability.
- The desire to give back to others from the same hope and comfort
they have received.
What do people hope to gain through attending Caring Conquerors?
- Understanding: "Why did it happen to me?"
- Compassion: To find someone with a hearing heart to listen; someone
who values you as an individual not just as an illness or the result
of a situation.
- Encouragement: To know that you are not alone in your suffering;
to be able to share your concerns with others that care.
- Comfort: To receive God's comfort in your time of need; to be able
to comfort those you love.
- Victory: To overcome; to gain victory over your circumstances.
- God has not promised to shield us from having trials.
"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.
In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome
the world." John 16:33
- But He has promised to supply all our needs as we go through them.
"My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in
glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19
- For He alone is our victory.
"For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is
the victory that has overcome the world-our faith. And who is the
one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the
Son of God?" 1 John 5:4-5
What needs (feelings) are addressed by a Caring Conquerors Support
Group?
The following feelings as well as others are addressed within the safe
environment of a Caring Conquerors support group.
Are you…
- Angry
- Resentful
- Depressed
- Seeking answers
- Continually tired
- Encountering unmet needs
- Lacking self-worth
- Troubled about hurting family members
- Undergoing marital stress
- Experiencing guilt feelings
- Struggling to accept change
- Enduring diminished physical strength
- Burdened financially by illness
- Experiencing overwhelming loss
- Facing unemployment because of illness
- Unable to fulfill personal and/or professional expectations
- Fearful
- Enduring unrelenting pain
- Feeling rejected
- Questioning why people suffer
- Afraid to seek help
- Having difficulty communicating
- Questioning why you haven't been healed
- Feeling lonely
What percentage of people could benefit from attending a Caring Conquerors
Support Group?
One out of every three homes in America, today, is affected by a physical
health challenge resulting from an accident, a birth defect, or a chronic
or life-threatening illness. Frailty due to aging can also effect this
number. Statistics provided by the United States Bureau of the Census
(August 1997, 1999) state the following: "One out of every five
persons, nearly 54 million people in the United States, has a disabling
condition that interferes with life activities--people who experience
some activity limitation due to chronic health conditions or impairments.
Approximately half that number (9.9%), one in every ten persons, about
26 million people, has a severe disability. In addition, people with
Alzheimer's disease or a developmental disability, or those who are
unable to do housework or work at a job or business (ages 16-67 years
old), or who receive federal disability benefits meet the criteria for
a severe disability."
Is there evidence that Caring Conquerors truly helps people that
are hurting?
The evidence is readily apparent through the personal testimonies, changed
lives and improved relationships of people who've participated in a
Caring Conquerors support group. A few of them are represented in Endorsements
and the chapter titled "Comforted by God" from the Caring
Conquerors study book, Conquering Affliction: More Than Mere Coping.
Are Caring Conquerors Support Groups available for people to join?
There are Caring Conquerors support groups presently available, and
others are regularly being added to their number. Click on Support
Group Locations.
Can a Caring Conquerors support group ministry be started in our
area?
Start-Up provides information for
having a Caring Conquerors support group in your church, skilled nursing
facility or college. For more information, contact Caring Conquerors,
Inc., P.O. Box 13955, Scottsdale, AZ 85267-3955. Phone (480) 948-2526.
E-mail Ron or Kathy at caringconquerors1@cox.net
May the Caring Conquerors study books be used other than in a support
group setting?
Although we highly recommend Caring Conquerors Support Group involvement,
the study books are effective for individual use as well as for discipleship
with another person.
Resource materials used for a Caring Conquerors Support Group ministry
are:
- Leadership Manual
The Blueprint For Building A Caring Conquerors Support Group
- 1st Study Book
Victory In Affliction: Removing Masks, Moving Mountains
- 2nd Study Book
Conquering Affliction: More Than Mere Coping
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