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Getting
started in Stephen Ministry. . .
Six members of Elim
Lutheran
Church were among 456 pastors and congregation leaders at a Stephen
Series
Leader's Training Course held Feb. 6 -12, 2000 in San Antonio, Texas.
Participants
came from across the U.S. and Canada to learn how to implement and
direct
Stephen Ministry, a system of Christian caregiving, in our
congregation.
(The "Stephen" in Stephen Ministry is a reference to Acts 6:2-5a.)
Stephen Ministry
gives Elim
Lutheran Church an effective way to train and organize members to
provide
one-to-one Christian care to individuals struggling with a life
challenge
or crisis. The six attendees were commissioned as "Stephen Leaders" at
the conclusion of the event. One of their next steps will be to
recruit,
select, train members of Elim to be "Stephen Ministers" to provide care
for others. Then, each Stephen Minister will be matched with an
individual
in need of care.
Our Stephen
Ministers can
assist you with many of your personal and spiritual needs. For personal
ministry needs, or when Pastor Simon cannot be reached, contract any of
the following:
| Louise Cole |
Grace Henrie |
Wayne
Marriott |
Dave
Mansfield |
Joyce Toone |
Barbara
Lyons |
| 392-9078 |
394-5543 |
393-4691 |
392-0836 |
782-8674 |
394-5543 |
History
of Stephen Ministry
Stephen Ministry
began in 1975
when Dr. Kenneth C. Haugk, a Lutheran pastor and clinical psychologist,
trained parishioners to help meet the needs for care in his
congregation.
The ministry was so successful that other congregations became
interested,
and Haugk founded the Stephen Ministries organization. Since then, over
7,000 congregations have become involved in Stephen Ministry. They
represent
94 denominations and come from all 50 states, nine Canadian provinces
and
20 other countries.
Stephen Ministries
annually
hosts six Leader's Training Courses across the U.S. At these courses
almost
35,000 pastors and church leaders have been trained as Stephen Leaders.
They in turn have trained more than 250,000 church members as Stephen
Ministers.
Well over half-million people have received the formal care of a
Stephen
Minister, and millions more have been touched in an informal way.
Who
is served?
Stephen Ministry is
designed
to train and equip lay persons to meet caregiving needs related to the
regular challenges and crises of life. Who needs care? Those people are
those who are:
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Hospitalized |
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Inactive |
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Bereaved |
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Elderly |
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Lonely
or discouraged |
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Terminally
ill and their families |
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Home-bound
or institutionalized |
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Disabled
and their families |
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In
job crisis |
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Experiencing
a spiritual crisis |
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Facing
life transitions |
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Separated
or divorced |
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Experiencing
an unplanned pregnancy |
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Affected
by accidental or natural disaster |
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Imprisoned
and their families |
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Parents
with children leaving home |
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Experiencing
the birth/adoption of a child |
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Single
parents |
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Experiencing
the stress of moving |
|
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. . and many more |
Such needs often
require
more care than is commonly recognized. While pastors usually can offer
crisis care at the time of death and funeral, for example, they often
find
it difficult to provide adequate follow-up care because of time
constraints.
Lay persons, on the other hand, want to offer care buy may not know
how.
The Stephen Series equips these lay persons to turn their good
intentions
into practical help. This helps ensure that necessary follow-up care
happens.
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