Stephen Ministry
People often ask, “What exactly is a Stephen Minister?”
One way to put it is that Stephen Ministers are the After People. Stephen Ministers are there:
- After the phone call you hoped you’d never get. . . .
- After the funeral, when everyone has left and the emotions you’ve held at bay come crashing in on you. ..
- After the relationship falls apart and the bottom falls out of your life. . . .
- After the doctor says, “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing more we can do.” . . .
- After the nursing home director shakes your hand and says, “Welcome to your new home.” . . .
- After the last child honks the horn, waves, and drives away—and the house suddenly seems empty. . . .
- After the gavel comes down, the handcuffs go on, and your loved one is led away. . . .
- After the baby arrives, demanding more of you than you ever dreamed possible. . . .
Stephen Ministry extends the caring reach of the congregation far beyond its pastors— providing one-to-one ministry to people in the congregation and community who are experiencing divorce, grief, unemployment, hospitalization, a terminal illness, relocation, loneliness, a spiritual crisis, and other life difficulties.
The role of a Stephen Minister is to provide emotional support, to pray with and for their care receiver, and to walk with the person for the duration of the crisis. A Stephen Minister typically meets with his or her care receiver once a week for about an hour.
Caring relationships last as long as the need is there—perhaps only a month or two, in the instance of someone recovering from surgery, or possibly a year or more, in the instance of someone grieving the loss of a loved one.
Please contact the church office is you are interested in our Stephen Ministry Care
Our Mission
To know Christ and make Him known
by loving God and loving people.