What is Stephen Ministry?
Stephen Ministry is a ministry in our congregation in which lay persons called Stephen Ministers are trained and supervised to provide one-to-one care-giving to individuals who are grieving, in crisis, or experiencing other stresses of life’s challenges. These skilled caregivers are linked with persons in need through a referral process which is strictly confidential.
Stephen Ministry was started in 1975 in order to expand a church’s capacity to meet the many individual needs within a congregation. Stephen Ministry is now in over 9,000 congregations across 100 denominations as well as some secular organizations such as health-care and long-term care facilities.
Stephen Ministers receive 50 hours of training from your Stephen Leader Team. The training continues through twice monthly continuing education topics from the Stephen Leaders and through peer supervision with a trained Facilitator to support, encourage, and help each other remain loyal to the goals and mission of Stephen Ministry.
WHY LAY MINISTRY?
Stephen Ministry is based on the idea that all of us are ministers and have a responsibility to use our gifts and time in demonstrating our love and caring for others. We have many needs for care in our congregation and community: people experiencing divorce, grief, terminal illness, loss of a job, relocation, empty nest, retirement, hospitalization, loneliness, disability, homebound, spiritual crisis, and many other stresses. Their coping mechanisms are in tact but stretched to the limit. Too often people with needs suffer silently or do not request or receive a level of care they really need. You can quickly see why it is impossible for our pastors to meet every need of every person. Stephen Ministry expands the care we can offer by equipping and organizing members to be those needed caregivers. Stephen Ministry creates a channel for you to answer a calling and adds skill training to your spiritual gifts to expand and enhance our capacity to serve people in need.
WHO ARE STEPHEN MINISTERS AND WHAT DO THEY DO?
Stephen Ministers are members of First Congregational Church who have completed 50 hours of training in providing focused care to persons experiencing a crisis or challenging circumstances. Stephen Ministers are each assigned a care receiver and meet with that care receiver for about an hour a week. They listen, understand, accept, and pray for and with the person working through a tough time. The Stephen Minister is not there to counsel, advise, or solve problems. They are not a substitute for a mental health professional where that may be needed. The focus is on the relationship between the Stephen Minister and the care receiver in which the listening without judgment and sharing the burden at hand help to strengthen the care receiver. How often have you experienced or heard someone say how much it helped just to have someone listen and know they cared? That process helps the care receiver find his or her own path to healing and wholeness. The relationship can last as long as the need is there.
You may ask, “How can it take 50 hours of training, plus bi-monthly supervision meetings and continuing education just to listen and care? Can’t anyone do that?” You will be seeing another publication soon that describes the Stephen Ministry training in more detail to explain the content of the training.
WHAT QUALIFICATIONS ARE NEEDED?
The Spirit gives different gifts to different people. Their gifts and God’s calling point them toward some areas of service and away from others. A part of recruiting members to be Stephen Ministers is to discern if their gifts and calling point to Stephen Ministry. Clearly compassion and empathy are necessary characteristics. Add to that non-judgment and the capacity for strict confidentiality. The Stephen Minister has to be a continuous learner and be able to focus on the care receiver’s needs above their own in the relationship. A quality of openness to peer supervision is necessary to support, encourage, and keep accountable to the goals of the Stephen Ministry.
The most obvious immediate qualification is commitment. There is a substantial commitment of time. The initial 50 hours of training is typically a 2½ hour class each week for 20 weeks. After that is a commitment to 2½ hours every other week for supervision and continuing education plus the one hour per week to meet with the care receiver. Generally speaking, the commitment is about 10 hours per month and Stephen Ministers are expected to make a two year commitment. Many continue well beyond two years because of the benefits they receive themselves through this avenue of service.
WHO BENEFITS FROM STEPHEN MINSTRY?
Everybody benefits from Stephen Ministry. Those receiving care benefit because they are supported and strengthened through their caring relationship with the Stephen Minister. The church pastors benefit because caring ministry at First Congregational is expanded and fewer people slip through the cracks. Longer term care giving becomes possible. All of the congregation benefits just knowing this ministry is available if needed. One way the whole congregation is part of this ministry is by being the eyes and ears for people who have needs and would benefit from a Stephen Minister. As the ministry expands, it can reach out to care receivers and needs in the larger community. The Stephen Minister benefits in multiple ways. Their gifts are discovered, developed and deployed. Skills learned from their training and experiences are applicable in other areas of their lives. They grow spiritually. They are fulfilling a calling in their life. Stephen Ministries in St. Louis reports that countless times Stephen Ministers have said something like, “I signed up as a Stephen Minister to serve others, but what I found is that I have received much more from my care receiver, my fellow Stephen Ministers, my Stephen Leaders, and my growing relationship with God than I ever put into this ministry.”
WHO MAKES UP OUR STEPHEN LEADER TEAM?
Rev. Duane Angel, Kathy Berg, and Ron Woodard attended the seven day Leader Training Course in June, 2007, where they were trained in how to establish a Stephen Ministry at First Congregational Church. They learned how to use the tools to recruit, train and supervise Stephen Ministers, link them to care receivers, and manage the ministry so it is self-sustaining long term. Stephen Leaders make a two year commitment (and may continue longer) during which additional Stephen Leaders will go to training. Duane Angel will coordinate “Awareness and Ownership” and is the “Referral Coordinator”. Kathy Berg will coordinate all aspects of “Training” and “Continuing Education”. Ron Woodard will serve as “Stephen Leader Team Coordinator” and “Supervision Coordinator”. All three can answer any questions you have or will bring your questions to their weekly organizing and planning meeting.
WHEN WILL STEPHEN MINISTRY BEGIN AT FCC?
The process has begun. The focus in July and August will be on building awareness in and ownership of this ministry across the congregation through the Chronicle, bulletin inserts, presentation to Boards, video and announcements from the pulpit. This awareness campaign will culminate in a Stephen Ministry Sunday in September at which time the first Stephen Leaders will be commissioned by the congregation.
September will also initiate recruitment for the first class of Stephen Ministers. That involves an application, interview, and confirmation that the member feeling called to this ministry understands the commitment and can meet the training schedule. Training can take up to five months depending on the schedule everyone can meet. Attendance is expected to be 100%. There are no shortcuts. During that training time, the congregation will continue to increase awareness by being informed on what aspect of the ministry and training topics are the focus each week.
Near the end of the Stephen Minister training (around Feb.-March), potential care receivers will be identified and invited into a relationship with a Stephen Minister so they can flow directly from training into service. The Stephen Leaders train Supervision Facilitators who guide and support the peer supervision process and lead continuing education until the next training series begins. New Stephen Leaders are sent to a Leader Training Course and the whole process begins again and continues to flow into an expanding ministry.
HOW CAN I LEARN MORE AND STAY INFORMED?
There will be continuous efforts to increase awareness and ownership across the congregation through the pulpit, our usual publications, and special events. Special events will be planned to focus on particular aspects. Your Stephen Leaders (Duane, Kathy and Ron) are happy to answer any and all questions at home or when you see them in the halls at church. They can also recommend reading such as the text books used in training like Christian Care Giving – a Way of Life and Speak the Truth in Love by Ken Haugk, founder of Stepohen Ministries. Keep an eye on the “Care Ministry” bulletin board outside Duane’s office. It will be updated continuously with announcements, information and thought provoking ideas.
Stephen Ministry involves the whole congregation. You may not feel called to be a Stephen Minster or Stephen Leader right now. You may not have a need for a Stephen Minister right now. But you or someone close to you may. No one escapes pain in this life. It’s what you do with that pain that matters. Remember that care receivers aren’t necessarily people in life-threatening crises. It’s about sharing one another’s burdens in some very common and frequent life challenges.
