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Stephen Ministers are lay caregivers who provide one-to-one Christian care to hurting people. The Stephen Ministry, known nationwide, has been at Divinity since 2004.
It is not a ministry to be taken lightly, but it is deeply rewarding and fills a critical need for additional ministers.
More than 10,000 congregations have formed Stephen Ministries. These congregations represent more than 150 different Christian denominations and come from all 50 states, 10 Canadian provinces, and 24 other countries.
More than 55,000 individuals (pastors, church staff, and layperson's) have been trained as Stephen Leaders at Leader’s Training Courses. These Stephen Leaders have returned to their congregations to train more than 500,000 lay people to be Stephen Ministers.
Divinity's Stephen Leaders include Pastor Doug, Leslie Crowe, Judy Junker and Loretta Cross. All have received intensive instruction on how to train future Stephen Ministers.
The training period for the Stephen Ministry is 50 hours, divided into weekly 2 1/2 hour sessions. An overnight retreat is included in the training.
Some of the
training topics include listening, feelings, assertiveness,
confidentiality, and ministering
to people in specific situations such as divorce,
terminal illness, grief, and childbirth. Stephen
Ministers also are trained to recognize when a
care receiver’s needs go beyond the care a Stephen
Minister can provide and where and how
to refer the care receiver for additional care.
Upon completion of the training, these lay persons are commissioned as Stephen Ministers. Stephen Leaders then link each Stephen Minister with a care receiver—a member of the congregation or community who is in need of quality Christian care. A Stephen Minister normally is assigned to only one care receiver at a time and meets with the care receiver for an average of about one hour each week. Stephen Ministers also meet twice monthly for peer supervision and continuing education.
Stephen Ministers initially commit to two years of service, but after those years many recommit to serve additional years.
If you are interested i learning more about becoming a Stephen Minster, call Loretta Cross at (440) 845-2060, ext. 18, or speak to Pastor Doug.
For general information, click here to visit the Stephen Ministry official Web site here.