God Gives the Growth
Caring nurtures the seed of God's love-in the care receiver's heart and in yours.
PLANT THE SEED
Stephen Ministry is our congregations one-to-one caregiving ministry. God works through Stephen Ministers to plant a seed of hope and healing in a person whose life seems barren and forlorn because of some crisis or tragedy.
WATER THE SEED
Stephen
Ministry training will equip you, and our congregation will support you, so
that you can show God's mercy, care, and compassion to another who is hurting.
You will walk beside your care receiver, pray for him or her, and help him or
her work through life's difficulties.
GOD WILL MAKE IT GROW
Through
this ministry God will bring forth new life and renewed faith in both
your care receiver and in you as a Stephen Minister.
Is God calling you to serve in this
way?
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who
plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will
receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God's servants,
working together; you are God's field, God's building.
(1 Corinthians 3:6-9 NRSV)
What do Stephen Ministers do?
Stephen Ministers:
·
Listen
·
Explore
feelings
·
Pray
·
Share
Christ's love
·
Maintain
confidentiality
·
Attend
to the caregiving process and leave the results to God
Stephen Ministers care for people who are:
·
Grieving
·
In
a crisis
·
In
need of long-term care
·
Dying
·
Hospitalized
·
Divorcing
·
Experiencing
losses as they age
·
Going
through a crisis of childbirth
·
The
family and friends of people in crisis
·
To learn more about becoming a Stephen Minister, contact:
· Dorene Fowler (541) 479-3544 doryfow@internetcds.com
·
Roy Harris (541) 955-8316 rmh97@earthlink.net
· Kathy Logan (541) 441-2753 klogan@bethanypres.org
Bethany Presbyterian Church
Grants Pass, OR 97526
(541)476-3684
Visit the St. Louis Stephen Ministries Website http://www.stephenministries.com/
In our continuing education for Stephen Ministry, we’ve been discussing spirituality. What is spirituality? While we can come up with many definitions, for Christians spirituality centers on relationship. The ultimate goal of spiritual growth is nothing less than the fulfillment of Jesus’ great commandment to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We cannot have one without the other. Traditionally, we’ve spent a lot of time knowing about God rather than knowing God. God is not a topic to be studied but rather a living reality in our midst, someone we need to encounter and experience directly. Our relationship with God, like all relationships, needs to be nurtured and attended to in order for it to thrive and grow.
In Stephen ministry, we strive to live both aspects of Jesus’ commandment. Through our love of God, we are called to serve our neighbor, to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our call to serve and love arises naturally from our response to the ddep love God has freely given us. And as we serve, our love for God grows and matures.
History of Stephen Ministry
In 1975 Rev. Kenneth C. Haugk, Ph.D., a pastor and clinical psychologist, saw that people’s needs for care in his congregation and community far exceeded what he alone could provide. He developed materials to train nine of his congregation members to provide quality, one-to-one Christian care to individuals experiencing a life crisis. Upon completion of their training, he commissioned them as “Stephen Ministers” and linked them with people with a variety of needs for care. “Stephen Ministry” was so successful in his church that other congregations wanted to become involved. Dr. Haugk then founded the Stephen Ministries organization and developed the Stephen Series, which now has been implemented in over 7,000 congregations representing over 90 Christian denominations. As estimated 250,000 laypersons have been trained as Stephen Ministers, who in turn have ministered to over three-quarters of a million care recievers.
After more than four years of development, Stephen Ministries launched the Christ Care system of small group ministry in 1996. Today more than 500 congregations are using ChristCare Group Ministry.
The Mission of Stephen Ministries
The mission of Stephen Ministries is to proclaim through word and deed the Gospel of Jesus Christ by nurturing, edifying, educating, and equipping the whole people of God who are called, gifted, and sent to be more effective servants who care for the needs of the whole person.