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Stephen
Ministry
expands Grace UMC’s already caring atmosphere.
By equipping laypeople, members can fulfill their calling as
Christians and also expand the amount of caring available.
Stephen
Ministry
gives Grace an effective way to train and organize members to provide
one-to-one Christian care to individuals struggling with a crisis like
grief, divorce, loneliness, relocation, hospitalization, a terminal
illness, unemployment or more. The
need for this type of care greatly exceeds what pastors alone can
provide. All Christians are
called to care for and love one another – it’s not just the
pastor’s job.
One of the next steps will be to recruit, select, and train
members of Grace United Methodist to be Stephen Ministers, the ones who
will provide one-to-one care. Then
each Stephen Minister will be matched with an individual in need of
care.
Stephen
Ministry
began in 1975 when Dr. Kenneth C. Haugk, a pastor and clinical
psychologist in
St. Louis
,
Missouri
, trained parishioners to help meet the needs to care in his
congregation. The ministry
was so successful that other congregations became interested, and Haugk
founded the
Stephen
Ministries
organization. Since
then, more than 8,000 congregations have become involved in
Stephen
Ministry
. They represent over 100
Christian denominations and come from all 50 states, nine Canadian
provinces, and 21 other countries.
It is estimated that nearly one million people have received the
formal care of a Stephen Minister, and millions more have been touched
in an informal way.
Limited size training classes will begin shortly and caregiving
will start upon
Commissioning.
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Stephen