Stephen Ministry at FPC
WHO ARE STEPHEN MINISTERS?
Stephen Ministers are:
- a group of lay persons who undergo 50 hours of training in order to provide care and
- support to members of the congregation who are experiencing a crisis in their life, such as
- illness loss of a loved one, divorce, or job loss.
- trained to be care-givers, not cure givers. The cure is in God's hands and the hands of those
- trained in the healing professions. Ours is a Christian based ministry of caring.
WHAT DO STEPHEN MINISTERS DO?
The best way to address this question is with an analogy:
Our pastors are like firefighters – when a crisis happens, they rush to the scene to put out the fire. But just after that fire, sure enough, another fire will break out in our
congregation, and they rush off to that scene. They still provide care to the victim of the first fire, but their time quickly becomes consumed by the second, third, and fourth fires. AND this is ON TOP of their other duties as pastors.
This is where Stephen Ministers come in. Pastors will always be our firefighters, but our Stephen Ministers are people who come in after the fire is put out (and sometimes before) and help the people who are affected sort through and clear the debris and begin to rebuild their lives.
Stephen Ministers continue to give care as long as needed during the rebuilding process – this can be anywhere from one month to one year. They provide the steady, consistent one-to-one follow-up care that our pastors want to ensure. A Stephen Minister walks alongside the person for as long as he or she needs care, bringing unconditional love and acceptance to the person as Jesus taught us.
WHO BENEFITS?
Anyone going through difficult times who needs some one to:
- care
- listen
- support
- share
- on a-one-to-one confidential basis
OUR MISSION IS…
"Encourage one another and build each other up" (I Thessalonians 5:11).
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