Stephen Ministry gives TCPC 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, or unemployment. The need for this type of care greatly exceeds what pastors alone can provide.
Stephen Ministry Expands Care Giving
Stephen Ministry gives TCPC 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, or unemployment. 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. By equipping laypeople, we can help them fulfill their calling as Christians and also expand the amount of caring ministry available through our church.
Our TCPC Stephen Leaders are Bill & Karen Scherling, and our Stephen Ministers are John Ballsrud, Nancy Clayton, Betty Jarrett, Camie Mills, Duncan Mills, and Caryl Anne Ragland.
Answers to Frequently Asked
Questions about Stephen Ministry
What Exactly is Stephen Ministry?
Stephen Ministry is a ministry in our congregation in which trained and supervised lay persons, called Stephen Ministers, provide one-to-one Christian care to individuals facing life challenges or difficulties.
Who is Involved?
Stephen Leaders are the ones who oversee and direct our Stephen Ministry. They recruit, select, train, organize, and supervise our Stephen Ministers, identify people in need of care, and match them with a Stephen Minister. We have two Stephen Leaders. They are Bill and Karen Scherling. Stephen Ministers are the care givers. They have been through 50 hours of training in Christian care giving, including general topics such as listening, feelings, boundaries, assertiveness, and using Christian resources in care giving. In addition, their training covered specialized topics such as ministering to the divorced, hospitalized, bereaved, and aging. Care receivers are the recipients of Stephen Ministers’ care. They are people from our church or community who are experiencing divorce, grief, loss of a job, loneliness, hospitalization, terminal illness, or any of an endless number of other life difficulties. Stephen Ministers usually meet with their care receivers once a week for about an hour for as long as the care receiver will benefit by the relationship.
What Do Stephen Ministers Do?
Stephen Ministers are caring Christian friends who listen, understand, accept, and pray for and with care receivers who are working through a crisis or a tough time.
Are Stephen Ministers Counselors?
Stephen Ministers are not counselors; they are trained lay care givers. Their role is to listen and care—not to give advice or counsel. Stephen Ministers are also trained to recognize when a care receiver’s need exceeds what they can provide. When that happens they work with care receivers to help them receive the level of care they really need.
Can I Trust a Stephen Minister?
Trust is essential to a caring relationship, and Stephen Ministers are people you can trust. Confidentiality is one of the most important principles of Stephen Ministry, and what a care receiver tells his or her Stephen Minister is kept in strictest confidence.
Why the Name Stephen?
The name Stephen comes from St. Stephen, who was the first lay person commissioned by the apostles to provide caring ministry to those in need as recorded in Acts 6.
What’s the Pastor’s Role?
Pastors will always be the primary care givers, but there is no way pastors can meet all the needs for care. God has called all of us, not just pastors, to minister to one another. Stephen Ministry multiplies ministry by turning pastors into equippers, so they can enable lay people to provide caring ministry as well.
Where Did it All Start?
Stephen Ministry has been around since 1975, when Kenneth Haugk, a pastor and clinical psychologist, began it to multiply the care giving in his congregation in St. Louis, Missouri. We are starting Stephen Ministry here at TCPC and are one of more than 9,000 Stephen Ministry congregations from more than 100 denominations. Stephen Ministries St. Louis, the organization behind this international ministry, is headquartered in Missouri.
What Does the Stephen Series Logo Mean?
The Stephen Series logo consists of a cross and circle together with a broken person and a whole person. The broken person behind the cross symbolizes the brokenness in our lives due to our sin and imperfections. The whole person stands in front of the cross because it is only through the cross of Jesus that we are made whole. The circle symbolizes both the wholeness we receive through Christ and God’s unending love for us.
