Stephen Ministry
A lay caring ministry designed to help congregation, organize, train and supervise a team of lay caregivers to provide high quality, one-on-one Christian care to people who are hurting.Through Stephen Ministry, churches can expand the care they’re able to offer to people experiencing a wide range of life challenges, including:
- grief
- spiritual struggles
- divorce
- family and relationship issues
- job loss
- being a family caregiver
- medical crises
- and many other needs for care.
What are the benefits of Stephen Ministry?
- Pastors…have a team of trained lay caregivers to help them in handling the caregiving needs of the congregation.
- Laypeople…are equipped for meaningful ministry that uses their spiritual gifts to provide invaluable care to those who are suffering.
- Hurting people…receive much-needed emotional and spiritual support in the midst of life’s struggles.
Did you know that St. Matthews joined Stephen Ministry back in 1999? A leadership team was sent for training and in 2001 the first Stephen Ministry class trained six Stephen Ministers. Since then there have been numerous classes offered and Stephen Ministers trained and commissioned to do God’s work.
Now we have an urgent need to have a new class, hopefully starting in January. In the past two years we have had requests for a Stephen Minister but there was nobody in our congregation available. Sue Kuhn was able to fill the request for help by referring the care receiver to another Moorestown church with a Stephen Ministry program. Unfortunately, those other congregations are struggling to meet the needs of their members. If you would be interested in becoming a Stephen Minister please call Sue Kuhn or Trish Myers.