Founded in 1975 by Dr. Kenneth Haugk and his wife, the program was housed in the Haugks’ garage. The program was created to provide high-quality, one-to-one, Christ-centered care to people in the congregation and the community experiencing life difficulties. The first class of trained Stephen Ministers was made up of nine members. As the program grew, training curriculums for Stephen Ministers and Stephen Leaders were designed and refined to help congregations grow their Stephen Ministries program.
By 1997, the headquarters was moved to a 38,000 sq. ft. facility with offices and warehouse space to support the hands-on ministry. Currently, there are 13,000 congregations representing churches in all 50 states, 10 provinces in Canada, and 30 foreign countries.
Stephen Leadership Training
Just as Stephen Ministry has grown and evolved, so has leadership training. Initially, the training was done over two weeks in various locations across the country. The program was condensed and refined to a one-week training conference held in multiple locations. Because of COVID, the program was refined again to be presented online. Currently, Stephen Ministries provides training in a five-week program of 10 sessions, meeting twice a week, or a 10-week program of 10 sessions with one meeting per week.
If you have any questions about Stephen Ministry at St. Matthew’s, please speak to either Sue Kuhn or Trish Myers.