Stephen Ministry

Definition- A crisis (from the Greek κρίσις – krisis; plural: “crises“; adjectival form: “critical”) is any event that is going (or is expected) to lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, community, or whole society.

The world around us seems to be overflowing with crises. There are destructive protests in some of our cities, excess heat in some places and record flooding elsewhere, and universally a COVID virus that threatens us all. While searching the Stephen Ministry training material for inspiration for this article, I found this interesting statement. “Solutions that result in unhealthy living and relating.” The Chinese symbols that spell crisis emphasize that every crisis provides both (1) an opportunity to grow as well as (2) the danger of choosing destructive solutions that result in unhealthy living and relating.” Regarding the second point, we can choose to be reckless by ignoring recommendations about social distancing, diligent hand washing, and wearing face masks. We can be irresponsible with our limited resources. We can take sides in the ongoing racial and political discord playing out on the evening news.

 Or we can see this as an opportunity to grow. We can choose to follow CDC guidelines to protect ourselves as well as our neighbors. We can choose to be aware of what resources we are wasting. We can choose to listen to opposition opinions to challenge ourselves to reexamine our own beliefs.

The Stephen Ministry Team here at St. Matthew is ready to listen and lend support during this time of crisis. To contact Stephen Ministry, contact Sue Kuhn at (609) 518-0384.

—Trish Myers