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.

Stephen Leaders are trained to oversee and direct our Stephen Ministry. They recruit, select, train, organize and supervise Stephen Ministers, identify people in need of care, and match them with a Stephen Minister. We currently have six Stephen Leaders at University Presbyterian Church, including the Rev. Meg Peery McLaughlin, who is responsible for interviewing those seeking care and matching them with a Stephen Minister.

Stephen Leaders have each received leadership training at one of six courses provided across the US each year. Courses last a full week and address the administration and supervisory aspects of Stephen Ministry.

Stephen Ministers are the caregivers. They have been through 50 hours of training in Christian caregiving, including general topics such as listening, feelings, boundaries, confidentiality, assertiveness, and using Christian resources in caregiving. 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 difficulty in their lives. Stephen Ministers meet with their Care Receivers once a week for about an hour for as long as the Care Receiver will benefit from the relationship

Stephen Ministers are caring Christian friends who listen, understand, accept, encourage, and pray for and with Care Receivers who are working through a crisis or a tough time.

No. Stephen Ministers are not counselors; they are trained lay caregivers.  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 find the care they really need.

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 Minster is kept in strictest confidence.

Pastors will always be the primary caregivers for the congregation, but there is no way pastors can meet all the needs for care. God has called all of us, not only pastors, to minister to one another. Stephen Ministry multiplies ministry by turning pastors in to equippers, so they can enable lay people to provide caring ministry as well.

Stephen Ministry is a caregiving ministry available to our members and community free of charge. Likewise training to become a Stephen Minister has no financial costs.

Most people are much more open to giving care than to receiving it. When a person is giving care, he or she seems to be in a position of strength, stability and authority. When a person is receiving care, he or she seems to be acknowledging weakness, insecurity, and vulnerability.

As a result, there are countless people today who tough it out on their own, even though they could really benefit from a Christian friend who would listen and care for them. They remain the strong, silent type, or wear a smile across a face that is holding back a flood of tears.

But God did not create us to be independent. We were created to be interdependent. God’s Word is clear on this all the way back to Genesis: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18). The New Testament underscores this theme with more than 50 verses that contain the word “one another.” These verses include admonitions such as “love one another,” “encourage one another,” “build up one another,” and “pray for one another.”

It is most difficult for people to ask for help. Whether it is because of guilt, shame, inadequacy, or fear of rejection, many would prefer to suffer alone than ask for help. But suffering alone is not God’s intent for us. Jesus promises, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). We can receive this promised rest when we turn to one another for comfort and help.

If you are facing difficulties in life, open your heart to God’s love and grace through another person. Stephen Ministry offers the gift of a confidential relationship with someone who will listen to you and provide you with the care and encouragement you need, while Christ works with you both, giving His love and peace.

Begin by talking to one of our Stephen Leaders or Hadley Kifner and they can tell you more. We usually train a new class of Stephen Ministers every other year. Stephen Ministers make a two year commitment to train and serve.

The name Stephen comes from Saint Stephen, who was the first lay person commissioned by the apostles to provide caring ministry to those in need, as recorded in Acts 6.

Stephen Ministry has been around since 1975, when Kenneth Haugk, a pastor and clinical psychologist, began it to multiply the caregiving in his congregation in St. Louis, Missouri.  University Presbyterian Church has had Stephen Ministry since 1992 and is 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.  To learn more, visit www.stephenministries.org.

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.

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.