Pastoral Care - Stephen Ministry
Stephen Ministry Information
For specific new class information, please check our Online Events Calendar on the homepage of our website, or the Upcoming Events section in the upper right hand corner of this webpage. Contact Susan Nagy, Susan.nagy@erieinsurance.com, with questions.
Stephen Ministers provide one-on-one care with a person in need of a kind heart, open mind and good listening ear. If you fit the description, please consider this valuable ministry.
Contact Susan Nagy, susan.nagy@erieinsurance.com, or The Rev. Tom Pumphrey, tpumphrey@stdavidschurch.org for more information.
What exactly is Stephen Ministry?
Stephen Ministry is a ministry in our congregation in which trained and supervised laypersons, 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 seven Stephen Leaders—Betsy Aikens, Margy Conlin, The Rev. Tom Pumphrey, Susan Nagy, John Schofield, George and Melissa Vosburgh.
Stephen Ministers are the caregivers. 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 covers 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 outside of our parish who are experiencing divorce, grief, loss of 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 from the relationship. The relationship is completely confidential.
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 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 needs exceed what they can provide. When that happens they work with care receivers to help them receive the level of care they really need.
Is my relationship with a Stephen Minister confidential? 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 the 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 a caring ministry to those in need as recorded in Acts 6.
To learn more about Stephen Ministry go to http://www.stephenministries.org/.