Stephen Ministry
Just call Stephen Ministers the after people- ...after you find the pink slip in what's now your final paycheck; ...after the doctors have said there is nothing more they can do; ...after the relationship ends, but the wounds are still bleeding; ...after family and friends have heard the story one too many times, but you still need to talk it out. That's when the Stephen Ministers step in.
A free and confidential service, the Stephen Ministry serves people who are struggling with a special need, or going through a difficult time. They are paired with lay persons trained as Stephen Ministers to offer Christian support and care.
Named after St. Stephen, the first lay person commissioned by the Apostles to provide caring ministry to those in need (Acts 6), Stephen Ministry began in 1975 when the Rev Kenneth C Haugk, PH.D., a pastor and clinical psychologist, trained nine lay persons at his congregation in St. Louis to be Stephen Ministers.
Today more than 9,000 congregations, including Westminster, enrolled in the Stephen. Representing more than 100 different Christian denominations from all 50 states, 9 Canadian Provinces and 22 other countries.
If you would like to have a Stephen Minister, or just to find out more, please contact JoAnn Landis, Ph.D. at 619.224.4985
Ministering
Frederick Buechner in his book Wishful Thinking writes that “the Gospels depict Jesus as having spent a surprising amount of time healing people. Ever since the time of Jesus, healing has been part of the Christian tradition. In this century it has usually been associated with religious quackery or the lunatic fringe, but as the psychosomatic dimension of disease has come to be taken more and more seriously by medical science it has regained some of its former respectability.”
Golf Tournament Sept. 10th
Join the 4th annual Golf Tournament at Sea 'n Air NAS to raise funds for Presbyterian Urban Ministries. September 10th, 2010 Shotgun start at 12:30. Learn more
More on Ministering
Henri J.M. Nouwen in his book The Wounded Healer speaks of those who minister to others as needing to recognize the sufferings of our own time in our own hearts and “make that recognition the starting point” of our service.
In Matthew’s Gospel (4:23-24), it is reported that “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them."