Stephen Ministry

Stephen Ministers provide one-on-one Christian care to people, in and around our congregation, who are going through a difficult period in their lives. Stephen Ministry springs from the belief that if people can talk through their issues and fears, their grief, their anger - whatever it is that is hurting - with someone who can listen well, they will find God's healing in their lives. Stephen Ministers meet with their care receivers once a week. All 28 of our Stephen Ministers have undergone 50 hours of training in distinctively Christian caregiving skills and attend continuing education and supervision classes once a month.

If you or someone you know would like to receive care from a Stephen minister, please contact the Church office, (239) 261-5469.

Stephen Ministry was started over 30 years ago by the Reverent Kenneth C. Haugk, PhD, a Lutheran Minister and clinical psychologist from St. Louis, Missouri. As a pastor, Dr. Haugk could see that pastors typically find themselves called from crisis to crisis within their congregations and are often frustrated that they cannot spend more time with those individual in need of healing from their losses. In order to better serve the congregation, Dr. Haugk developed a program that he called "Stephen Ministry" after St. Stephen, who was the first lay person commisioned by the Apostles in the first century to provide caring ministry to those in need. Today, there are over 500,000 Stephen Ministers in more that 150 Christian denominations around the world.

Stephen Ministry Workshop ~ On Saturday, November 3, from 9:00-1:00, there will be a very special workshop facilitated by Nanette Dost, from the Stephen Ministry home office in St. Louis. This is a unique opportunity to learn about Stephen Ministry, and it is free to members of our church. Please join us for this interesting workshop. Call the church office to sign up. http://www.smore.com/swxp

If you would like to know more about becoming a Stephen Minister and the Stephen Ministry program, please speak with any of our Stephen Ministers on Sunday mornings in Church. You will recognize them by their Stephen Ministry name tags. Or, call the Church Office, (239) 261-5469, which will be happy to refer you to the appropriate contact person. New Stephen Ministers are trained and supervised by five Stephen Leaders, who have attended a week long program on training Stephen Ministers in Orlando.