Stephen Ministry

Stephen Ministry

Beach UMC is a Stephen Ministry congregation. This ministry equips lay persons to provide distinctively Christian, highly confidential, one-to-one care to persons in our congregation and community who are experiencing difficult life Circumstances. A Stephen Minister serves as a good listener and spiritual friend, and helps the care receiver set goals that will assist him/her in moving through the difficult circumstance.

Examples of life situations that Stephen Ministers can help with are: divorce, loss of job, hospitalization or surgery, terminal illness, mild depression, grief due to loss of family or friend by death, reordering life priorities, , marital stress, family issues, spiritual support, and many more.

To request the services of a Stephen Minister, call Pastor Carmen Johns in the church office at 249-2343, ext 14.

Training classes for future Stephen Ministers begin each year in September.    The training is 50 hours with assigned reading between classes.  After completing classes in March, graduates are commissioned as Stephen Ministers.  There is a two-year commitment to serve and to attend the continuing education and supervision groups twice a month.

The 2007 Fall training will meet on Monday evening beginning September 17, 2007 call Wanda in the church office to register. 

The Story of Stephen Ministry

Stephen Ministry dates back to 1974 when Kenneth C. Haugk, a pastor and clinical psychologist, was Fresh out of seminary.  His strengths and heart were in caregiving ministry, and he was looking forward to making a positive impact on his congregation and community by providing pastoral care to those experiencing divorce, grief, hospitalization, discouragement, and other life difficulties.

He quickly found that the needs for care far exceeded that which he alone could provide, as  he saw people slipping through the cracks because their urgent needs were going unmet.  He discussed the situation with two friends and The conversation turned to Ephesians 4 and “equipping the saints for the work of ministry.”  Haugk realized that God didn’t intend for pastors to monopolize ministry.  Rather, God gave all his people gifts for ministry and one of his roles as pastor was to equip others to use their gifts in ministry.

In the coming months he recruited nine lay people who had the gifts and heart to do caring ministry.  He then used his combined backgrounds in theology and psychology to develop a training program in Christian caregiving.  By March 1975 the nine were commissioned as “Stephen Ministers.”  Their first care receivers included a widower, a blind person, a young woman with cancer, a truck driver forced to retire early, and an inactive member struggling with faith issues.

The impact was immediate.  People began receiving the focused Christian care they needed.  Fewer people were slipping through the cracks.  The Stephen Ministers were surprised by the spiritual growth they encountered as they saw God working through them to bring love and healing to others.

In November 1975 Haugk and his wife founded the not-for-profit Stephen Ministries organization and began bringing Stephen Ministry to other congregations.  It spread like wildfire.  Beach United Methodist church is one of more than 7,000 congregations from more than 90 Christian denominations that now has Stephen Ministry.  Over a quarter million people have been trained as Stephen Ministers.  More than a million people across the United States, Canada, and the world have been touched by God’s love through a Stephen Minister.  And that is the mark of God’s doing, because finally the story of Stephen Ministry is a million stories and more of caring ministry.

If you would like to be trained as a Stephen Minister, contact Pastor Carmen for an application.