®
The Cross and Flame is a registered trademark and the use is supervised by the General Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church. Permission to use the Cross and Flame must be obtained from the General Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church:
 |
(618) 537-6622 Fax (618) 537-4571 |
 |
We are a Stephen Ministry Church |
The
A
Stephen Minister is a congregation member who is
recruited, selected, trained, commissioned, and supervised by Stephen
Leaders
to provide one-to-one Christian care to persons in need on behalf of
the
congregation. Stephen Ministers typically are assigned one care
receiver at a
time and meet with that person for about one hour each week. Stephen
Ministers
usually serve for two years, which includes an initial 50 hours of
training
followed by twice-monthly supervision and continuing education sessions.
Stephen
Ministers are not counselors. They are trained Christian
caregivers. Their role is to listen and to care—not to
counsel or advise.
A Stephen Minister doesn’t replace the pastor, but augments the pastor by providing the someone that a care receiver can talk to regularly for as long as they need the Stephen Minister. A pastor can meet with someone once or twice for specific needs, but can’t possibly meet with each person in a congregation for an hour or so each week for months. That’s why our church chose to have Stephen Ministers.