Stephen Ministry

Preparation for this ministry requires participation in fifty (50) hours of Stephen Ministry Training, completion of Safe Church Training, and faithful participation in on-going peer supervision. Training classes will be held weekly, primarily on Monday evenings 6:30 – 9:00 pm. If you’d like more information REGISTER HERE or if you have any questions, please contact Becca Morehous, Assisting Minister for Pastoral Care or Rev. Philip DeVaul, Rector.

For Stephen Ministers and Leaders

This secure section has tools and resources for our Stephen Ministry Ministers and Leaders. Use the buttons to the right to access forms and see below for the Supervision and Continuing Ed schedules.

Stephen Minister Job Description

What Stephen Ministers Do
A defined cluster of activities make up a Stephen Minister’s job description.

Pray

Stephen Ministers pray daily for their care receivers and strive to worship God always in word and deed. They reveal the love of God to those who most need to see it.

Care for the Care Receiver

Stephen Ministers are assigned to care receivers – people in crisis who need caring support. Stephen Ministers care for those in moderate difficulties. The Stephen Minister’s care helps the care receiver resolve the difficulty and achieve growth.

Most Stephen Ministers meet once a week with their care receivers for about an hour at a time. They may also check in with the care receiver by telephone, particularly when the care receiver is going through a difficult time.

Stephen Ministers use special skills to care for their care receiver is going through a difficult time.

Listening. Most care receivers need someone simply to listen – really listen – as they talk through their difficulties.

Dealing with feelings. Stephen Ministers reflect the care receiver’s content, feelings, and ideas and ask open-ended questions to help the care receiver recognize, express, and accept his or her feelings.

Sharing distinctively Christian care resources. Stephen Ministers may share a prayer, a Bible verse or story, or other caring gestures that the care receiver would welcome.

Remaining process-oriented. Stephen Ministers do not try to fix the care receiver or his or her problems; they focus on the process of care-giving and rely on God to achieve results.

Relating assertively. Stephen Ministers respect both the needs of the care receiver and their own needs as well.

Maintaining boundaries. Stephen Ministers set appropriate boundaries in the caring relationship, helping the care receiver remain as independent as possible while being there for the care receiver as needed.

Recommending professional care when necessary. Stephen Ministers are not trained to care for those who are suicidal, severely depressed, abusive, or homicidal, or who are abusing drugs or alcohol. If Stephen Ministers recognize that their care receiver’s needs exceed the care they are able to provide, they see that the care receiver receives professional care.

Maintain Confidentiality
Stephen Ministers understand that confidentiality is crucial in any caring relationship. The care receiver needs to know that what he or she says to the Stephen Minister will remain in confidence. Stephen Ministers maintain confidentiality and encourage other Stephen Ministers to do the same.

Help Identify People in Need of Stephen Ministry
Stephen Ministers act as ministers of referral, helping to find people who would benefit from the care of a Stephen Minister.

Participate in Twice-Monthly Supervision and Continuing Education Sessions
Stephen Ministers participate faithfully in Small Group Peer Supervision and continuing education, coming prepared to every supervision session unless illness or emergency makes attendance impossible. Supervision provides Stephen Ministers with support, guidance, and accountability for their caring relationships. There are no unsupervised Stephen Ministries.

Help the Congregation Understand and Appreciate Stephen Ministry
Through their service, Stephen Ministers help the congregation appreciate Stephen Ministry and encourage members to become ministers of referral who help those in crisis receive the care they need.

How the Congregation Supports the Stephen Minister
The Stephen Minister has responsibilities, and so does the congregation.

Training
Through its trained Stephen Leaders, the congregation supplies Stephen Ministers with 50 hours of training for this ministry before they are assigned a care receiver, and further supplies continuing education twice monthly for as long as the Stephen Ministers serve. The training is comprehensive, and Stephen Ministers can feel confident in their skills for this ministry.

Commissioning
The congregation formally commissions Stephen Ministers at one or more worship services. This allows the community to recognize their efforts, affirm and support their ministry, and pray for them as they begin their caring ministry.

Supervision
Small Group Peer Supervision provides Stephen Ministers with encouragement and ensures that no Stephen Minister will ever have the carry the responsibility for his or her care receiver all alone.

Prayers
Stephen Ministers rely on the the prayers of the congregation for keeping God’s present foremost in their caring ministry. Sometimes the going will be tough for both caregivers and their care receivers; the Stephen Ministers will need the additional support of knowing that others are lifting their needs as caregivers to God in prayer.

Stephen Leaders
By accepting Stephen ministry as part of its overall ministry, a congregation agrees to supply the resources that allow for the training of Stephen leaders. These Stephen Leaders in turn provide guidance for Stephen Ministers. They train them and ensure tha the supervision and continuing education sessions progress smoothly. They are available to consult with Stephen Ministers when they have questions, face challenges, or suspect that the care receiver’s needs exceed the care they are able to give. Stephen Leaders offer support, advice, and affirmation to the Stephen Ministers and ensure the smooth operation of Stephen Ministry in the congregation.

Recognition and Appreciation
The congregation recognizes and appreciates Stephen Ministers for the service they give the congregation.

The Ministry of Listening

Think of a time when you really felt cared for. Chances are someone focused on what you had to say, was attentive to your needs, and listened to how you felt instead of telling you how you should feel or what you should do.

Listening is one of the most powerful ministry tools at your disposal. It demonstrates that you care about the other person. In Stephen Ministry, a great deal of time is spent in teaching and practicing listening skills because of its importance as a care-giving tool. You too can become a more caring listener by understanding and applying these six listening concepts from Stephen Ministry training:

1. Listening is active. It takes energy and commitment to listen really well. Focus your attention on what the other person has to say instead of thinking of what you’ll say next. Look at them while you listen, and nod along from time to time so the person knows you’re tuned in.
2. Listening takes patience. Often you need to build trust before someone will open up to you. Constant, patient listening is a key.
3. Listening involves more than just words. Pay attention not only to what is said, but to what is not said – or to what is said with a smile or a sigh. Pay attention to body language, too. Does it agree with or contradict a person’s spoken words?
4. Good listeners aren’t completely silent. They restate key thoughts or ideas to be sure they understood correctly or ask focused questions to encourage the person to reach a little deeper.
5. Listening happens over time. One conversation might build upon an earlier one. As you listen over several conversations, are there any recurring themes or patterns in what the person has said? Are there any contradictions from what was said earlier? These are signs that there may be more to explore underneath.
6. Listening is confidential. A great way to build that trust and to show the person you really care for them is to maintain confidentiality and not to share with others what was told to you in private conversation.

Jesus was the model of a good listener. Much of his ministry was listening to people. By listening to what people had to say he demonstrated how much he really cared about them. Remember the stories of the woman at the well, Nicodemus, or the disciples on the road to Emmaus. All were times when Jesus showed his care and concern by first listening to people and then giving them what they needed.

We all want Church of the Redeemer to be a caring place where members and guests truly feel people care about who they are and how they feel. Just as our Stephen Ministers use good listening skills to communicate how much they care, so can you. Follow and practice these listening principles and make a concentrated effort toward becoming a better listener. Listening is a great gift we can give to one another, and one we can all use in order to make Church of the Redeemer an even more caring place.

The Importance of Confidentiality in Stephen Ministry

Confidentiality is a cornerstone of Stephen Ministry because it is absolutely essential for building safe, healing, caring relationships.

Stephen Ministry is confidential. Stephen Ministers don’t reveal what their care receivers have told them. Not to the pastors, not to the Stephen Leaders, not to their spouses or friends, and not to other Stephen Ministers.

Why? Because trust is vital for a caring relationship to be effective. Care receivers are experiencing difficulties that leave them feeling very vulnerable. Discussing their innermost feelings is an important step in the healing process. But in order to open up and discuss that which is troubling them most, care receivers need complete trust in their Stephen Minister – and the assurance that what they say will not be circulated to others and become news for gossip.

This assurance builds trust and creates a safe place where care receivers can risk revealing their most painful issues – problems they might not even discuss with close friends or family. Confidentiality helps create a relationship that promotes healing and hope.

Another aspect of confidentiality is that nobody – except the Stephen Minister, the care receiver, and the pastor or Stephen Leader who matched the two together – even knows that a care receiver has a Stephen Minister. Care receivers, of course, are free to tell others about the relationship and who their Stephen Minister is, but the Stephen Minister never tells. This means a care receiver can choose to have complete anonymity so that if he or she doesn’t want people even to know that he or she has a Stephen Minister, nobody will ever know.

One final point involving confidentiality involves the Stephen Ministry model of supervision, where confidentiality is also a key element. (Supervision, done twice monthly, is vital to Stephen Ministry so that Stephen Ministers can provide the best quality care possible to their care receivers.) In supervision the focus of discussion is on the relationship between the Stephen Minister and the care receiver, rather than the details of what is going on in a care receiver’s life. By not revealing a care receiver’s name or any significant details, confidentiality is maintained, and supervision becomes a place where Stephen Ministers can support and encourage one another in ministry while they provide the best quality care to their care receivers. It’s a model that has enabled life-changing ministry to happen in thousands of Stephen Ministry congregations since 1975.

Why this talk about confidentiality? To build your trust in Stephen Ministry. It is a high-quality care-giving ministry that you can count on should you ever have the need. Confidentiality is a cornerstone of good ministry – and of our Stephen Ministry.