Outreach / 5 posts found
Stephen Ministry at WVUC
Dear West Vancouver United Church Friends: Our congregation is now in the midst of exciting developments in the area of caring ministry. Three dedicated persons from our congregation — Ally Murray, Bob Pearmain and Gwen Carpenter — along with our Lead Minister, Rev. Philip Newman, attended a week-long training course in Anaheim, CA where we learned how to implement Stephen Ministry, a program of lay caring ministry for our congregation. Our instruction taught us to become Stephen Leaders who equip, encourage and supervise lay people in caring ministry. Stephen Ministry will be built upon the foundational commitment to caring ministry […]
Q&A
In the Stephen Ministry materials I see the word “Pastor” used frequently. Our congregation does not normally use this term. We use the term “Minister.” Are we changing our theology or changing our staff structure? The term “Pastor” is used because Stephen Ministry uses the term “Minister” frequently to refer to Stephen Ministers who are our lay care providers. We use the term “Pastor” here to differentiate between our professional ministers and our Lay Stephen Ministers. How much of my time will it really involve? There is training, which will include two retreats [Friday evening 6-9:30pm, & Saturday 9-4 including […]
Qualities of a Stephen Minister
The church is not looking for perfect Stephen Ministers. They do not exist outside of Jesus himself! Effective Stephen Ministers will not all be alike and that’s good. Care receivers will be different, so It helps to have a variety of Stephen Ministers who can serve them. Core Qualities of a Stephen Minister Core Qualities The person is a Christian. The person has the ability to keep confidences. The person is able to relate to others nonjudgmentally. The person is committed to giving the time necessary for training and service. The person is willing and able to participate faithfully in […]
Stephen Ministry – An Invitation To Answer The Call
Dear West Vancouver United Church Friends: Our congregation is now in the midst of exciting developments in the area of caring ministry. Three dedicated persons from our congregation — Ally Murray, Bob Pearmain and Gwen Carpenter — along with myself, recently attended a week-long training course in Anaheim, CA where we learned how to implement Stephen Ministry, a program of lay caring ministry for our congregation. Our instruction taught us to become Stephen Leaders who equip, encourage and supervise lay people in caring ministry. Stephen Ministry will be built upon the foundational commitment to caring ministry that has been a […]
Introducing Stephen Ministry
By the power of God’s Spirit, we are enhancing and strengthening our historic commitment to caring ministry through a great ministry initiative in 2017 that will deepen and expand the person-to-person caregiving capacity of our congregation: Stephen Ministry! Given our congregation’s deep history of caring ministry, the Stephen Ministry is a way for our congregation to deepen our training and mobilization of our members to provide Christ-centred care and support to people experiencing many different kinds of life difficulties, including grief, divorce, cancer, unemployment, a spiritual crisis, isolation, and other challenges. You can now see our “Stephen Ministry Certificate of […]