{"id":1338,"date":"2015-02-01T15:52:17","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T21:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gslc-carthage.dreamhosters.com\/?p=1338"},"modified":"2020-02-28T13:03:52","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T19:03:52","slug":"stephen-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gslc-carthage.org\/?p=1338","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some Thoughts from Pastor<\/b><\/p>\n

We are beginning a great ministry that will deepen and expand the person-to-person care giving capacity of \u00a0our congregation.\u00a0 It is called Stephen Ministry.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Stephen Ministry <\/i><\/b>is a way for our congregation to train and mobilize members to provide Christ-centered care and support to people experiencing many different kinds of life difficulties, including grief, divorce, cancer, unemployment, spiritual crisis, and other challenges.<\/p>\n

Our first step is to send Earl Kirn to be trained as a Stephen leader at a one-week Leader\u2019s Training Course April 12th<\/sup> to the 18th<\/sup> in St. Louis.\u00a0 He will return home with the knowledge and skills to begin and lead the ministry here, have the knowledge and skills to train members to serve as lay caregivers\u2014called Stephen Ministers<\/i>\u2014in our congregation, match those Stephen Ministers<\/i> with people in need of care, and provide ongoing support to our\u00a0Stephen Ministry<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0 Janet C.\u00a0<\/i><\/b>has already received this training through another congregation and Kurt S.<\/i><\/b>, Brenda D.\u00a0<\/i><\/b>and Clarice O.\u00a0<\/i><\/b>have been trained as Stephen Ministers <\/i>also through other congregations.<\/p>\n

Here are some things you can do as we begin this ministry together:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Give thanks to God for the life-transforming ministry ahead of us.<\/li>\n
  2. Watch a couple of three-minute videos at www.stephenministries.org\/stories <\/i><\/b>to learn more about the difference this caring ministry makes in people\u2019s lives.<\/li>\n
  3. Give thanks to God for Earl, Janet, Kurt, Brenda and Clarice whom the Spirit has moved to become our first Stephen leaders.<\/li>\n
  4. Pray for the Spirit to move others who will become Stephen Ministers<\/i>.\u00a0 In fact, prayerfully consider whether God might be calling you to this ministry.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In the days and weeks to come, you will be hearing much more about Stephen Ministry<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0 If you have any questions about any of the Stephen Ministry <\/i><\/b>or how you could be involved, please see me, Earl or any of the Stephen Ministers<\/i>.<\/p>\n

    As we begin this ministry, I know God will be at work through it.\u00a0 May St. Paul\u2019s words in Ephesians 3:20 capture our excitement, our hopes, and our dreams for Stephen Ministry<\/i><\/b>:<\/p>\n

    Glory be to God whose power, working in us, can do\u00a0<\/i>infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.<\/i><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/i>I am looking forward to seeing what God can do through Stephen Ministry<\/b> for our congregation.<\/p>\n

    –Pastor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Some Thoughts from Pastor We are beginning a great ministry that will deepen and expand the person-to-person care giving capacity of \u00a0our congregation.\u00a0 It is called Stephen Ministry. Stephen Ministry is a way for our congregation to train and mobilize members to provide Christ-centered care and support to people experiencing many different kinds of life… Read More »Stephen Ministry<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fellowship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gslc-carthage.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gslc-carthage.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gslc-carthage.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gslc-carthage.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gslc-carthage.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gslc-carthage.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1339,"href":"https:\/\/www.gslc-carthage.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338\/revisions\/1339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gslc-carthage.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gslc-carthage.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gslc-carthage.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}