“You (the Stephen Minister) are the only person who visits me every week in my home. Thank you."
" I am so thankful for my Stephen Minister, who through the Stephen's Ministry, faithfully visited my mom every Thursday. She is one in a million."
"Everyone needs a Stephen Minister sometime."
These are actual quotes from Lord of Life care receivers about their experiences with a Stephen Minister.
Galatians invites us to "Bear one another's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Stephen Ministry equips individuals to provide one-to-one Christian care to people in our congregation and community who are experiencing difficulties in their lives. Stephen Ministry is a confidential ministry. The identity of those receiving care and everything they discuss with a Stephen Minister remains private. A Stephen Minister is:
o A child of God who walks beside someone who is hurting.
o A congregation member who is carefully selected to serve in this role because of his or her caregiving gifts.
o A caring person with 50 hours of training in providing high-quality, distinctively Christian care.
o A caring Christian friend who listens, cares, prays, supports, and encourages.
o Someone who meets faithfully each week with the care receiver for as long as there is a need.
The Lord of Life Stephen Ministry is growing in collaboration and caring in 2019! When this ministry began in the summer of 2017, we knew there was a Cincinnati Stephen Ministry Network because we were given a grant from them to pay for part of Stephen Ministry Leader training. Guess what? We have been given another grant to help pay for Stephen Leadership training for Cindy Campbell this year, too. We have been so blessed by this network!
We have also learned that there is a "mini-network" of Stephen Ministry congregations in our area. This mini-network collaborates to provide 50 hours of Stephen Ministry training each year (January to April). One congregation hosts the training each year and Stephen Leaders join forces to teach all of the sessions of the Stephen Ministry Series coursework. What a great way to save on resources (especially time) in training new Stephen Ministers. Chrystal Green is currently attending this training at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, West Chester, who is hosting the 2019 training. Stephen Leaders from Lord of Life Lutheran, Grace Chapel, St. Max Catholic Church, St. Anne Episcopal Church, Faith Community United Methodist Church, and St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church are collaborating and sharing the teaching for ten new Stephen Ministers. What a group! Please pray for Chrystal and the other Stephen Ministers in training. We need your prayer support for this important ministry!
Another benefit of this collaboration is the opportunity to have hurting people in our congregation connected with a Stephen Minister from one of the other congregations in the network. From the beginning, we wanted to have partnerships outside of our congregation and the seeds of collaboration are already being sown with St. Anne and beyond. We currently have a Stephen Minister from St. Anne providing care for a member of our congregation. What a blessing to have built-in support within the West Chester, Liberty Township, and Mason area! Right now, all of the LOL Stephen Ministers are assigned a care receiver and "borrowing" a Stephen Minister from the network means more people get the care they need!
Thank you to all who serve as Stephen Ministers through Lord of Life: Cindy Campbell, Helen Funk, Marie Jurkiewicz, Barb Mackey, Becky Mastalerz, Aleen Miller, Jenny Smith, and Bonnie Tremayne.
If you would like more information about receiving care for yourself or a loved one, please contact us at
Yours in Christ,
Ava Fiebig