What is the Stephen Ministry?
Life is hard sometimes. It often seems like everybody around us has it all together all the time. The honest truth is that nobody really has it together. The more and more you grow, the more you learn that everyone struggles from time to time. Or in most cases, people struggle all the time. The puzzling thing about it all though, is that even with this information, we often have a hard time admitting to ourselves that we really do, in fact, need help.
Why? It’s no secret. We can clearly recognize when we are struggling. I don’t think that I have ever been anxious and thought to myself, “I wonder if I’m struggling with something,” in the same way that I may question a friend who seems a bit “off” one day. Our own emotions and thoughts can be painfully obvious to us, even if we can’t quite process them. So why do we try to hide them? Maybe we just don’t want to believe that we are weak and in need of help. Maybe we are just prideful and don’t want to accept that we aren’t as strong as we think we are. Ultimately, our pain and struggling serves to remind us of how incredibly broken we are without our savior.
This can be difficult to remember sometimes though, especially in the middle of a trial. This is where the Stephen Ministry comes in. The Stephen Ministry is an organization that equips regular, everyday church members to minister to people going through hard times, like you and me. They can help care for people in a Biblical and God-centered way, which is ultimately what we need throughout the trials of life. The only way to truly overcome certain trials is to become dependent on the Lord, and the Stephen Ministry is here to help that process. It doesn’t matter if you’ve had a bad day, a death in the family, or are suffering from a mental illness; pain is pain, and there is a Stephen Minister waiting to meet with you.
Below is a… less than informational video about the Stephen Ministry that we made for good fun, but in all seriousness, don’t let fear stop you from healing. There are people willing to meet with you and listen, and we hope you take them up on that. Contact our Stephen Ministry team leaders Aaron Peck or Ellen Cianelli to get started today.