Stephen
Ministry

What is Stephen Ministry?

Stephen Ministry is one-to-one lay caring ministry at Discovery Church. Stephen Ministry training equips and empowers lay caregivers—called Stephen Ministers—to provide high-quality, confidential, Christ-centered care to people who are hurting at Discovery Church and in our community.

Watch this video below to learn more!

Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2, NRSV).

How Stephen Ministry Works?

The best way to understand how Stephen Ministry works is to learn about three groups of people involved in this ministry:

Stephen Leaders

Stephen Leaders—direct the overall ministry in the congregation by: -Building awareness of the ministry the congregation and community. -Recruiting and training Stephen Ministers. -Meeting with potential care receivers to assess their needs match care receivers with Stephen Ministers. -Provide Stephen Ministers with ongoing supervision and continuing education.

Stephen Ministers

Stephen Ministers are lay caregivers that receive 50 hours of training by Stephen Leaders to offer high-quality, one-to-one Christian care to people going through tough times. A Stephen Minister usually provides care to one person at a time, meeting with that person once a week for about an hour. Once a month, Stephen Ministers gather with their Stephen Leaders for supervision and continuing education.

Care Receivers

Care Receivers are people going through tough times and are being cared for by Stephen Ministers. These are people struggling through a difficult time in life—experiencing grief, divorce, job loss, chronic or terminal illness, or some other life crisis.

Important Guidelines

Some important guidelines for this caring relationship protect both the care receiver and the Stephen Minister: 

The relationship between a care receiver and a Stephen Minister is confidential. 

Men are matched with men; women with women. 

When a care receiver’s needs exceed what a Stephen Minister can provide, the Stephen Ministry team makes a referral to an appropriate mental health professional or other community resource.

Could you benefit from the confidential one on one care of a trained Stephen minister?

Are you interested in training to become a Stephen Minister?