Locals train as Stephen leaders

Two people from a local church have been trained to provide one-to-one Christian care to those in crisis.

Scott Briggs, assistant pastor of Peakland United Methodist Church, and Amy Shinn Reaves were among 415 pastors and congregation leaders who attended the Stephen Ministry leader’s training course held recently in Pittsburgh, according to a news release.

The Stephen ministry provides an effective way to train and organize members of churches to provide one-to-one Christian care to individuals struggling with a crisis like grief, divorce, loneliness, relocation, hospitalization, a terminal illness, or unemployment.

The ministry began in 1975 when Kenneth C. Haugk, a pastor and clinical psychologist in St. Louis, Mo., trained parishioners to help meet the needs for care in his congregation.

The ministry was so successful that other congregations become interested and Haugk founded the Stephen Ministry organization. Since then, more than 10,000 congregations have become involved.
At Peakland UMC, Reaves and Briggs will now recruit, select and train members to be Stephen Ministers, and then will match each with an individual in need of care.

Reaves and Briggs join a team of three Stephen Leaders at Peakland UMC, which started its Stephen Ministry in 2006. Since that time, 12 members have been trained as Stephen Ministers and more than 14 people in crisis have received the formal care of the ministry.

For more information about Peakland UMC’s Stephen Ministry, contact Leigh Barth at (434) 384-2955. For information about how a congregation can become involved, contact Stephen Ministries, 2045 Innerbelt Business Center Drive, St. Louis, MO 63114; call (314) 428-2600; or visit http://www.stephenministries.org.