Huguenot Memorial Church

Stephen Ministry at Huguenot Memorial Church


Our congregation’s Stephen Ministry equips lay people to provide confidential one-to-one Christian care to individuals who are experiencing difficulties in their lives. Our Stephen Ministers are not counselors or therapists. They are gifted and compassionate people who have received 50 hours of Christian care-giving training that includes ministering to people experiencing losses through grief, unemployment, or long illnesses, unemployment, isolation due to relocation, aging, disability, or are stressed by caring for others. They are also trained to recognize when a Care Receiver’s needs go beyond the care a Stephen Minister can provide, and where and how to refer the Care Receiver for additional care. Our Stephen Ministers meet with their Care Receivers once a week and listen to, encourage and pray with them to help make a challenging time in their life journey smoother. They are there for their Care Receivers to perform a caring process – to listen and care – not to try to “fix things” or push for results. As emphasized in the Stephen Ministry curriculum, a Stephen Minister is the care giver and God is the cure giver.

Huguenot has five Stephen Ministers that were commissioned in the summer of 2008. They are Dolores Fagerstrom, Dee Jacobs, Joanne Laufer, Barbara Lawlor, and Valerie Rendon. Three more Ministers – Tom Buchanan, Belinda Eddy, and Lyn Roth-Jacobs – are in training now and will be commissioned in June, 2009. A third class of Stephen Ministers will begin training at the end of this year or beginning of 2010.

If you or someone you know is a potential Care Receiver or would like to know more about the Stephen Ministry program, please contact one of the three Stephen Leaders at Huguenot:

Pastor Steve Michie

914-738-3488

smichie@huguenotchurch.org

Sue Tritsch

914-632-1206

sctritsch@aol.com

Marion Cooke

914-738-7879

mmcooke1@optonline.net

Information about the Stephen Ministry at Huguenot is posted on a special bulletin board in the Chapel hallway. Printed material is available in the pamphlet holder just outside the tower entrance to the sanctuary and in the Church office. The official Stephen Ministry website can also be accessed: www.stephenministries.org.

News

Events