Christ
the King Lutheran Church
Stephen Ministry
The Story of Stephen Ministry
Stephen Ministry – where did it all begin? It dates back to 1974 when Kenneth C. Haugk, a pastor and clinical psychologist, was pastor of St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in St. Louis, Missouri. Fresh out of seminary, his strengths and heart were in caregiving ministry, and he was looking forward to making a positive impact on his congregation and community by providing pastoral care to all those experiencing divorce, grief, hospitalization, discouragement, and other life difficulties.
Very quickly, though, he found that the needs for care far exceeded that which he alone could provide. He faced one of a pastor’s greatest frustrations: seeing people slipping through the cracks because their urgent needs were going unmet. In November, 1974, he discussed the situation with two seminary friends. The conversation turned to Ephesians 4 and “equipping the saints for the work of ministry”. Haugk realized that God didn’t intend for pastors to monopolize ministry. Rather, God gave all his people gifts for ministry and one of his roles as pastor, was to equip others to use their gifts of ministry.
The impact was immediate. People began receiving the focused Christian care they needed. Fewer people were slipping through the cracks, and Haugk found he had more time to perform his other pastoral duties. The Stephen Ministers were surprised by the spiritual growth they encountered as they saw God working through them to bring love and healing to others.
The story would have ended there, had not two of the Stephen Ministers cornered Haugk on a hot May morning after worship services. “This is good stuff”, they told him. “We’re not going to let you go until you promise to bring this ministry to other churches!” Still wearing his vestments and perspiring from the heat, Haugk gave in and agreed to find a way to bring Stephen Ministry to other churches.
In November 1975 Haugk and his wife Joan founded the not-for-profit Stephen Ministries organization and began bringing Stephen Ministry to other congregations. It spread like wildfire. CHRIST THE KING LUTHERAN CHURCH is one of more than 7,000 congregations from more then 90 Christian denominations that now either have or are beginning Stephen Ministry in their churches. Over a quarter million people have been trained as Stephen Ministers, a number that grows by tens of thousands each year. More than a million people across the United States, Canada, and the world have been touched by God’s love through a Stephen Minister. And that is the mark of God’s doing, because finally this story of Stephen Ministry is a million stories and more of caring ministry.
The first Stephen Minister training class at Christ the King began in January, 2004, with additional classes in January, 2005 and 2006. To date 25 men and women have completed the 50 hours of Stephen Ministry training. Most of these people have been assigned care receivers (some have had multiple care receivers) and are currently helping them walk through difficult times in their lives.
If there is enough interest, a new Stephen Ministers
training class will begin in January.
Call the church office if you are interested.
