Stephen Ministry Complements Pastoral Care at
St. Francis of Assisi, Ann Arbor

By Bonnie Gurzenda

Writer, Sharing the Wealth
Parishioner, St. James, Mason

With approximately 2,900 households comprising St. Francis of Assisi parish in Ann Arbor, there are times when the needs of the parishioners exceed what a pastor alone can provide. When that happens, that is where lay ministers trained in the Stephen Ministry program step in to provide a caring presence for parishioners.

According to one of the Stephen Ministry leaders, Mary Karen McClellan, "Our pastor, Fr. Jim McDougall said he really wanted us to do this. I see him as a good shepherd, attentive to his parishioners. He moves from fire to fire, but as he must turn to deal with the next 'blaze' sometimes some smoldering remains and needs further attention. In these circumstances, the Stephen Ministry is a great program, filling a real need in our large parish."

 

"I was visiting the homebound," Mary Karen adds, "and praying with them, but there was a missing component. I felt the need to connect with people in a more spiritual way. Many times people think they do not need care, but problems can multiply. My training as a Stephen Ministry leader filled that need for me to help relate."

 

The Stephen Ministry was founded in 1975 by Rev. Kenneth C. Haugk, Ph.D. In his dual roles as a pastor and a clinical psychologist, he saw a need for a lay ministry comprised of ordinary church people.  The mission statement for the Stephen Ministries rises from St. Paul's letter found in Ephesians 4:12-13:

 

"To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ."

 

Rev. Haugk was the pastor of St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in St. Louis, Missouri at the time and bestowed that name on the new ministry.

 

Since 1975 more than 10,000 congregations from 150 denominations have adopted the Stephen method of lay ministry and over 450,000 Stephen Ministers have been trained men and women from all professions. It is estimated that more than one million people, called "care receivers",have been recipients of the one-to-one care. These care receivers might be going through a divorce, have lost a spouse or child, lost their job, are battling a disease or maybe they have retired and are just having difficulty adjusting. A listening, caring presence can make a world of difference.

 

Scott Wright, parish social ministry director at St. Francis says, "The Stephen Ministry program was recommended by a former director of adult formation at St. Francis who had experienced it first hand at another parish. She got us all excited about its potential. Our parish enrolled in the Stephen Ministry training program in November 2004 and sent seven people to Pittsburgh for a one-week, 50-hour training session to become leaders. There are seven active leaders and 12 active ministers in the parish. Since the first commissioning service in 2006 on Pentecost Sunday, 17 parishioners in need have received care through the ministry.

Scott is the person who gets the call either from Fr. Jim when he learns about a person he feels could be helped by meeting with a care minister, or directly from the needy person. He then pairs that person with a minister, male-to-male or female-to-female.

 

A Stephen Minister brings Christ's love to a hurting parishioner through a series of weekly meetings each lasting about an hour and including active listening and prayer. These meetings can be at the church, in a person's home or a mutually agreed on location. No advice is offered and there is no charge for the service. Confidentiality is crucial.

To attend to their own spiritual needs, care ministers attend peer supervision twice a month. There the ministers review their care-giving meetings and receive feedback in a prayerful and supportive environment. Sometimes a care receiver starts out with one concern and then this in turn reveals other areas of pain in their lives. In these peer sessions, the care receivers are discussed without their identity ever being revealed. If it seems a person might need professional counseling there are several professionals in the St. Francis parish who offer their services on a limited basis or will offer a referral service.

Karen Shellie, who is a trained leader as well as a care minister says, "Scott makes the assessment and assigns a care minister. I have been blessed in that the women I have been matched with have been a perfect fit."

Karen is enthusiastic in her praise of the Stephen Ministry and how it has affected her own life. "Everyone has a calling. I had a need to help people, so I studied psychology. We spend a lot of time thinking about ourselves, but what we have learned and what we have experienced can be rerouted. Because our parish is so large, there are a lot of people in a lot of pain. This training has been a benefit to me personally as well as to the parish. No one has to deal with pain alone."

Bob Ferris, one of several male care ministers and a leader, shares that the Stephen Ministry training has been a tremendous experience for him. "It offers great information on how to be with other people. I have been touched by the other ministers as well as the care receivers. I was looking for something more spiritual in my life."

After being commissioned, Bob waited quite a long time for a care receiver assignment. The wait, he feels, probably reflects the difficulty many men have with asking for help. Also a contributing factor may be that men and women often have very different needs. When the call did come, Bob says, "It came at a good time for me personally. The demands from my job had gotten real crazy. It was then I realized that it was a benefit for me to be diverted from my work. Trying to help someone else was 'a break in the action' for me."

In addition to the hour or so a week with the care receiver, Bob says there is the time commitment of the peer supervision sessions twice a month and there are also ongoing training sessions all adding up to 10 - 12 hours a month. He feels that is a small amount of time considering the benefit to the parish.

 

Care minister and leader, Kathi Tobey, was previously involved with the Elizabeth Ministry at St. Francis. "It is women helping women--an outreach. We celebrated good things and bad, helped with shopping, provided meals, helped in material ways," she says. "I took a meal to a woman who had had her fourth baby. She wanted to talk. She was excited about the baby. I walked away wishing we had something in place for people like her. And there are men who need care too. I have been touched by the Stephen Ministry because it fills those needs." She feels that the Stephen Ministry has been well-received by the parish. "And Fr. Jim has been totally on board."

 

From a national level, the Stephen Ministry program offers a church or parish a lot of support. In addition to the week-long training in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Dallas or several other cities, there are books, videos/DVDs and music, provided in a file drawer format that each leader receives. The cost for training each leader is $1500. (St. Francis of Assisi parish paid the fee for their people.) Back home in their parish, leaders are invited to facilitate the training process for care ministers in sessions comprised of "modules". Leaders take turns presenting a module. A $50 fee covers books each care minister receives. Training lasts for approximately six months and then they are commissioned as Stephen Ministers. Normally the care minister cares for one care receiver at a time. There is no set time limit. A mutual decision is made between care minister and care receiver as to how long the care will continue. Currently at St. Francis of Assisi there are five people in training to become care ministers.

The Stephen Ministry is ecumenical. Periodically, leaders from St. Francis meet with leaders from other churches in Washtenaw County who have the ministry in place to share information and resources and discuss how to publicize the ministry.

Candidates for care minister training are always welcome. Invitations are extended through the parish bulletin and in announcements at Mass. Current leaders and ministers are also encouraged to recommend people they feel would make good care ministers.

Scott Wright advises that having the Stephen Ministry available in a parish demands a lot of attention. "There are many administrative details to attend to so there needs to be an employee dedicated to its organization. In addition, most of the leaders and ministers have "day jobs" and there is a major time commitment involved." He adds, "The pastor sets the tone for the parish. His support is vital."

Because Fr. Jim recognizes that as well, he periodically stops in at the ministry's peer supervision gatherings to offer encouragement and support. In his view, at St. Francis of Assisi there was a great need. Based on the dedication and enthusiasm of the leaders and care ministers, Fr. Jim is convinced that incorporating the Stephen Ministry program into their already expansive offering of parishioner care was a wise move.

"Our parishioners benefit greatly from the Stephen Ministry. In all, there are 7,000 people in our parish and, out of that number we have so many people with ongoing and special needs. That is why we need more ministers and professional people involved," Fr. Jim adds.

"Throughout our parish ministries, we encourage people to participate by doing what they are good at and so we are constantly developing people and deepening their faith. Right now we have 2,300 parishioners involved in some ministry at St. Francis!"

To complement that involvement, he said the parish is planning a "school of discipleship" - a different approach to vocations that encourages lay persons to minister to each other. In the final analysis, he gives a lot of credit to his lay staff and those in ministry, adding that they make him look good. He welcomes all the help he can get putting out those "fires"!

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For more information contact:
Scott Wright
Parish Social Ministry Director
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

2150 Frieze Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-821-2121
Or the Stephen Ministry website: www.stephenministries.org