Stephen Ministry

I've wanted to do a posting about this terrific group
of people for six months and now is my chance!
The group is made up of men and women who have
the gift mix and calling to become Stephen Ministers.
Ephesians 4:12-13 reveals the purpose of Stephen
Ministry. "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 faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature
of Christ."  In other words, the Stephen Ministry is
God's love in action. It's our congregation's one-to-
one care giving ministry.

Last Summer Simon Adu, Bernadette Oinonen
and I traveled to Pittsburg, PA for a week of arduous
training to become Stephen Leaders. One of our goals
for 2012 is to train a 'cohort' of Stephen Ministers to
serve our church family and the community.

For the last several months, our Pastoral Care team
has been attending weekly Stephen Ministry training
and friendships have blossomed and existing relationships
have been strengthened.

Last night we celebrated a job well done as we
finished the initial phase of training consisting 50 hours
which covered 18 study Modules. After a brief break
in our schedule, Stephen Ministers will be assigned a Care
Receiver, someone who is experiencing a difficult time,
perhaps due to the loss of a loved one, illness, divorce,
job loss, etc.. Bi-weekly Small Group Peer Supervison
sessions and Continuing Education will follow for the
duration of their two year commitment.

Let me introduce you to our team....
Above from left to right is Charline Crocker, Betty Watari,
Ruth Hart and Faye McCullough.

You can't have a party without some tasty treats.
Betty, Ruth, Simon Adu, David Centeno and Jackson
Toxla had fun just trying to decide what to sample!

Pam Gionet ( who is a part of our Spring Growth Group)
and Charline enjoyed few minutes to visit. As I looked
around and saw the smiling faces, I remember back to our
first class when everyone was a bit guarded and tentative!

Michael and Sona Klimowicz are all smiles! Could it
be that the ice cream was that good? Maybe it's because
they won't have double duty on Wednesday evenings,
attending SM and driving their boys to and from baseball!
I guess the smiles = relief!

Check out Simon! I noticed that Simon didn't
eat anything but he had fun watching everyone
while they ate theirs. Pam Farnsworth looks
like she's ready to give it a thumbs up.

What a good looking group! Meet Paula Butler,
Bernadette Oinonen and Marissa Gulliver. In case
you're wondering, they're just as beautiful on the
inside!



Every once in a while, Pastor Paul drops in. He always
seems to know when the team needs a bit of
encouragement! We appreciate it and him so much!

I think that he may have heard a great idea because he's
taking notes!

Since 1975, nearly 500,000 Christian men and women
from all walks of life have trained and served as Stephen
Ministers. We know that God has amazing things in store
and as our SM serve others- they will quickly discover
the amazing blessings God will give them in return.

Sally