Church installs Stephen Ministers

The Temple Terrace United Methodist Church commissioned 12 Stephen Ministers on June 6 to begin providing one-to-one Christian caregiving to congregation members and community residents.

"Stephen Ministry gives Temple Terrace United Methodist Church an effective way to train and organize members to provide one-to-one Christian care to individuals struggling with a crisis like grief, divorce, loneliness, relocation, hospitalization, a terminal illness or unemployment," said the Rev. St. Clair Moore, the church's senior pastor. "The need for this type of care greatly exceeds what pastors alone can provide."

The new Stephen Ministers are Linda Bilger, Mike Cummings, Marge Ellison, Margie Fox, Jean Hope, Jane Latina, Julie McClung, Kelly Perez, Phyllis Rabb, Debbie Salinger, Peter Salinger and Marion Vivian.

They completed 50 hours of church training in four months, studying what it means to be a Christ-centered caregiver.

Temple Terrace United Methodist aims to reveal God's love in action through the caring efforts of its newest ministers, church leaders said.

"All Christians are called to care for and love one another," Moore said. "It's not just the pastor's job.

"By equipping laypeople, we can help them fulfill their calling as Christians and also expand the amount of caring ministry available through Temple Terrace United Methodist Church."

In January, the church began preparing pastors Andy Arace, Shields Clark, Yvette Moore, Cindy Ross and Moore to direct Stephen Leaders training.

Kenneth C. Haugk, a pastor and clinical psychologist in St. Louis, launched Stephen Ministry in 1975 to train parishioners to help meet the needs of his congregation.

Haugk founded the Stephen Ministries organization. More than 10,000 congregations have participated in the program.

They represent more than 150 Christian denominations from all 50 states, 10 Canadian provinces and 24 other countries.

The Stephen Ministries organization hosts annual training courses nationwide. More than 55,000 church leaders have been trained as Stephen Leaders.

An additional 500,000 people have been trained as Stephen Ministers.