Stephen Ministry
one-on-one Christian care
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. Ephesians 4:12-13
In 1975 Rev. Kenneth C. Haugk, a pastor and Ph.D. clinical psychologist, saw that the needs for care in his congregation were more than he alone could provide. Therefore, he trained nine people in his congregation to provide quality, one-on-one Christian care to those experiencing a life crisis. After their training, he commissioned them as Stephen Ministers and linked them with people who needed support.
The Stephen Ministry in that church was very successful, and other congregations wanted to learn more and have their churches become involved. It was then that Dr. Haugk founded Stephen Ministries which has, over the past few decades, trained Stephen Leaders from 10,000 congregations representing over 150 Christian denominations.
In 2007, Stephen Ministry started at First Presbyterian-Tyler and functions with a team of six Stephen Leaders and 12 Stephen Ministers who serve congregation members who are going through a difficult time in their lives.