“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Mission: With God's guidance, Stephen Ministry provides confidential one-on-one lay pastoral care to individuals in our congregation and community who are experiencing difficulties. Stephen Ministry is a worldwide, non-denominational organization that provides training and support to member congregations.

Vision: Stephen ministers proclaim the love of Jesus Christ by striving to be:

• full of faith
• compassionate
• trustworthy
• skilled and trained

Stephen ministers provide the Christian care; God gives the healing.

The Stephen Ministry is a relatively new ministry at Hopewell Presbyterian Church. It is grounded in Jesus’ command to love one another. Through one-on-one caring relationships, those who are hurting receive the love and care they need to support them.

Stephen Ministry is a confidential ministry, and Stephen Ministers are committed Christians with gifts of compassion, patience, faith, mercy and encouragement who receive 50 hours of initial training in caring skills, feel called to be care givers, express God’s care to others, and are committed to confidentiality in caring relationships. The Stephen ministers are not counselors, therapists, problem-solvers or casual visitors. They help meet the needs of persons who are hospitalized, terminally ill, bereaved, in a job crisis, new members of the church, disabled, homebound, lonely, in a spiritual crisis, or looking for a caring Christian friend.

Our Stephen Ministry Team is led by two fully trained Stephen Leaders, Becky Ludeke and Suzanne Holdcraft, and includes the following Stephen Ministers who have received training and are now actively serving care receivers in our community:

Martha Camp                             Florence Brown

Pat Hendrickson                        Joanne Hornberger

Linda Robbins                           Barbara Pauley

Carlana Sargent                         Pat Swartz

Dick Scheetz                               Eric Wells

Nancy Treible

If you would like more information about our Stephen Ministry at HPC, please call or email stephenministry@hopewellpres.org.