GPBC Blog

By Steve Muir (Adopted from a Stephen Ministry article)--

Stephen Ministry is an important way we at GPBC carry out our mission: “Helping people follow Jesus together.” We do this by showing the love of Jesus to people who are going through difficult times. Think of all the hurting people in our faith community:

• experiencing grief after losing a loved one;
• dealing with a major illness;
• caring for a parent or spouse with a chronic condition;
• picking up the pieces after a divorce or broken relationship;
• coping with the pain of unemployment or financial difficulties;
• struggling with infertility, miscarriage, or pregnancy complications; or
• facing other life difficulties.

 Also, think of others who are not part of our faith community dealing with these issues – perhaps people you know at work, in your neighborhood, in your social group, or through your children’s school.

 With Stephen Ministry, we have a great opportunity to reach out to people who are hurting and minister to them during their times of need by matching them with a Stephen Minister, who will walk with them for as long as needed, providing emotional and spiritual support.

 But to meet all these needs, we need Stephen Ministers! We need people with gifts of caring, compassion, patience, faith, listening – who feel called to serve, who want to make a difference in people’s lives, who want to be part of a life-transforming ministry.

 Our vision is to meet all these needs for care and share Jesus’s love with those who are hurting. And to make this vision a reality, we need people to prayerfully consider becoming Stephen Ministers.

 Our next Stephen Ministry training class will be January 24 to May 16, 2021 on Sundays from 2 to 4:30 p.m. plus a few Saturdays, and will be done via Zoom. If you are interested in learning more about becoming a Stephen Minister, contact us at .