Stephen Ministry at Milledgeville First United Methodist Church Milledgeville And Surrounding Area, GA Testimonials

A Care Receiver's Experience

shared in a church service at Milledgeville First United Methodist on August 22, 2010

I have been going to this church for 9 years. I am a wife, mother and grandmother which makes me a problem solver. You know women can multitask. We can handle 3 or 4 things at a time without skipping a beat. I have always tried to take care of all the problems that came along. With 3 children and a husband there was always some problem to deal with.

But last year I hit a wall. When the economy went south my husband's business came to a stop and we found ourselves in a place we never had imaged. For the first time we had to figure out how we were going to pay the bills. And at the same time, one of my children was having some personal problems. And of course the mother in me wanted to fix it.

I found myself needing help. I had a strong faith but I felt like I was in quick sand and could not get out. I had heard about Stephen Ministry but did not know much about it. Stephen Ministry was just getting started so I asked Shirley Wiley, the referrals coordinator, if I could receive the service. Shirley explained they were not there to solve my problems but to help me get though them with Christian support.

I started visiting with my Stephen Minister. And my prayers were answered because I was matched with the perfect person for me. The first few meetings, I cried my way through. Pouring my heart out about all that was going on in my life. But she was kind and prayed with me and listened. And just talking about things with someone other than family or friends was a big help.

I came to realize I can not solve all the problems alone and when I say I am going to put it in God's hands I must leave it there. I looked forward to my weekly meetings and felt stronger when I would leave. We would read scripture relating to the problems I was having and she would pray with me. Knowing that someone was there whenever I needed to talk and they were praying for me was a huge relief.

My Stephen Minister was not there to make my problems go away but it did help me to cope with them until things did get better. And that is one thing for sure, things will change and hopefully get better. I think this ministry is a wonderful service our church is providing. I hope if you have something you need to just talk to some one with, you will give Stephen Ministry a chance to work for you like it did for me.

An awesome testimonial about Stephen Ministry! Click link: When page opens click on Davis Fields - Stephen Ministries

http://www.mppc.org/about-mppc/stories

Stephen Ministry as Evangelism

Listening for the Wordby Scooper1994The typical Stephen Ministry recipient is a strong person who must bear a burden of pain, physical or emotional illness, or personal misfortune that no one should have to bear alone. He or she has been reminded suddenly that we are fragile: that we live a heartbeat away from death and a thought away from despair.As a Stephen Minister, I try to remind the people I visit, or "care receivers" as we call them, that we are also surrounded inside and outside of ourselves by Grace: that, if I may repeat words ascribed to Jesus in the apocryphal Gospel of Peter, "The Kingdom of God is already spread upon the Earth, but people do not see it." To me the Kingdom of God is like the moment when Dorothy opens the door into the Land of Oz, and suddenly a world that was black-and-white and shades of gray is now in glorious color. It's available to you right now, perhaps when the doors open and you step out of this building. It's not a change in the world so much as a change in seeing it.But since no amount of preaching can make a person, especially a troubled person, realize that he or she has already been Graced that he or she already walks in God's Kingdom, that every door opens into Oz I don't preach to my care receivers. In fact, what I have to say is unimportant. What my care receivers have to say is what needs to be said. And what needs to be heard.I don't tell my care receivers, "God hears you." Instead, I hang in there with them, I listen, I ask questions, I try to understand. And the simple fact of my active, listening, caring presence sometimes seems to remind them that God is present and that they already have spiritual resources that, like Dorothy's ruby slippers, can bring them home any time. And that they are never truly alone with their burden.They and God do the rest. Sometimes my care receivers witness to me of the ways God has worked in their lives, or the times they have been particularly aware of His presence. Such times are really special to me, because I need to hear that message. I need to be reminded that I walk in the Kingdom, too. And I am reminded by my care receivers, and by the wonderful fellowship of the other Stephen Ministers, our Stephen Leader, and our Pastor.So I can't tell you who gets helped more by the Stephen Ministry relationship my care receivers, or myself. Certainly by doing something, by being there for someone else, I have experienced something about God's Grace and God's Kingdom that I have tried to share with you. My wife has even remarked that I seemed to become a nicer person after getting involved in Stephen Ministry.I've also learned that I can't walk in the Kingdom just by being preached to, even by the most talented pastor. I have to get up and walk, figuratively speaking to do something to have to get involved. Stephen Ministry is my way of getting involved. Perhaps it will be your way, too.In closing, I would like to share with you a fragment I wrote after a session with a man who needed to hear a Truth that I could not speak to him.And there it was, silence. Not the swift sweet silence of contemplation, but the tense slow silence of the NOW stopping our conversation. Speak to me, I thought, not to him, but to Him. And he spoke His Truth, which he could no longer ignore, because he himself had spoken it. Later He and I left, arm in arm, and He stayed with him, as well. It's amazing what happens when you take Him with you into Stephen Ministry.

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