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The Road Less Traveled

From ChristCare Groups
to Stephen Ministry
at Resurrection Lutheran Church,
Indianapolis, Indiana

A group from Resurrection travels to Mississippi to help with Hurricane Katrina relief

Many dually enrolled congregations first enroll in the Stephen Series, then decide to begin ChristCare Groups later. But some congregations, like Resurrection Lutheran Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, intentionally follow a different path.

A Young but Growing Congregation

When Pastor David Schreiber first arrived at Resurrection in the early 1990s, the congregation averaged 100 worshippers per weekend. Within two years that number had increased by 50 percent; soon after membership was approaching 250.

At that time, Pastor Schreiber saw no pressing need for Stephen Ministry: "When I started at Resurrection, we were a fairly small church. And we were a young church. There weren't many people in the hospital or a lot of conditions requiring ongoing pastoral care at the time. What there were I could handle."

The Need for Connection

Rev. Schreiber and young members of Resurrection in Mississippi

But the rapid growth did present challenges. One need members mentioned with increasing frequency was: "Pastor, we just don't know anyone anymore." Pastor Schreiber recognized that this meant: A cherished value at Resurrection Lutheran Church is Christian community, and this is in danger of being lost through our own success. What can we do?

"I was absolutely convinced that small group ministry was key to maintaining that value of community as we grew," Pastor Schreiber said. Parish leaders looked over several models and finally settled on ChristCare as the perfect fit, and the congregation enrolled in the ChristCare Series back in 1997. For almost ten years now, ChristCare Groups have flourished at Resurrection, helping people stay connected to one another in a growing church.

Change Brings Further Challenges

Resurrection's Sunday school sponsored a "Kiss the Cow" event to raise money to buy a heifer for the Heifer Project

But the situation began to change. While the parish was growing, it was also aging. Not only were original members getting older (though that happened, of course), but many new members were already in their 70s or older. Because the parish was larger, more members were in crisis at any one time. Often, new members had no one to care for them. "Many of the people we've added to our parish have been folks who have moved into the community, many of whom do not have extended family contacts and a support system," Pastor Schreiber said.

Clearly by 2005 the need for long-term pastoral care had become a much more pressing issue for Resurrection Lutheran Church than it had been back in 1997. Parish leaders decided that the best way to meet this new challenge was through Stephen Ministry.

Tapping the Potential of the Laity

Left to right, Gloria Alpin, Pastor Mitch Phillips, Pastor Dave Schreiber, and Joanne Daniels at the Leader's Training Course, January 2006 in Orlando

The parish already knew that laypeople could make a valuable difference in meeting this need for care. When Steve, a young member at Resurrection, was stricken with leukemia and needed support that his family, who lived outside the area, couldn't give, Pastor Schreiber asked Gloria Aplin, a nurse, if she would travel with Steve for his bone marrow transplant and provide the ministry of presence to him. Gloria agreed. She still speaks of it as a turning point for her.

"I became a sort of Stephen Minister for Steve without knowing what that was, and it was an incredible experience," Gloria said. "That first experience with Steve was so powerful. It still affects me. I began to work a lot with others, especially the elderly, and that caregiving became a sort of passion for me.

"I don't remember how I first heard of Stephen Ministry, but I remember thinking, this is what we need to do," Gloria said. "And here we are."

Steve had also belonged to a ChristCare Group led by Joanne Daniel, now a Stephen Leader as well. "We ministered with him and his family, too," Joanne said. "Our ministry was different from Gloria's, but it was valuable to him--and to the group--that we were able to walk with him through that time."

Pastor Mitch Phillips, a Stephen Leader and ChristCare Equipper, said, "Both Gloria and Joanne's group ministered, but in different ways. The ChristCare Group provides community and a group of people to surround that person and the family, whereas the Stephen Minister can go deeper and discuss things one on one that you can't do with a group."

Multiplying Ministry

Steve's battle with leukemia, which he ultimately lost, underscored Resurrection's need for lay caring ministry. The congregation enrolled in the Stephen Series, and Pastor Schreiber, Pastor Phillips, Joanne Daniel, and Gloria Aplin attended the January 2006 Leader's Training Course in Orlando, Florida.

Resurrection commissioned eight Stephen Ministers at the end of May 2006, and several others have expressed interest in becoming Stephen Ministers as well.

"I'm very encouraged about implementing Stephen Ministry," Pastor Schreiber said. "A lot of folks in our congregation will identify Stephen Ministry as, 'Oh, it's the face of Gloria; it's the face of Joanne'--of people who have gifts for caring, spiritual gifts of mercy and encouragement. And I think those people will respond by thinking, 'I want to be part of that as well.'"

Pastor Phillips agrees: "It's a privilege to be present with people in those holy moments, in those significant events in their lives. God has gifted the entire body of Christ, and as pastors we need to be sharing that privilege, equipping people to be there for others in those times.

"In the past few years we've been committed to a process of moving from a membership- to a disciple-oriented church, trying to help people understand that, through our baptism, every one of us is ordained for ministry, and trying to help people find out what that ministry is," Pastor Phillips said. When he came to Resurrection a few years ago, he began using Discovering God's Vision for Your Life: You and Your Spiritual Gifts to help members identify and use their gifts.

Stephen Ministry is part of the church's vision for equipping laypeople to minister, freeing the pastors to do what only pastors can do. "Stephen Ministry fits so well with our theology of equipping people to do ministry," Pastor Phillips said. "We can equip gifted congregation members to walk alongside folks through the difficulties of life so that we as pastors can then equip still more people for other ministries."

A Different Path--but the Right Path for Resurrection

Beginning with ChristCare Group Ministry may be a less common route for dually enrolled congregations, but it was the right decision for Resurrection. "ChristCare met our initial and ongoing needs," Pastor Schreiber said. "And it provided brand-name recognition for Stephen Ministries so that when the time came to expand our long-term pastoral care opportunities, enrolling in the Stephen Series was a slam dunk. Stephen Ministries was already a known and trusted commodity."