Our
Stephen
Ministry
ChristCare
Small Groups
Breakthrough
Leadership
Grief
Resources
Courses
and More- Christian Caregiving--
a Way of Life - Caring Evangelism: How to Live and Share Christ's Love
- Discovering God's Vision for Your Life: You and Your
Spiritual Gifts - Spiritual Growth through
Spiritual Gifts - Leader Killers: How
to Identify and Deal
with Antagonists in
Your Organization - Antagonists in the Church: How to Identify and Deal with Destructive Conflict
- Caring for Inactive Members: How to Make God’s House a Home
- Christian Caregiving--
About
Us
Grieving a Suicide
Price: $14.95
Journeying through Grief
Price: $9.95
Don't Sing Songs to a Heavy Heart: How to Relate to Those Who Are Suffering
Price: $13.95
Caring for Inactive Members Leader's Teaching Kit
Price: $49.95
Caring Criticism: Building Bridges Instead of Walls
Price: $9.95
Caring for the Caregiver:
A Pastor Receives Care
A single teenager's committing suicide would have been tragic. But the number of teenage suicides that had occurred in the last four weeks in their community was nothing short of disastrous.
Pastor Paul was weary. He had himself conducted two of those funerals, and nothing he had ever encountered had left him so drained or overwhelmed. Trying to minister to grieving parents and families devastated by their loss--and trying to find the words to reassure members of the youth group and the rest of his congregation--left him emotionally and spiritually overcome.
The latter of the funerals had been just two days ago. Pastor Paul sighed deeply as he poured himself a cup of coffee for breakfast. 
Never before had he so dreaded the sound of a telephone or a doorbell.
His daughter Amy crossed the kitchen and opened the door to go outside and get the newspaper. She hesitated. "Dad," she said, "there's a man sitting in a car out front."
"Oh, no," thought Pastor Paul. "Not another journalist wanting another interview!"
He placed his hand gently on Amy's arm. "I'll get it, sweetheart," he said. He braced himself and stepped outside to get the paper.
The man who emerged from the car and approached the pastor, however, was no journalist; he was Charles, one of their congregation's Stephen Leaders.
Charles stretched out his hand and said, "Good morning, pastor. I've been pretty concerned about you. You've had a terrible burden to shoulder for weeks now. I was thinking that maybe you needed somebody to listen to you for a change. Would you mind if I came in and had a cup of coffee with you?"
The pastor was speechless. It felt as though a heavy load had been lifted from his shoulders and he could breathe again. This man understood the cost of ministering to others. By his caring presence and understanding he was offering a way to replenish the well that was running dangerously low.
Pastor Paul has never forgotten that morning. It captured for him how equipping people to care through Stephen Ministry had benefited him in a way that he had never imagined. He felt Christ loving and caring for him through his congregation's Stephen Ministry, equipping him for the difficult ministry tasks he faced.