LTC Press Release

Stephen Leaders,

Here is the LTC Press Release. Highlight the text below, copy it, and paste it into your word-processing program. Then edit the blue text to customize it for your congregation.

Contact person: Name
Phone number: (555) 555-5555
Name of church
Street address
City, state ZIP
Release date: Immediate

Stephen Ministry Expands Caregiving at [Name of Church]

[Number] members of [name of church] were among [number of participants] pastors and congregation leaders at a Stephen Ministry Leader’s Training Course (LTC) held from [LTC start and finish dates] in [city and state where LTC was held]. [Name of LTC participant], [name of LTC participant], and [name of LTC participant] attended the one-week training event hosted by the St. Louis-based Stephen Ministries organization. Participants came from across the U.S. and Canada to learn how to implement and direct Stephen Ministry, a system of Christian caregiving, in their congregations.

“Stephen Ministry gives First Church an effective way to train and organize members to provide one-to-one Christian care to individuals struggling with a crisis like grief, divorce, loneliness, relocation, hospitalization, a terminal illness, or unemployment,” said Rev. Miller. “The need for this type of care greatly exceeds what pastors alone can provide. All Christians are called to care for and love one another—it’s not just the pastor’s job. By equipping laypeople, we can help them fulfill their calling as Christians and also expand the amount of caring ministry available through First Church.”

[Name of LTC participant], [name of LTC participant], and [name of LTC participant] were trained as Stephen Leaders at the event. One of their next steps will be to recruit, select, and train members of [name of church] to be Stephen Ministers, the ones who will provide one-to-one care. They will then match each Stephen Minister with an individual in need of care and provide the Stephen Ministers with ongoing supervision and continuing education.

Stephen Ministry began in 1975 when Dr. Kenneth C. Haugk, a pastor and clinical psychologist in St. Louis, Missouri, trained parishioners to help meet the needs for care in his congregation. The ministry was so successful that other congregations became interested, and Haugk founded the Stephen Ministries organization. Since then, more than 13,000 congregations have become involved in Stephen Ministry. They represent over 180 Christian denominations and come from all 50 states, 10 Canadian provinces, and 30 other countries.

The Stephen Ministries organization annually hosts six Leader’s Training Courses across the U.S. At these courses, more than 75,000 pastors and church leaders have been trained as Stephen Leaders. They in turn have trained more than 600,000 church members as Stephen Ministers. It is estimated that more than one-and-a-half million people have received the formal care of a Stephen Minister, and millions more have been touched in an informal way.

“One of the highlights of the LTC was that people from dozens of denominations set aside their differences for seven days and became unified in a single mission: how to bring Christ’s healing love to hurting individuals,” said Lucy Leader. [Include other highlights of the LTC.]

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Special paragraph for congregations that already have Stephen Ministry going:

[Name of LTC participant], [name of LTC participant], and [name of LTC participant] join a team of [number] Stephen Leaders at [name of church], which started its Stephen Ministry in [year]. Since that time, [number] members have been trained as Stephen Ministers, and more than [number] people in crisis have received the formal care of a Stephen Minister.

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For more information about [name of church]’s Stephen Ministry, contact [person’s name] at [phone number]. To learn how your congregation can become involved, contact Stephen Ministries, 2045 Innerbelt Business Center Drive, St. Louis, Missouri, 63114, (314) 428-2600, or visit www.stephenministries.org.