Stephen Ministers

Your First Congregational Church Stephen Ministry Leadership Team would like to invite you to consider becoming a Stephen Minister for our Congregation. We hope to begin a new training class in October. It is approximately an eight-week course, meeting weekly at the church and concluding with Commissioning into the Stephen Ministry Team.

A message from Julie: I wanted to write one last "Full Circle submission" as a Stephen Ministry Leader. Writing this chapter in my 26 years in Stephen Ministry has been such a rich plumbing of what the people of First Congregational Church of Bellingham, United Church of Christ, has given to my life.

People often ask, "What exactly is a Stephen Minister?" One way to put it is that Stephen Ministers are the After People.

Over the last 21 months of monthly strain and alarm, crises everywhere in families and upsets in lives, no one has remained unscathed.

Our Stephen Ministers have plans to train people Stephen Ministry classes by Zoom, if need be, starting in January. Throughout the pandemic, we have leaned heavily on already commissioned Stephen Ministers to carry the service when requested by congregants during COVID.